Up to £20 million "kickback" for Government when developers destroy Barn Hall fields!
04/06/09 00:00
An important fact has come to WNGAG's attention as a
result of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. In
the April 2003 contract, when the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) sold the
two fields at the end of Station Avenue to the (then)
developers, Gleeson Homes Southern Ltd, there were
clauses detailing the expectation that planning
permission would be sought to build upon them, taken
to appeal if permission was refused by the local
authority, and pursued as far as the Secretary of
State - all of which, of course, is what happened
between 2006 and 2008. But there was further clause
that, when planning permission was eventually gained,
there would be a ‘kickback' to the Government,
amounting to 85% of the difference between the
£150,000 sale price in 2003 and what the two fields
would then be worth with permission to build - which
could be up to £20 million!
This contract was previously known about in very general terms but its detail has never been public knowledge - until now. Nor did anyone ever imagine that the Government stood to profit by such a vast amount. Do not forget how they acquired these fields in the first place. They were requisitioned from a local farmer and residents' gardens by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF - DEFRA's predecessor) during the Second World War as part of its initiative to ‘dig for victory'. 60 years later, they're just another asset to be ‘flogged off to make a quick buck' without, they no doubt hoped, local people finding out. Well, thanks to FOI, they now have found out!
John Baron MP has written to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who made the final decision in October 2008 to allow building to start at Barn Hall, to protest at this "conflict of interest". The local community, the local councillors, the local council, the local MP, the independent Planning Inspector, who held a Public Inquiry - everyone - opposed development. Yet Hazel Blears, and Hazel Blears alone, granted planning permission - without one tiny mention that her Government would profit by up to £20 million as a result! John asked her to reconsider her decision…….something she now, personally, won't now be doing as within days, engulfed with other MPs in revelations relating to their expenses, she resigned. A spokesman from her Department said "The Government has acted properly. The financial interest was not brought up in the inquiry and was not a factor in the Government's decision-making." Does that sound rather familiar? "They can't lie straight in bed" is what one of WNGAG's elderly supporters, who's had dealings with politicians all his life, put it.
You can more about this surprise revelation in John Baron's press release and in the Basildon Evening Echo.
Further investigations are being made into the legal position but, at the end of the day, even if it is all legal, is it morally right? Everyone can make their own mind up about that. And, whatever happens in the future at Barn Hall, everyone will now know the facts that lay behind the sale of the land and the final decision to grant planning permission.
This contract was previously known about in very general terms but its detail has never been public knowledge - until now. Nor did anyone ever imagine that the Government stood to profit by such a vast amount. Do not forget how they acquired these fields in the first place. They were requisitioned from a local farmer and residents' gardens by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF - DEFRA's predecessor) during the Second World War as part of its initiative to ‘dig for victory'. 60 years later, they're just another asset to be ‘flogged off to make a quick buck' without, they no doubt hoped, local people finding out. Well, thanks to FOI, they now have found out!
John Baron MP has written to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who made the final decision in October 2008 to allow building to start at Barn Hall, to protest at this "conflict of interest". The local community, the local councillors, the local council, the local MP, the independent Planning Inspector, who held a Public Inquiry - everyone - opposed development. Yet Hazel Blears, and Hazel Blears alone, granted planning permission - without one tiny mention that her Government would profit by up to £20 million as a result! John asked her to reconsider her decision…….something she now, personally, won't now be doing as within days, engulfed with other MPs in revelations relating to their expenses, she resigned. A spokesman from her Department said "The Government has acted properly. The financial interest was not brought up in the inquiry and was not a factor in the Government's decision-making." Does that sound rather familiar? "They can't lie straight in bed" is what one of WNGAG's elderly supporters, who's had dealings with politicians all his life, put it.
You can more about this surprise revelation in John Baron's press release and in the Basildon Evening Echo.
Further investigations are being made into the legal position but, at the end of the day, even if it is all legal, is it morally right? Everyone can make their own mind up about that. And, whatever happens in the future at Barn Hall, everyone will now know the facts that lay behind the sale of the land and the final decision to grant planning permission.