The planning meeting this month considered the application to increase the number of houses to be built at Blakenham Fields by using the land once set aside for employment and a school.  This increase allowed the District and County Councils to negotiate developer funding for the shop, education and early years and sports facilities overcoming the “viability” issues the developer claims to have with the original agreement.  As this occurred the minister, Brendan Lewis, appears to have backtracked on his decisions to allow developers to escape from commitments using the viability argument under pressure from London authorities.

I opened my presentation to the committee by saying “I am convinced we are dumping developments in Gt Blakenham to the detriment of the population.  We appear to have made a lot of concessions to get the site completed but there are a lot of unfinished issues.

The local residents are incensed that they have gained little to mitigate their problems.  They face crowded doctor’s surgeries, oversubscribed pre-school provision, lack of primary school capacity, no village centre shop, daytime only public transport, congested roads and lack of local community facilities.”

And finished “The development has got too large for this location.  I believe we should not grant planning permission until Early Years, Primary School, Highways and Primary Care issues are resolved to the state where they can be clearly communicated and agreed by the community and until the heads of agreement leave a minimum opportunity for future confusion and failed delivery.” (The full text is on my www site)

Although many councillors appeared to accept my arguments and those of Michael Blakenham, the majority eventually voted to approve the plans.

That leaves me with the need to get these problems addressed or evidence produced that they are less than people fear.  I have started by getting the County officers to make face to face contact with the school heads to ensure both parties understand the issues and use the available finance to good purpose.  They have also promised to carry the lack of early years provision forward with vigour.