THERE WAS heartache for campaigners in Butts Lane in Stanford-le-Hope as the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development (DC) announced that development for houses had been supported by the Secretary of State.
The decision by the secretary of state, Eric Pickles is a blow to the hundreds of residents who formed Residents Against Inappropriate Development (RAID) who, led by community champion, Terry Piccolo campaigned tirelessly.
The green light should now signal development of over 350 homes in the area by Barratts.
Further reaction to follow.
So much for the Conservatives claims to defend the Green Belt from being concreted over. Here we have the Tories giving the green light to their developer pals and tory donors to concrete over swathes of Thurrock’s green belt.
This site wasn’t in the Council’s Local Development plan and wasn’t in the Development Corporations Masterplans for the Borough.
Who recalls the leaflets from Jackie Doyle-Price before the General Election saying the Conservatives would rip up Labour’s regional house building targets and giving control to residents to reject new developments in their neighbourhoods.
Just goes to show that Conservative promises to defend the green belt aren’t worth the paper they are written on.
I seem to recall all the Conservative Councillors had a photo opurtunity a few years ago where they were ripping up the Development Corporations masterplans for Thurrock and claiming they would stop any developments in the green belt. Yet they have all been strangely quite regarding this development.
And we have the Conservative Secretery of State giving two fingers to the residents of Stanford-le-Hope.
Woodview residents are pinning their hopes on Eric Pickles to overturn the plans to build houses on the Woodview college site. After rubber stamping this housing estate in Stanford-le-Hope I think the Wodview residents have a snowballs chance in hel of having their green belt development being overturned.
Thurrock’s Conservative councillors could previously blame a Labour Government and Labour house building targets whenever more houses were crammed into the borough – now we have a Conservative Government allowing more and more houses to be built in Thurrock with absolutely no regard to the genuine concerns of residents.
Well said Mr Peterson
I think this is yet another sad day for the people of thurrock. I was one of the residents to attend a meeting at st cleres school,where we sat and listened to the MP Stephen Metcalf & cllr Hardiman stating this development would not go ahead we residents would be heard. Well it’s just a pity that their own government didn’t listen to them, us and the planning committee of Thurrock council who all said the same thing .WE DON’T WANT THIS.
YET AGAIN WE HAVE ALL BEEN LIED TO AGAIN BY THE TORIES BOTH LOCALY & NATIONALY. I feel dreadfully sorry for the people of Woodview please don’t listen to the Tories who are telling you they will help you. Just read the story above .
I bet that money paid to Peter cruddas, Tory treasurer was money well spent by the developer!
My apologies in advance if I am wrong but I am sure the person who owns the field where this housing estate is going to be built is a well known donar to the Conservatives and was selected as the Conservative Council candidate for Stanford West ward in 2007 but stood down shortly before the election. There was an article about it in the Thurrock Gazette at the time. I understand he also owns the derelict piece of land along Corringham Road/Billet Lane where he has planning permission for a block of flats. If my memory is correct he also donated to the Conservatives to use rooms at St Claires Hall for their campaign offices.
When this new housing estate is built high flying rev Anderson could give his blessing to that as well. Perhaps he could give his good friend Eric a tour around and tip him out on the nearby rubbish dump.
This is a really disappointing decision and I am disappointed that Eric Pickles has allowed thsis devlepment to go ahead. What we don’t want to end up with is a situation where landowners start selling off their fields en masse to developers to attempt to build on like what happened in the 30s in suburban London.
It is crucial that we keep as much open land as we can and make sure that developments blend in with whats already there and that residents are happy with the proposals. The scale of developments also needs to be brought down. The number of homes proposed in so many of these developements in Thurrock are beyond a joke. Smaller developements face less resistance than 350+ houses.
I do not see what this development has to do with the Thurrock Conservatives. They did not place the land on the ‘Masterplan’, not did they support this application. The fact remains that until the DC are completely gone I fear we are going to see a few more large developments coming through in the next couple weeks.
If I was Mr Pickles I would look at this particular plan again.
Hold on a moment, Lies by the Tories, hmmmm, now I am sure Labour would never do a thing like that…………..both parties are just a s bad as each other and I don’t think the outcome would have been any different had it been a Labour minister in charge.
Unfortunatley with the amount of people now entering Britain housing shortages are always going to be an issue, any government would need to address the problem and green belt land is no longer secure, even under the old Labour administration green belt land was built upon, the govenment need to adress the underlying problem of mass immigration and only then will they be able to control the housing problem
Well said Lambo. Housing pressure is mainly due to the last governments love of mass immigration but at the same time Eric Pickles should not have passed this plan. I wonder if such a development would have been passed on greenbelt land in Brentwood??? I doubt it.
To me this planning application does seem to be a problem for the Conservatives. Looking at it from a perspective of the Localism agenda, it should not be allowed to go ahead due to the loudly stated opposition. It also seems questionable, how 350 homes in that location meet the requirement of the new planning laws “presumption in favour of sustainable development.
It seems clear that the local Conservative politicians opposed the development yet they are overruled by the national party.
This is made even worse by the fact that the new planning policy talks about the need for Local Authorities to have a local plan that defines how the LA sees developments proceeding in their area. Thurrock has one of these and, I understand, that Butts Lane does not appear in it. Again the local view is overruled by the requirements of the private sector.
For those of you who are wondering what this has got to do with the Conservative Party, it is an example of what I fear from a Conservative Government, the idea that ‘might is right’ and those with the most power can do what they like. I believe that one of the key roles of government is to put in place systems that allow for balanced and fair judgements to be made in situations where the needs of individuals come into conflict with the needs of the private sector. Unfortunately, I think this shows that view is not one the Conservatives hold and anyone who might find themselves in the way of those with more power should watch out.
On the other hand, although I might not agree with it, the Woodview development does appear in the local plan and here the local Conservatives have been, if anything, more vocal in their complaints about it going ahead. This, despite the plans having been out for local consultation and having been agreed by the LA a couple of years ago. It will be interesting to see what happens to the support the party has given to the people of Woodside now this ruling has been made.