Vote Conservative? Never again!

Conservatives

Building a Britain where EVERYONE WHO 

WORKS HARD can own a HOME OF THEIR OWN!

... and when you've worked hard, and bought

a home of your own, in a place you would like to live

for the rest of your days, in peace and tranquil

surroundings, 

THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT

brings in the NPPF so that, if your local council officers

have failed to do their job properly, 

(ie through no fault of your own),

your retirement can be ruined by developers

building unwanted, unneeded houses

right next to you, causing chaos and disruption

to the peace you had worked hard for, and reducing

the equity you have in the property on which

you may have been relying to finance your 

care in later years.

Poor Bill Cash, MP, has worked hard for his

constituents over many years but the party

he represents shows themselves to be

totally inconsiderate of the supporters

who have put them into power and, as a result,

he will lose many of those supporters.

This scenario will be repeated over many

rural constituencies and if conservative 

MPs lose their seats, as a result, it will be

the present Government to blame and not

those MPs themselves.

Local democracy dead?

Local democracy dead?
Local council officers incompetent?
Party funding from developers?

Whatever the reason, we lost the appeal!

Despite there being no NEED for houses in Baldwins Gate, no PLANNED expansion of Baldwins Gate, all RURAL development planned to make three Rural Service Centres more sustainable... despite ALL the local objections... despite the planning objections put forward unanimously by the local Planning Committee... despite hundreds of pages of evidence against the proposals...
THE PLANNING INSPECTOR CONCLUDED THAT NONE OF IT MATTERED.

According to the statistics, Newcastle doesn't have enough housing SO BUILD IT ANYWHERE!

It doesn't matter that it destroys Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land (BMV)
or that everyone needs to use a car to get anywhere
or that there are inadequate facilities for an increase of 50% population
or that the school is full
or that we have only a part-time subsidiary surgery of the doctors at Madeley
or that public transport is totally inadequate.

NONE OF THIS WAS MENTIONED BY THE INSPECTOR.

And by granting this appeal, the inspector has opened the flood gates to applications all over the village. ALL PLANNING LOGIC has gone and Newcastle Planners are making totally illogical recommendations by paying lip-service to "Sustainability"...

• How can it be "unsustainable" to build 5 houses at Slaters when 113 extra families will be travelling from Baldwins Gate to everywhere by car from Gateway Estate?
• How can it be "unsustainable" to build 3 houses at Manor Road when 113 extra families will be travelling from Baldwins Gate to everywhere by car from Gateway Estate?
• How can it be "unsustainable" to build 1 house at Hill Chorlton when 113 extra families will be travelling from Baldwins Gate to everywhere by car from Gateway Estate?

It IS UNsustainable to be building those but so was the building of an extra 113 houses on Gateway Estate. Once we have an extra couple of hundred cars what difference would a dozen more make? Or another couple of hundred when the next estate is built behind the school... WHERE DOES IT END?

After the announcement of the Appeal Decision it was suggested that the Action Group get a barrister's opinion as to whether the appeal could be challenged with a judicial review. That opinion would have cost the group £2500. 

However, if the result had been positive, there is no way that in a short time we could have raised even pledges to cover the potential £50K costs if we were to lose so all we could do was write to the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, asking for him to review the decision which has so many flaws in its logic and which does untold damage to the whole borough by the precedent it sets.

NO RESPONSE SO FAR! 

WE ARE IN THIS SITUATION BECAUSE NEWCASTLE CANNOT IDENTIFY SUFFICIENT LAND TO MEET ITS HOUSE-BUILDING NEEDS FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT FIVE YEARS which means that developers can apply to build anywhere and the NPPF sats that their application must be viewed "WITH A PRESUMPTION IN FAVOUR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT".

WHY?

• Is it because the officers of the council have not updated their housing target figure for several years despite the original targets being TOO HIGH?
• Is it because an officer of he council told our Parish Council that we need not bother with a Neighbourhood Plan because "there will be no major building in Baldwins Gate"?
• Is it because nobody explained to the Planning Committee councillors the danger in which they placed the council if they removed certain sites from the Housing Land Supply list?
  
  OR
• Is it because the OFFICERS of the council have a different agenda to that of the Planning Committee...? ... an agenda that works AGAINST the wishes of the council tax payers who pay their salary and for whom they are supposed to work?

ONE DAY IT WILL ALL BECOME CLEAR!

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Yet another Accident closes A53 in Baldwins Gate

Wednesday 30th April saw the A53 through Baldwins Gate, Staffordshire, completely blocked yet again by another serious accident with tailbacks stretching over a mile in each direction. This is the latest in a long list of accidents on the A53 in the area, ranging from minor to fatal.

Baldwins Gate Action Group successfully campaigned against a development of 113 houses on prime agricultural land in the village which would only add to the high volume of traffic which is faced daily by the residents.

Councillors on the Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Planning Committee visited the site and concluded that everything we had said about this dangerous road was true. With the village's lack of infrastructure and facilities, they agreed that such a development was totally unsustainable and not in the interests of the residents or the Borough. 

UNANIMOUSLY, the councillors rejected the application by Richborough Estates, a company which did not intend to develop land the land but rather sought to obtain planning permission in order to share in the increased value of the land once sold to a developer. Some would class these as simply land speculators trying to cash in on the current confusion in the planning system caused by poorly drafted legislation in the National Planning Policy Framework - NPPF. 

Despite their development being shown as unsuitable and against the interests of the village, they have stated that it is their intention to appeal and this is currently awaited.

Preserving Farmland

Baldwins Gate Action Group - Stop development at Baldwins Gate Farm!

Richborough Estates have submitted a planning application in to build on the field in the foreground.

The field is only used as pasture …… according to Richborough. 

Presumably potatoes don't count! Although taken a few years ago, this photograph from Bing Maps shows the potatoes in half the field. The other half, nearest the houses, was "set-aside" which all goes to prove that, as Grade 1 & 2 farmland, a farmer could use this field to grow anything ... or even NOTHING if the Government grants incentivise him.

The field IS currently used to grow fodder and as pasture but in the past it has also grown maize (for cattle but could also grow varieties for human consumption), wheat and potatoes.

Resolution 42/187 of the United Nations General Assembly defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

In a country that already is unable to feed itself, it is imperative that, in the interests of sustainability, the best farm land should not be built upon. Once covered in bricks and tarmac, this field will be lost forever to future generations.

Learn more about our campaign to stop this destruction of a finite natural resource.