I was in the Dog House pub in Tawney Common last week for a meeting with the local residents who are opposing plans for a huge solar farm on agricultural land which forms part of the beautiful green landscape between Epping and Brentwood.
This group is doing just the right thing to make their case; they are organised, they have good legal advice and they are persistent.
The same can be said of the Ongar Chelmsford Road Residents Action Group, which has been set up to object to the speculative development by Bloor Homes on Green Belt land south of Chelmsford Road in Ongar, and West Horndon Parish Council and its residents about the proposals for thousands of new homes in and adjoining the village.
I’ll be recommending the same appropach to those in Hutton and Shenfield who have been in touch about proposals for development there too.
I am very strongly against the loss of green belt land and am always clear with local and national government that I expect them to prioritise other sites. Although as a Member of Parliament, I have no direct influence over local planning decisions, I can – and do – represent concerns brought to me by local residents to the relevant authorities.
I am aware many constituents have signed a petition calling house building reforms to be passed, so planning consent is given on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis to stop developers sitting on land while watching other land be pressed into use for building.
Sadly, the current Government’s approach to planning removes legal protections for the green belt instead of prioritising brownfield redevelopment. This is despite figures from the Campaign to Protect Rural England showing that in a substantial number of local authorities there is enough brownfield land with planning permission to meet the targets set by the Government’s standard method for at least the next five years. The Government have failed to explore this and continue to release green belt land, some of which they have now redesignated as ‘grey belt’ with fewer protections.
I agree more homes are needed, but they must be built in the right places and with local consent, not at the cost of our green spaces. I will continue to defend the green belt and rural communities in Parliament, and I will continue to work with our local councillors and councils to ensure residents’ concerns are heard.
