MP DEMANDS STOP TO COUNCIL SALE OF GREENFIELD LAND FOR DEVELOPMENT.

Image of Gordon with concerned residents

Local MP, Gordon Prentice, today told Liberal Democrat controlled Pendle Council to stop the sale of council owned greenfield land at Bawhead Road, Earby. He said building on greenfield sites could not possibly be justified when there are so many brownfield sites waiting development.

The Earby site, originally earmarked for housing, was advertised for sale in the local press last week despite an earlier decision to amend the Draft Local Plan to remove the Bawhead Road site for housing on the ground that there is already an over supply of housing land.

The issue comes up this Thursday at the Town Hall when the Council’s Executive considers some planning matters necessary to allow a development to go ahead.

The MP said: “Many Earby people are simply outraged that greenfields can be built over in this cavalier way. Last September, the council gave itself planning permission to allow housing on the land and it has now advertised the site for sale, even though all the planning issues have not been resolved. And, astonishingly, after the land has been withdrawn from the list of future housing sites. The council could and should stop the sale immediately.”

Letter to the Chief Executive of Pendle Borough Council:

21st February 2005

Dear Mr. Barnes,

I am writing to you about the proposed sale, for development, of council owned greenfield land at Bawhead Road in Earby. We have corresponded about this before, following representations I received last year from local residents who felt access to the site would create all sorts of serious problems.

When I wrote to you in September 2004 outline planning permission had, of course, already been granted on the first of that month, although these concerns about access had not, at that stage, been satisfactorily resolved.

However, the situation has now moved on and the Bawhead Road site has now been "de-allocated" for housing in the amended Draft Local Plan. I know that full planning permission has been granted for housing on the brownfield land at Victoria and Grove Mills in the town centre and the priority must surely be to re-develop previously used land.

The whole thrust of the work of the local Housing Market Pathfinder, Elevate, is to bring brownfield back into use rather than take valuable greenfield sites. In any case, there is an over supply of housing land and there is no need whatsoever to sell Bawhead Road for development. If the council nevertheless presses ahead, it will further compromise the ability of Elevate to regenerate those areas of the Borough that arc most in need. I believe Burnley Council has made its views known to you.

I understand that the matter is coming up at the Council's Executive on 24 February and I have read the report going before the councillors. I see the report deals with various planning matters that need to be resolved to facilitate a residential development on the Bawhead Road site and it goes on to say these issues would have to be dealt with "prior to advertising the land for sale" - something that has already happened.

It seems to me that the council has got itself into an Alice in Wonderland situation, where the Bawhead Road site has been effectively removed from the list of future housing sites, but at the same time, having given outline planning permission already, the council is pressing ahead with a sale which would inevitably lead to a housing development there anyway. This could be seen as a dishonest sleight of hand.

I am very concerned indeed with the unnecessary loss of a valuable greenfield site and I share the concerns of many Earby residents that a decision to sell may be rushed through before anyone has realised what is happening.

I hope you will ensure that members of the Council's Executive are aware of this letter when they meet on Thursday and of my firm view that, in all the circumstances, the sale of the land at Bawhead Road should not go ahead.

I am copying this letter to Earby residents who have approached me about the matter and, view of the public interest issues it raises, also to the press.

Yours sincerely

GORDON PRENTICE MP

Last Updated on Tuesday, 07 October 2008 17:23