Stop Notice on Persimmons requested



 Mud on the road - just another breach by Developer Persimmons

 Readers will remember our long campaign to prevent the development of the greenfield site at Daisy Hill in Morley. This sight was a controversial one and was only granted planning permission when Labour fiddled the planning process by packing a plans panel with Labour Councillors who - like the man from Del Monte - like to say YES where Developers are concerned!

Residents wholly opposed this site and raised concerns that it was a tough site for Developers to develop because of its location. We were told that conditions imposed by the planning permission would prevent problems and that issues such as blocked drives, heavy lorries blocking roads and mud on the road would not occur. We were offered a Disneyland vision where Persimmons would work hard to minimise the impact on local residents with promises they would be a good neighbour.

Promise after promise was broken and residents have had enough living in a Persimmons inspired hell hole!

I have formally requested that a Stop Notice is served on the Developer by Planning Enforcement. These are serious notices that are imposed when Developers refuse to comply with the conditions that are part of the legal agreement that comes with the granting of planning permission. The constant disregard for these conditions and the utter contempt Persimmons have for the local community is entirely unacceptable. We need to send the clearest and firmest of messages that such anti-social behaviour cannot be tolerated.

The stop notice has been requested. It will be interesting to see who Labour Leeds City Council put first - residents or the Developer!

Church Fields revisited

Readers will remember the controversial application for 370 houses proposed for Church Fields in East Ardsley. MARC (Morley against Reckless Construction) has been campaigning against it and we held a very well attended public meeting to raise opposition to it.

The site was due to be visited next Thursday with a debate on the proposal to take place the same afternoon. This has been postponed because the Planning Inspector examining Labour Leeds LDF document is unhappy with the figures they are proposing and questions whether they have a credible policy on a 5 year land supply.

This is where we get into Fantasy Planning area. As readers will remember the previous Labour Government - under their Regional Spatial Strategy - proposed a housing target of 4,300 new homes every year. The amendments proposed by the Planning Inspector is again suggesting a similar figure of 4,800 - more or less the same. We argue that as Labour Leeds City Council has granted planning permission for over 18,000 housing units on mainly brownfield sites and in a good year 3000 new housing units are built - then 18,000 divided by 3,000 would show enough land supply for 8 years.

But in Fantasy Planning world - occupied by all three major parties - they ignore reality and pretend such targets of 4,300 housing units are achievable and even a good thing! Real people know this level of over development means local schools, health centres and roads are overwhelmed with communities picking up the difficulties well after Developers have buggered off leaving us to deal with the mess they have left.

We will campaign robustly to defend this precious Greenfield site but the game of Fantasy Planning played by the Labour Party and others makes our job much harder!