THE LONDON GREEN BELT COUNCIL                               Minutes 383 – 388

 

Minutes of the meeting held in the Grimmond Room, Portcullis House, Westminster on 18 April 2007

 

Present          Mrs T Villiers MP, President

            Mr R Smith, Vice-President (Potters Bar Society)

                        Mr T Simpson, Chairman (Elstree & Borehamwood G B Soc.)

                        Mr C Hoptroff, Vice-Chairman (Leighton Buzzard Society)

            Mr L Holt, Secretary (Chislehurst Society)

            Mrs J Habib, Treasurer (Chiltern Society)

                        Mr R Liffen, Assistant Secretary (Carshalton-on-the-Hill Residents Association)

 

Mr D Ellis, Barnet Society

Mr P Miner, CPRE National Office

Mr S Smith, Enfield Preservation Society

Mr A Walker, Epping Society

Mr H Bitten, Friends of Epping Forest & CPREssex

Mr C Beney, Open Spaces Society

Mr M Maurice, Pinner Society

 

Mr D Slater, Radlett Society and Green Belt Association

Mr P Rogers, Sevenoaks Society

Mrs M Raymond, Stanmore Society

Mr J Archer, Youth Hostels Association (South Region)

 

Apologies for Absence   Mr R Atkinson (Education Officer), Brindles Wood Residents Association, Denham Parish Council, East Barnet Parish Residents Association, East Coulsdon Residents Association, Harefield Residents Association, Hatch End Association, Mill Hill Preservation Society, Mill Hill Residents Association, Old Coulsdon Residents Association and Otford Parish Council.

 

Matters arising from previous minutes

 

353      50th Brithday celebrations       The Chairman thanked Mrs Habib and Mr Liffen for organising the reception. He regretted that there had not been more press coverage; it was unfortunate that we did not have a really good ‘angle’ for the press to get hold of.  He felt that the catering had been expensive for what was provided and the President agreed that House of Commons catering was not cheap. It was also suggested that name badges would have been useful. About 5 of the 37 participants were invitees, the rest representatives of member organisations.

            Mr Liffen had produced a 15 minute video of the event, including the speeches. It was agreed that a showing should be put on the agenda of the next LGBC meeting.

 

363(2) East of England Plan  The Chairman said that various councils in the region had objected strongly to the Barker Report and its implications for the Region.

 

369(3)  Education        The Chairman reported that the CD Rom for year 6 pupils was ready and Mr Atkinson was in the process of converting it to PDF format.  Mrs Raymond said she was involved with the Harrow Agenda 21 education group and was keen for their schools to use the CD.  Mr Ellis said that it would also be useful for ‘Learning through Landscapes’, a charity working for better outdoor environments in education.  Mrs Habib said that the Chiltern ANOB Consultation Board was also doing education work.

 

371(2)  LGBC Website                        Mr R Smith asked what was meant by the comment in the last minutes that improvements were “about as much as could be done with the present arrangements”.  Mr Beney replied that it was as much as the person maintaining the website could do.  However, if LGBC wanted any other items put on the website we only had to ask; it probably could be done. The Chairman will liaise with Mr Horrocks and Mr Gordon.

 

372(4)  Bentley Priory   Mrs Raymond reported that Harrow Council had published plans for Bentley Priory for public consultation.  The Stanmore Society was broadly in favour of the plans but had concerns over whether the developers would follow the plans and the fact that no height limit for the development was specified.  The Chairman agreed that the plan was much better than he had feared.  He added that ideally the old building would make an excellent repository for the RAF archives currently at Hendon. In response to a question from Mr Maurice, Mrs Raymond said that the proposed development was confined to the footprint of the existing buildings.

      Mr Beney said that development on the old Marconi site seemed to have gone beyond the footprint and this was confirmed by Mrs Raymond.  It will be necessary to keep a close eye on Bentley Priory.

 

372(5)  Rail Freight Interchange of Radlett Aerodrome           Mr Slater reported that this proposal had been refused and the Chairman added that he understood that it was going to appeal.

 

Item 383 President’s Remarks

 

The President congratulated all concerned on the Reception.  She said it was important to keep up the fight over the East of England Plan; the intensity of development envisaged by the Government was alarming.  In her correspondence with Yvette Cooper, the Government continued to maintain support for the Green Belt.  Nevertheless, they still wished to give more power to regional planning bodies with an encouragement to reassess Green Belt.

Mrs Habib was concerned by the suggestion in the Barker Report that, if an option inconsistent with the Green Belt yielded a better economic result than an option consistent with the policy, then the former should prevail.  How, she asked, could one put a price on fresh air and open space?  The President agreed and said that she hoped to raise the issue in the House.  Mr Slater also pointed out that Kate Baker’s terms of reference specifically excluded environmental questions and this was expressed in the report.  Mr Ellis found it amazing that the report did not consider environmental issues.  He said, for example, that the loss of agricultural land was not considered a bar to development but, with each 1oC rise in average temperature likely to reduce global food production by 10%, this land would become vital in the future.

