15 January 2010
At last night's Witham Local Committee (WLC) meeting (13th January) a resident questioned the value of a previous consultation exercise. This concern was echoed by several councillors, including Cllrs. James Abbott and Philip Hughes, the two Green Councillors for Rivenhall.
Cllr. Abbott said
"BDC is due to undertake a consultation this spring on key parts of its Local Development Framework (LDF) including the controversial 300 houses proposed for the countryside in Rivenhall Parish, off Forest Road and Rectory Lane.
This next consultation is vital as it will inform the Council on its final position before the public inquiry due to take place in November.
At the last consultation, the overwhelming view of local residents was that this site was not acceptable and that other alternatives should be investigated. This view was then backed by both the Witham Local Committee and the Local Development Framework Panel.
We assumed that the democratic process had been followed through with a good decision having been made. The next step is that usually, the recommendations of the LDF Panel are accepted by the Council as a whole. But at the 11th hour, and without notice or consultation, the Tory administration whipped their councillors to reverse the recommendation and keep the Rivenhall site in the LDF.
They did not put forward any good planning reasons for this move and we are still trying to find out what their motive was. But the result is that many local people and councillors feel their views have been steamrollered and as expressed at the WLC last night, many wonder what the point is of taking part in the next consultation if the Tories do the same again.
This is not a question of blocking all development - we accept that BDC has to meet its development requirements. Accusations recently aimed at the Greens that we oppose all development are unfounded and politically motivated - we fully accept that sites have to be found. The issue is what are the most suitable sites.
My question tabled today is seeking an assurance from the Leader of BDC that the next consultation and the decisions of councillors that will follow will be completely free and fair and that the Tories will not use their political whip to again overturn the consultation process, should that process confirm that the public and local councils want an alternative site to be allocated.
This matter must be decided on proper planning criteria, not the political muscle of one party "
Cllr. Philip Hughes added
"At the last Local Plan consultation in the 1990s, Green Councillors tried to retain the Green Wedge allocations that protected villages from being joined up to the nearby towns. Although the Green Wedges were deleted, we were assured that countryside policies on their own would still protect the fields between the villages and the towns from large scale development. At the very first test of that pledge, the Tory administration at BDC have let the local community down."
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