Agenda item

Councillor Snowdon proposed the following motion on notice:

 

“This Council notes: 

·        That Green belt land in Bishop’s Stortford has been split into residential-sized parcels for sale, with two recent examples being the Thorley Lane East Woods and the Meads Land, South of Meadowlands off Rye Street 

·        The Thorley lane East Woods are Green Belt Land, have a Tree Preservation Order on the site and are listed as Open Space in the recently adopted Neighbourhood Plan 

·        The Rye Street land is Green Belt land, Local Open Space, and an Area of Archaeological Significance  

·        The sale of Green Belt and rural land in this manner is a problem across East Hertfordshire and beyond, with similar examples in Much Hadham, Braughing and Tewin 

·        The strong public feeling that Green Belt land should not be parcelled up into small chunks

·        The considerable public desire to protect the woodland on Thorley Lane East and the Meads Land Rye Street from development 

·        That both the Thorley Lane East Woods and Meads Land are considered by local people to be important local amenity land 

·        Bishop’s Stortford Town Council approached the sellers of both the Meads and Thorley Lane East Woods to try buy the land. In both cases the sellers were not willing to sell at the market rate for amenity land. In both cases the sellers were asking for prices closer to development land prices  

·        On 10th October 2022, Bishop's Stortford Town Council passed a motion substantially the same as this motion, and it received cross-party support

This Council believes: 

·        Green Belt land should be protected from being sold off in small plots 

·        Some prospective buyers of small plots of Green Belt land do not fully understand the planning challenges associated with trying to develop this land
 

This Council resolves: 

·        To ask the Leader of the District Council to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to: 

o   Express the Town Council’s frustration that Green Belt land is being sold in small parcels 

o   Ask the Secretary of State to consider new legislation and/or regulations to tighten up the rules about selling Green Belt land 

o   Ask the Secretary of State to ensure that there are strict rules around the information that is made available to prospective buyers of Green Belt land by sellers. In particular, a full assessment of the planning status of the land should be prominently displayed in any planning material 

·        To ask the Leader to write to the Thorley Lane East Woods Action Group to send them a copy of this motion”

Councillor Snowdon said there was significant public concern about the sale of green belt land in Bishop’s Stortford and other areas. He said the motion was carefully worded based upon a similar motion passed at Bishop’s Stortford Town Council recently although that motion went further because it was not a planning authority. He understood that some Members wanted the motion to go further but he thought it was the best motion the Council could pass.

Councillor Wyllie seconded the motion and reserved his right to speak.

Councillor Bell said she supported the motion and said it was important to protect green belt land from being developed. She said that there was an error on the first bullet point under ‘This Council resolves’ where it refers to the Town Council. She proposed an amendment to the motion to change this to the District Council.

The amendment having been proposed by Councillor Bell and seconded by Councillor Curtis was put to the meeting and was declared CARRIED. The amended motion then became the substantive motion as follows:

“This Council notes: 

·        That Green belt land in Bishop’s Stortford has been split into residential-sized parcels for sale, with two recent examples being the Thorley Lane East Woods and the Meads Land, South of Meadowlands off Rye Street 

·        The Thorley lane East Woods are Green Belt Land, have a Tree Preservation Order on the site and are listed as Open Space in the recently adopted Neighbourhood Plan 

·        The Rye Street land is Green Belt land, Local Open Space, and an Area of Archaeological Significance  

·        The sale of Green Belt and rural land in this manner is a problem across East Hertfordshire and beyond, with similar examples in Much Hadham, Braughing and Tewin 

·        The strong public feeling that Green Belt land should not be parcelled up into small chunks

·        The considerable public desire to protect the woodland on Thorley Lane East and the Meads Land Rye Street from development 

·        That both the Thorley Lane East Woods and Meads Land are considered by local people to be important local amenity land 

·        Bishop’s Stortford Town Council approached the sellers of both the Meads and Thorley Lane East Woods to try buy the land. In both cases the sellers were not willing to sell at the market rate for amenity land. In both cases the sellers were asking for prices closer to development land prices  

·        On 10th October 2022, Bishop's Stortford Town Council passed a motion substantially the same as this motion, and it received cross-party support

This Council believes: 

·        Green Belt land should be protected from being sold off in small plots 

·        Some prospective buyers of small plots of Green Belt land do not fully understand the planning challenges associated with trying to develop this land

 

This Council resolves: 

·        To ask the Leader of the District Council to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to: 

o   Express the District Council’s frustration that Green Belt land is being sold in small parcels 

o   Ask the Secretary of State to consider new legislation and/or regulations to tighten up the rules about selling Green Belt land 

o   Ask the Secretary of State to ensure that there are strict rules around the information that is made available to prospective buyers of Green Belt land by sellers. In particular, a full assessment of the planning status of the land should be prominently displayed in any planning material 

·        To ask the Leader to write to the Thorley Lane East Woods Action Group to send them a copy of this motion.

Councillor Goldspink said she firmly supported the motion and it was very important to protect green open spaces. She believed the motion could be strengthened.