            The President said, in response to a question from Mr Rogers that she did not know when the Government response to the Barker Report would be issued. 

 

Item 384 Election of Vice-President

 

On a proposal from the chair, it was unanimously agreed that Mr David Gauke, MP for SW Hertfordshire should be put forward as a Vice-President.  Many of his constituents live in Green Belt areas and he has a strong interest in Green Belt issues.

 

Item 385 Treasurer’s Report

 

The Treasurer reported that 93 members have paid up for the year; 25 subscriptions are still awaited.  The reception had cost a little under £2000; full figures will be available at the next meeting.

 

Item 386 Future work of the London Green Belt Council

 

The Secretary observed that in some ways LGBC seemed to be running out of work.  He said that fewer matters were referred to him by members now than were a few years ago and he was writing fewer letters.  Mr Liffen thought that this was because the present PPG2 had been in force for 12 years; developers were now able to judge accurately what would be allowable and what would not.  The Secretary added that it also helped, firstly, that many planning authorities were adopting much of the wording of PPG2 in their plans rather than trying to make up new wording and, secondly, that the Government continued to support the Green Belt and this policy was firmly applied by the Planning Inspectorate.

            Mr Hancock considered that this was a misinterpretation of the situation.  He did not think that the problems were going away or that we were winning the battle.  There was a danger of centralism taking over. The fact that LGBC’s agenda was not as heavy as it was could simply mean that we were accepting too readily that what we could do would not be effective.

            Mr Ellis suggested that there be a look at the whole strategy of the LGBC at the next meeting.  The Chairman said he had met Mr Mike Gordon of Harefield, who had agreed to work with Mr Liffen and Mr Atkinson on education and publicity.  He would be able to produce a pamphlet explaining what LGBC is about.  The Chairman will arrange for Mr Gordon to be at the next meeting.  He thought this would facilitate a discussion of future activities.

 

Item 387   Officers’ reports on new business since the last meeting

 

1.         The Chairman said that the issue of Gypsies and Travellers was back on the agenda; consultants engaged by his local authority had proposed 21 sites, some of which were quite unsuitable.

 

2.         The Secretary reported that he had objected to the following planning applications:

            (a)        Residential development at Old Tye Avenue/Aperfield Road/Juniper Close, Biggin Hill.

            (b)        Residential development including medical centre & nursing home, bus interchange, childen’s playground and consolidation of allotments at Blue Circle Sports Ground, Crown Lane, Bromley.

(c)        Residential development at Stanwell House, Botsom Lane, West Kigsdown, Sevenoaks.

            (d)        A 100-bed hotel at Biggin Hill Airport

 

3.         The Vice-President said he had met Jacqui Lait MP, the shadow minister for London.  He thought she had taken on board the idea that while builders were arguing that Green Belt of poorer scenic quality should be built on, this Green Belt was just as highly valued by those living near it as an area of attractive landscape.

 

4.         Mr Liffen said Sutton Council was looking for a site to rebuild a school. A site at Orchard Hill belonging to the local primary care trust is the preferred choice. The site is identified in the UDP as a major developed site within the Green Belt. It is preferred to a nearby site also in the Green Belt but not so designated even though there are some buildings on it.  Mr Liffen saw this as an example of PPG2 in action.

 

Item 388  Other matters raised by members

 

1.         Mr Beney reminded members that when a piece of land has been used by a community as of right (i.e. without consent or permission of the landowner) for at least 20 years, it is possible to have it registered as a village green. It could be quite a scruffy piece of land.   He said that the House of Lords had decided that if the landowner asserted a contrary right after the registration process had started, that would not defeat the application.  This reversed a lower court decision and many councils which had been holding applications in abeyance after the earlier decision would now be able to proceed with them.  The situation has been clarified for the future by the Commons Act 2006.

 

2.         Mr Rogers said that there were reports in the Kent local press that the former MoD site at Fort Halstead had been sold.  He agreed to find out what more he could and pass the information to the Secretary.

 

3.         Mr Bitten reported that permission to convert the mansion house at Gaynes Park (just the other side of the M11 from Epping) to 19 flats. The house is in disrepair and the applicants argued that, in order to make the proposal viable, they needed to be able to build 10 additional houses in the grounds.  The Council fell for the argument and granted permission.

 

4.         The Chairman said that Mrs Oliver, who was not at the meeting, had reported that an application by Tottenham Hotspur Football Club for a development including 21 football pitches and associated buildings at Myddleton House, east of Bulls Cross was going to appeal.

 

THE DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING   The next meeting will be arranged for either 27th June or 4th July.  Provisionally, 24th October was earmarked for the following meeting which will be the AGM.