On Monday 16th June Rt. Hon. Caroline Flint, Minister for Housing, visited the Marston Vale Forest Centre. She was met by a vocal and energetic protest group, and later spent nearly thirty minutes with seven Lidlington residents; Mike Blackmore, Jeff Bulled, Iain Clapham, Maggie Haworth, Emma Herring, Tess Mason and Ian Tomkins.
She listened to our complaints about how neither the developers nor her department have talked to the village and how one “muddled up” bid is really three separate towns. We really hope that she no longer believes that farmland round the village is a “despoiled landscape of abandoned quarries”! The real shocker was the minister telling us that the whole vale is “a growth area liable for development in the future” and that an 'ECO?' town would be a better way of planning such a large number of homes and it could have its own energy from waste plant etc.
Anyone involved in farming will be alarmed that she said that farmland could be less bio-diverse than an 'ECO?' town which will be greener and have more wildlife !
The minister assured us that no decision has been made and she was not just paying us lip service and that the whole purpose was not to rush into something so that developers could shove in their planning applications. Also that it is the responsibility of the developers and bidders to make the case to local communities. However the deadline for the next phase is still 30th June 2008.
