A council in the Midlands insists it will press on with plans to develop a whole new village on green belt land near Pitsea – despite being warned it is unlikely to get planning permission.
Yes, I'll save you the trouble of firing up Google Earth; Pitsea is nowhere
near the Midlands!
Nottinghamshire County Council wants to build as many as 1,300 homes on 120 acres of land at Little Chalvedon Hall, off Pound Lane.
The council paid £4.2million for the site a year ago as an investment for its pension fund.
Sounds like it invested it about as well as all those councils caught up in the Iceland debacle, doesn't it? As
Mark Wadsworth points out, it works only if you can grant
yourself planning permission.
The website suggests the development could include a small shopping centre, a primary school, a recreation ground and sports facilities.
And they just can't understand why Basildon are being so intransigent about it! Who wouldn't want such largesse?
Dave Newberry, director of Meridian Strategic Land, the company co-ordinating the plans for the council, said: “This is a perfect location for a strategic site of this size.
“North Benfleet does not yet have a centre as such, which this will bring. We want to engage with residents and the parish council on the plans.”
The residents don't seem to want to engage with you, though. They aren't all that chuffed about more development.
The proposals have already provoked a public row between Basildon Council and the Midlands county council.
Basildon Council leader Tony Ball and chief executive Bala Mahendran have written to their counterparts in Nottinghamshire, asking why Basildon Council was not consulted before the site was bought.
Mr Ball’s letter warned Basildon would allow no development on the site for at least 20 years under his council’s clearly-defined green belt policy...
Some people are going to be
drawing a pension before they can build...
He added “It is not for Basildon to give up valuable green belt to fund another council’s pensions.
“It is also not good practice to risk a pension fund on speculation. Our position on protecting the green belt is quite clear.”
Perhaps the best suggestions for halting this come from the comments:
shallotman says...
Tell them we propose to site the new travellers site along side it.
Heh!
resident3 says...
Can't believe they would waste time on money on this project.
Basildon Council have clearly stated their policy on Green Belt development.
The attempted DF development was declared illegal.
Can't see the difference between an individual buying Green Belt land and a County Council buying Green Belt land.
Notts CC are just speculating in the same way as DF illegals.
No better than chancers, betting with pension money in the hope of making a killing.
Indeed! I wonder what tack the 'Guardian' will take?
6 comments:
OK, I'm geographically confused here.
Pitsea is in Essex I think, Basildon is in Essex. Yet the article talks about Notts C council and Basildon council.
Not enough coffee - I get it, Notts have bought some fields in someone else's patch.
Ah, the same Notts CC which has certain councillors on it who are under investigation for giving multi-million pound building contracts to their own companies following a rather effective audit...
Actually I think it's just as likely to have been the result of geographic confusion, as there is a Pound Lane also in line for some development actually in Nottinghamshire.
"Not enough coffee - I get it,"
;)
"Actually I think it's just as likely to have been the result of geographic confusion, as there is a Pound Lane also in line for some development actually in Nottinghamshire."
God, wouldn't it just be hilarious if that was the real reason?
I still want to know what Basildon has to do with the Midlands.
And I'm from Essex originally.
I think that the council of shenanigans really wants to create a new village. I know that they should really plan it very well. It seems that everyone are waiting for the result of their plan.
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