Say NO to development at Baldwins Gate Farm !

Britain needs thousands of new houses, so we are told. Why don't we build them in the Outer Hebrides? 

The answer is "because that is not where the houses are needed". 


Well, they are NOT NEEDED at Baldwins Gate Farm either (although the farmer who will come into millions may not agree)!


There are a total of around 350 properties in the Baldwins Gate "village envelope" of which around 10% are currently for sale. Many of these have been on the market for at least a year. Richborough Estates are proposing the building of 117 additional properties which increases the village by one third. They also suggest that a green field is the ideal location for this development despite the fact that their properties will not be in keeping with the current village properties and have a density almost double that of the ones which would be adjacent. 

They are taking advantage of a legal "loophole" which says that councils without a current development plan area required to view applications with "a presumption in favour" if developments are "sustainable". 

This development is NOT SUSTAINABLE! 

It requires all new residents to commute to work by car. Even a quadrupling of the buses would not make it convenient as a commuter location if residents were to rely on public transport, so how much "carbon footprint" would the houses have then? With every worker needing to commute a MINIMUM of 10 miles a day how much "green-house gas" will they generate?

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council prides itself on its "green credentials". It has an extremely well-developed recycling regime that is often in the news as an example to other councils. If this development is granted approval, not all the recycling in the borough would be able to compensate for the environmental damage it will do. 

There are many reasons why this development is unsustainable ... ENVIRONMENTALLY is just the first!

Read more at the website of our Action Group.