Gloucestershire County Council ready to sell out Leckhampton to developers

On April 4th I asked the Tory run Gloucestershire County Council to request that land it owns in Leckhampton be protected from development as part of a scheme being run by Fields in Trust that allows land owners to request that their land is designated as part of the Queen Elizabeth II  field  challenge. 

I have now had a reply after 4 months which seems to confirm the Conservatives have abandoned their pledge not to sell land they own to developers wanting to build 1,300 houses in the area.

This is the email I sent to Pete Bungard, the Chief Executive of the County Council on April 4th:

"Because it is Diamond Jubilee year, fields are to be nominated all across the country to be protected ‘forever’.  Quoted from the website “The ‘Fields in Trust's’ flagship programme, headed by its Patron The Duke of Cambridge, aims to protect 2012 outdoor recreational spaces in communities all across the country as a permanent living legacy of these landmark occasions. 

I would like GCC to be nominate land we own in Leckhampton (off Kidnappers Lane) to become QEII fields - http://www.qe2fields.com/ and  http://www.fieldsintrust.org/ This area, like nearby Cheltenham Borough Council owned Burrows field, is widely used for recreation purposes particularly walking and informal recreation."

At that time I was told that because of the local council elections the County Council was not taking any major decisions but requests like this would be dealt with after the election.

On July 15th I sent a follow up email to find out what progress had been made:

"As you will recall I asked before the elections for the County to consider nominating land they own in Leckhampton to be designated as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee celebrations. At the time you said that due to Purdah no major decisions were being taken. Please can you let me know what progress or decisions have been made in relation to this since the elections have finished?

Also a member of Leckhampton Green Land Action Group has asked me and Cllr Smith to do all we can to persuade the County to allow land it owns to provide much needed allotments for Cheltenham. The land is within the boundary of Leckhampton with Warden Hill Parish and so it is their duty to provide for allotments in the area although I understand that CBC would support land here being used for allotments to meet need within the Parish.

Please could you let me know who the responsible officer who could perhaps help with this in more detail."

I  finally received an email from an officer of the County Council in reply to my emails on 5th August. Disappointingly despite previous pledges from the Tory run council not to sell the land they own in Leckhampton they are now suggesting that due to its value to developers, the council should 'reserve its position as landowner'. I have copied and pasted the full email below.

"I write with reference to your emails to Pete Bungard of April 5, 12 and July 17 concerning GCC owned land in Leckhampton (off Kidnappers Lane) and designating this as a playing field under the ‘Fields in Trust’ programme.

I have now been able to review this idea with Andrew McCartney, who has responsibility for our property portfolio.

Given the commercial interest in the site it would seem sensible for the Council to reserve its position as landowner. Any developer will need to include proposals for open space and the local community will be able to comment on these when the planning application is consulted on by the Borough Council, as the Local Planning Authority. It will be for them to determine, in accordance with their local planning policies, the nature and amount of open space associated with the development.

Andrew has reviewed the wider property portfolio in the area but there does not appear to be a suitable alternative site for a playing field in GCC ownership.

In your email of July 17 you also mention land for allotments – you talk about land in County ownership and my understanding is that you are referring to the same land as discussed above (e.g. Kidnappers Lane - Farm lane). Again I think it would be appropriate through the planning process for the local community to encourage the developer via the Borough to bring forward allotments as part of their open space contribution. If you have other GCC land in mind, outside of the likely development proposal, then I’d be happy to consider this with Andrew.

One final thought concerns Neighbourhood Plans and whether the local parish councils had considered preparing them. This might help develop the evidence base for securing green space contributions through the planning process in the future. Again the Borough are best placed to advise on this."

Neighbourhood plans do not prevent development, they can ask for more development to take place than is being suggested but are not a tool to help a community save land for its own value so I have no idea why this is mentioned in the email. 

To have to wait four months to be told that the County are reserving their position due to the value of the land to the developers is a massive blow. And considering all of the half truths peddled by the Tories about the Joint Core Strategy in their election documents in the run up to the local election, this seeming attempt to cash in on the precious fields in Leckhampton is even more utterly appalling.