Letter: A warning to councillors over destruction of greenfield sites

Telford & Wrekin Council seem intent on building on greenfield sites, even though the Planning Department's own statistics show that there are unallocated brownfield sites in the borough with a potential for 31,000 homes.

TWC say that they are complying with Government policy under the National Planning Policy Framework. The Government has stated on several occasions that brownfield sites should be given priority and have made a special fund available to councils to bring such sites back into use. Why does TWC not follow this guidance?

As TWC does not yet have a five year Local Plan in place developers such as Gladman are able to exploit such local authorities by applying for planning permission on greenfield sites. In fact, Gladman boast of this loophole in their sales literature. In the application for building at Muxton Lane, Gladman clearly state: "the council acknowledges that it cannot demonstrate a deliverable five-year supply of housing land, this is a case where the policies of the saved Local Plan and Core Strategy (2007) are out of date".

Also, the Gladman application states: "The proposed development would be eligible for a new homes bonus in the region of £1,037,000 over a six-year period" – more ratepayers' money to waste on staging T-Live music festivals?

Why has there been such a delay in producing a five-year Local Plan? Is it a deliberate political move by the Labour-controlled TWC? Is it the fault of the planning department?

Rather than try to fight the council and developers individually, is it not time that all the concerned people of Wellington, Waters Upton, Muxton, and other areas affected by this lack of policy, joined forces and let TWC see the full strength of ratepayers' feelings over their actions?

The situation is even more concerning now that the Labour Party has stated that, if elected next May, they will build even more houses and give local authorities even more planning powers.

I hope that TWC councillors realise that when the next local elections come round there are a lot of peoplewho will remember who was responsible for wantonly destroying our irreplaceable green fields and wildlife habitats.

J W Simmons, Muxton