Effingham Parish Council Decides Not To Challenge Planning Decision

Published on: 26 Apr, 2018
Updated on: 27 Apr, 2018

Effingham Parish Council will be not challenging the decision to allow Berkeley Homes to build up to 295 houses and provide an enlarged Howard school on green belt land in the village.

Effingham Lodge Farm where the homes and replacement school will be built

The announcement was made at the parish council’s latest meeting on Tuesday (April 24).

It was heard that the barrister who had represented the parish council at the planning inquiry into the bid, had advised that the judgement on planning weighting was unusual, but not irrational in legal terms.

He had explained that challenging the decision would risk substantial costs and, even if the case was won, another inquiry would follow which could lead to the same result.

The chairman of Effingham Parish Council, Arnold Pindar.

The chairman of Effingham Parish Council, Arnold Pindar, said: “This is a devastating result for the village. The parish council and many local residents are deeply angry and upset, but sadly we cannot risk local tax-payers’ money in a legal challenge when we have clear advice that there are insufficient grounds.

“The parish council will be watching the progress of these proposals like a hawk, to make sure all the planning conditions and requirements are followed to the letter and we get the best possible result for Effingham out of this planning fiasco.

“The school needs to be built to the standard promised, playing fields that are playable must be delivered, traffic mitigation measures need to be implemented, and wildlife will need protection. In particular, we are determined that Berkeley Homes will deliver the promised Section 106 funding to rebuild the King George V Hall, to provide improved community facilities for the 30% increase in the village’s population.”

Guildford Borough Councillor Cllr Hogger (Lib Dem, Effingham) said: “It is shocking that the inspector’s judgement on educational need, and the lack of government funding to rebuild the school, trumped protecting our green belt.

“It seems the green belt is effectively for sale to any housing developer who can claim to provide public infrastructure at no cost to the public purse. This sets a very dangerous precedent and could encourage speculative housing proposals in the green belt right across the borough.”

Cllr Liz Hogger.

Effingham Parish Councillor Paula Moss, who chaired the Neighbourhood Plan working group, added: “Even though Effingham had made ample provision for new housing to meet local need in our Neighbourhood Plan, the borough’s lack of a five-year housing land supply meant this was ignored.

“Five years’ hard work by local residents to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan which gained the support of 93.5% of voters in February’s referendum has been thrown away by the opinion of just one planning inspector supported by the Secretary of State. This makes a mockery of local democracy.”

See previous story Mixed Views As Berkeley Homes And The Howard Win Planning Appeal For New School And 295 Homes in Effingham.

Responses to Effingham Parish Council Decides Not To Challenge Planning Decision

Harry Eve Reply

April 26, 2018 at 12:00 pm

Why was the decision by the Secretary of State delayed to take account of the Neighbourhood Plan when it was clear that the decision had already been made and it was not going to be taken into account ?
John Perkins Reply

April 26, 2018 at 5:08 pm

The Minister of State at the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, is quoted in this article: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/04/nimby-councils-homes-lose-planning-powers-sajid-javid

He states: “If councils fail to deliver on the target they will be stripped of planning powers, and independent inspectors will take over”. Which does not sound so much a mockery of local democracy as a complete refutation of it.

Presumably, when referring to inspectors as “independent”, he means “subservient”.
Stuart Barnes Reply

April 27, 2018 at 9:40 am

Another simply outrageous planning decision.

The concreting over of what is left of our country will not stop until we stop the still virtually unrestricted legal and illegal immigration, and that won’t stop until we get completely out of the hated EU.
Jules Cranwell Reply

April 27, 2018 at 6:50 pm

The grass is growing over the grave of ‘localism’.
- John Perkins Reply
  
  May 1, 2018 at 11:14 am
  
  If only it were grass and not concrete.
Susan Parker Reply

April 30, 2018 at 1:46 pm

This decision in Effingham is very sad.

It is indeed evident that localism is dead. It seems that any kind of planning gain can be used to justify building almost anything, anywhere.

It should be the responsibility of UK regional government to build or upgrade state schools, not to accept the offer of a new school building as a bribe to enforce planning permission elsewhere.

The ethics and the principles of this seem very questionable.

That said, I cannot see why Mr Barnes is using this as a hook to beef on about the EU, which I don’t hate at all.

This planning decision had absolutely nothing to do with the EU, nor indeed with any kind of immigration (legal or illegal). Sadly, our level of environmental protection is likely to be significantly worse post Brexit.

[Susan Parker is a Guildford Borough Councillor for Send and the leader of the Guildford Greenbelt Group.]