GOSE refuse call-in for Abbotswood waste site plans

10.30.42am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 4th Apr 2007

Cllrs Billy Drummond & Julian Swift-Hook vow to continue the fight against the Tories, who want to build the Abbotswood waste site

Despite protests from hundreds of Greenham residents, GOSE have decided not to call in the Abbotswood decision because "the issues raised do not relate to matters of more than local importance".

When he heard the news, Cllr Swift-Hook was furious. "I am really amazed that GOSE don't see that these plans conflict with national policies - even though there is a clear breach of national planning rules", he fumed.

"Another example of the Government ignoring local people," raged Cllr Billy Drummond, "It looks like the residents of Greenham have been stitched up by the Tories on West Berks Council, and the Government are letting them get away with it."

Protests from hundreds of residents, as well as several local businesses and institutions, have been swept aside by both Tory West Berkshire Council and the Government's representatives at GOSE.

Now the only thing that will stop Abbotswood from happening is if the application to build 64 houses on the existing HWRC site at Pinchington Lane is refused by a meeting of West Berkshire Council in June.

This application has been refused once already by the Council's Western Area Planning Committee on 7th March, but amazingly, the main reason given was nothing to do with the fact that the plan will extinguish three existing consented waste sites, including the current HWRC. This means it is very easy for the Committee's "refusal" decision to be overturned if the applicant appeals to the Government Planning Inspectorate.

Senior members of the Planning Committee pointed out that the "reasons for refusal" were insufficient, but their views were rubbished by the other Councillors on the Committee (who represent the rural villages of West Berkshire), who then voted the decision through.

Recognising that the Committee's decision could so easily be reversed, some Committee Members, including Cllr Denise Gaines (Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem opposition) insisted that a decision of this magnitude should be reviewed by the full Council, not just a small committee.

"I am amazed that the Tory members of the Committee were happy to vote through such a weak refusal, knowing as they did that the decision could be so easily reversed", said Town Councillor Arthur Johnson after the meeting on 7th March.

"They went out of their way to exclude the most important reasons from the decision, and as a result they may have put the Council at risk. Why would they do that? I am pleased the Lib Dems insisted that the whole Council should have the chance to make a robust decision that includes ALL of the reasons for refusal, not just the weakest one."