FINAL NEWS UPDATE FOR BALDWINS GATE ACTION GROUP (1)
The summary of events is that, despite major campaigning by local residents, who are NOT NIMBYs but people who know what is and is not appropriate development in the village, the development was finally approved on appeal. The decision of one man, the Inspector, changed the village for ever and also changed lives of many residents to their detriment.
The farmer who sold the land became richer, Richborough who facilitated the sale became richer, the local residents near the development became considerably poorer as the value of their "rural homes" diminished.
The legal loophole that allowed this planning application to succeed, the supposed lack of a five-year housing land supply by Newcastle Borough Council, was not closed and yet another developer attempted to build yet another housing estate in the village. A separate Action Group fought that and the application was again refused. An appeal was submitted but withdrawn before it was heard.
Maybe they heard of the difficulties being experienced by Kier Living, the developers of the Gateway estate who had paid such a high price for the privilege.
With approval for just over 100 houses given, the first house was occupied around December 2017 and ten months later, there are less than 10 occupied. Most of the estate has NOT been built because of the difficulty in selling and there is now talk of trying to sell homes on a shared ownership basis.
At the time of the original application and appeal, there were many houses for sale in the village with a wide range of prices. So there was no need for new properties but construction companies simply want to build houses and the easiest place to build is on pure new flat virgin farmland. The fact that it is Grade 1 farmland is irrelevant, despite the fact that with an increasing population there will be even more mouths to feed and the country is presently unable to feed itself without imports.
THE DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN A DISASTER FOR THIS VILLAGE AND FOR MANY OF ITS RESIDENTS.
DEMOCRACY IS DEAD.
Our Action Group is fighting a proposed unsustainable development by Richborough Estates on a greenfield site, increasing our village by a third and against the wishes of the majority of villagers.
