Action Briefing Dec 2004 - Jan 2005
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Peddimore: into the Green Belt, out of the woods?

It’s over a year since we reported on the Planning Inspector's ruling that Peddimore, Sutton Coldfield, be returned to the Green Belt, a move which thwarted a dastardly scheme to create a ‘major investment site’ by building a factory there (see Action Briefing Oct/Nov 2003).

This was great news, but we knew that the development could still go ahead, as Peddimore had not been dropped from Regional Planning Guidance.

Since then, the City Council too have voted to return Peddimore to the Green Belt. While I don’t suppose for a minute that the Council hold the Green Belt sacrosanct (is Bassetts Pole also to be spared?), they have judged that, in this case, Green Belt policy is worth upholding. The piles of evidence we all brought to the Local Plan Inquiry a couple of years ago seem to have done the trick. In any case, Peddimore, though a huge (50ha) site, is in an inconvenient location and there have been only two semi-serious enquiries from prospective buyers in eight years.

Thumbs-down
So, it’s not just us tree-huggers, but the local people, the Planning Inspector and the local Council who have given the development the thumbs-down. Unfortunately this is not the end of the story. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott can still overrule the Council, as indeed he has done twice before.

If Prescott does overrule us, the decision should be subject to an investigation of its own: how can two government bodies examine the same evidence and come to completely different conclusions? But even if he upholds the Council’s decision, serious questions remain about the new planning law and local control. Over the past six years we've seen 'Community Empowerment Networks', 'Neighbourhood Renewal', the 'New Localism', 'Devolution' and 'Community Strategies' introduced. And yet when it comes to any decision above the level of where we want the litter bins placed, the power in our hands seems to turn into a very slippery bar of soap and disappear down the odious plughole of Westminster.

Karen Leach