Hands Off the Greenbelt says local Labour Party! 10th November 2006

  

Castle Point Labour Party today submitted its response to Castle Point Council’s Core Strategy and Development Control and let the Council know in no uncertain terms that there should be no provision within the ‘local plan’ to allow any development in the greenbelt.

 

Labour spokesperson, Brian Wilson said “it is not clear from the document who within the Council would decide which part of the Green Belt periphery would be allocated for development and allowing such development on an ‘as and when basis’ could be open to abuse.

Further we wish to express vehemently our opposition to any development to the Great Burches Landscape Improvement (Green Belt) Area. We are currently ahead in meeting our  targets by the year 2020 and to build 2400 houses on the Green Belt would be acting with unnecessary and indecent haste.”

Cllr Mark Reilly (Labour Canvey North) said “we further have trouble reconciling the content of the Draft Policy –Hazardous Installations with respect to ‘Except for cases where the use of existing hazardous installations is required in the National Interest ,..’.It is clear that the health and safety of the local community can often be at odds with the ‘national interest’. Our duty on Castle Point Council has to be first and foremost toward our local residents. If such a proviso was currently in existence, it would have meant that the local Planning Committee would have lost grounds for refusing the recent Calor Gas application. It also seems crazy that the Council are proposing to allow the National interest to take precedence with ‘Existing’ installations but not ‘New’ installations. Where’s the consistency in that?