David beats Goliath in a situation similar to ours!

In a small publication - Local Council Review, November 2006 - is an article about a parish council (Shotley) which in 2005 drew up a parish plan which set out is need for employment, education, health care and leisure facilities on a brownfield site which had been abandoned by the Navy in 1976. Prior to that the site had on it listed buildings, sports facilities and other infrastructure.

However, the District Council (Babergh District Council) chose to ignore this and decided to approve a scheme for 325 houses with token community and transport benefits. Areas around the site realised that there would be severe transport problems for the whole area with this scheme. They all formed an alliance and successfully lobbied the Government Office for the East of England to call in the application.

During the subsequent enquiry 52 local people gave evidence and they even made a DVD showing the various traffic problems, the effect of the development on built heritage and spectacular tidal flooding which periodically cut off the site from the mainland.

This is the verdict of the Secretary of State:

"The scheme would make a valuable contribution towards meeting the housing requirement of the district and without it there would be a deficit .... However, the immediate advantage of meeting housing requirements does not take precedence over the need to provide well-designed and sustainable communities and the long-term advantages that can be secured through the use of sustainable locations.

Secondly, the Secretary of State agrees that the proposals to demolish the etensive collection of buildings on the site needs to be carefully justified to ensure that an existing resource is not wasted.

Lastly, the inspector considers that there would be negative (traffic) impacts in terms of local pedestrian and cycle users, increase in noise,vibration and emissions and the effect on the character and appearance of the villages ... There would be significant negative impact on the Woolverstone Conservation Area. [The Inspector] is concerned over the tendency of the B1456 to flood ... and the severe disruption to residents and emergency services that arises at such times"

The current situation is that a new use must be found for the land but the local District Council refuses to commission a planning brief. However, Shotley Parish Council and the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) may commission their own." End of quotations

As you can see, this is almost word for word the situation we are in at the moment and this is very heartening information that we will make use of when the time comes.