 

Councillor Wilson proposed the following amendment to be added under ‘This Council notes’:

 

·        Council expresses regret at the amount of former Green Belt land that has been built on or is due to be built on throughout the District as a result of the plans developed in the District Plan of 2018

·        Council deplores the fact that the national government forced every local planning authority to construct a fixed amount of housing, meaning building on Green Belt was inevitable

·        It is accepted that siting developments in Bishop's Stortford North has caused intolerable strain on the infrastructure in the town whilst the prospect of a distribution centre in Bishop's Stortford South represents an even greater difficulty. 

·        It is regrettable that developments have been and will be built on former Green Belt land and admits that the consequent loss of green spaces is not in accord with residents' needs or wishes

·        This council will do all it can to alleviate the inevitable strain on infrastructure that the development of Gilston will bring.

·        This council accepts errors were made in the local plan and that less developments should have been sited around the same pieces of infrastructure, specifically the north-south "corridor" from Bishop Stortford southwards towards Harlow, More brownfield sites should have been sought if at all possible.

 

Councillor Townsend seconded the motion.

 

Councillor Wilson proposed to adjourn the meeting for ten minutes under paragraph 3.21 of the Constitution to allow the Council to consider the amendment. Councillor Snowdon seconded the motion.

 

The motion to adjourn the meeting for ten minutes having been proposed and seconded was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

 

RESOLVED – That the meeting be adjourned for ten minutes.

 

The meeting reconvened.

 

The Chairman asked if the amendment was allowed under the Council Procedure Rules.

 

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services referred to paragraph 3.22.6 of the Constitution which said amendments were allowed as long as the effect was not to negate the motion or substantially rewrite the motion. He said he believed the amendment as proposed moved into other issues around planning and the District Plan, whereas the original motion was purposely and narrowly focussed on the sale of green belt land. He said the amendment would negate the motion and would  therefore not be accepted.

 

The Chairman said that Members could now debate the substantive motion.

 

Councillor Crofton said he supported the motion and had experienced the selling off of land parcels in his ward. He said these sites had no chance of gaining planning permission but were being sold as development sites. He said the District Council needed to be strong in their planning and control of unauthorised use of land.

 

Councillor Stowe said that in his ward, plot lands had sheds, polytunnels and even people living in caravans on them. He said the enforcement team were aware but agents were telling buyers that they could do this to get future planning permission on the site.

 

Councillor McAndrew supported the motion.

 

Councillor Boylan expressed support for the motion. He said that a large field in Braughing had been sold by the farmer and was now divided into 60 housing plots which had different owners on the land registry. Councillor Boylan said that because of the number of different owners there was no ownership of the field and it did not get maintained.  

 

Councillor Curtis said that selling of plots of green belt land was outrageous and asked what was meant by the motion asking to strengthen the rules.

 

Councillor Devonshire said that selling agents were giving false information to buyers about the potential of the plots.

 

Councillor Crystall said he agreed with the essence of the motion but asked how a ‘small plot’ was defined.

 

Councillor Snowdon replied to the points raised in the debate. He said the term ‘small plot’ was a well known one in the planning industry. He said the council had a District Plan and places where development was and was not allowed. He said that Members had spoken quite strongly on problems in their own wards and it was a hard problem to solve but just because it was hard, should not mean that the council should not try to solve it. He said this was a motion about policy and not about legislation implementation.

 

Having been proposed and seconded, the substantive motion was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

 

          RESOLVED – That:

 

“This Council notes: 

·        That Green belt land in Bishop’s Stortford has been split into residential-sized parcels for sale, with two recent examples being the Thorley Lane East Woods and the Meads Land, South of Meadowlands off Rye Street 

·        The Thorley lane East Woods are Green Belt Land, have a Tree Preservation Order on the site and are listed as Open Space in the recently adopted Neighbourhood Plan 

·        The Rye Street land is Green Belt land, Local Open Space, and an Area of Archaeological Significance  

·        The sale of Green Belt and rural land in this manner is a problem across East Hertfordshire and beyond, with similar examples in Much Hadham, Braughing and Tewin 

·        The strong public feeling that Green Belt land should not be parcelled up into small chunks

·        The considerable public desire to protect the woodland on Thorley Lane East and the Meads Land Rye Street from development 

·        That both the Thorley Lane East Woods and Meads Land are considered by local people to be important local amenity land 

·        Bishop’s Stortford Town Council approached the sellers of both the Meads and Thorley Lane East Woods to try buy the land. In both cases the sellers were not willing to sell at the market rate for amenity land. In both cases the sellers were asking for prices closer to development land prices  

·        On 10th October 2022, Bishop's Stortford Town Council passed a motion substantially the same as this motion, and it received cross-party support

This Council believes: 

·        Green Belt land should be protected from being sold off in small plots 

·        Some prospective buyers of small plots of Green Belt land do not fully understand the planning challenges associated with trying to develop this land

 

This Council resolves: 

·        To ask the Leader of the District Council to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to: 

o   Express the District Council’s frustration that Green Belt land is being sold in small parcels 

o   Ask the Secretary of State to consider new legislation and/or regulations to tighten up the rules about selling Green Belt land 

o   Ask the Secretary of State to ensure that there are strict rules around the information that is made available to prospective buyers of Green Belt land by sellers. In particular, a full assessment of the planning status of the land should be prominently displayed in any planning material 

·        To ask the Leader to write to the Thorley Lane East Woods Action Group to send them a copy of this motion.