On Thursday 21st of July we had a reporter from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire in regard to the planning application for the 48 houses on Station Rd. The Interview was split into 3 sections; Where we talked about the need to retain valuable agricultural land, The issues in the village around the infrastructure not being able to cope and finally highlighting the conflict of Interest with HDC engaging into a contract with the Longhurst Group where engagement with the parish council and the residents was not considered. Leaving residents and the Parish Council feeling as if the process carried out by both HDC and Longhurst is somewhat underhand and have used “loopholes” to get around certain issues which leaves the assumption of a “done deal”. With the planning dept. being part of HDC there is further assumption that the next step of review is just a rubber stamping exercize.
The Interview carries on with questions to both Warboys Parish Council and CPRE as to their thoughts and feedback. This is not a “one off” instance and is happening across the country. We want our local councils and property developers to recognise the impact they can cause upon the local area, the ecology and now even more so the impact on the loss of agricultural land for crop production. Developing both affordable and sustainable homes in locations that have a win-win benefit for the owners, the environment and the neighbourhood should be at the top of their agendas and not just about what profits can be made from selling off random parcels of land within their property portfolio.
You can listen to the whole interview from this link
