Object
Local Plan 2015-2030 Preferred Options for Consultation
Representation ID: 50
Received: 24/08/2013
Respondent: john winfield
The proposed enterprise park is located on the site of the former M25 motorway widening works compound. At the completion of the project the site should have been returned to open agricultural land. This has not happened and there is a question mark of the legality of use of this land for anyhting other than agriculture.
The land in this core policy - in particular that on the south side of A127 is described as 'previously developed land'. This is not the case. This area was the location of the M25 motorway widening works site run by Skanska Balfour Beatty. In July 2009 when work started on this site, meetings were held with planning officers, Highways Agency and site managers. Before work started this was agricultural land. I and others (including Great Warley Conservation Society and Havering Residents Association) received written assurances from James Richardson, the Project Director for the site that "Once the works are complete, the compound will be transformed back to its former use as open agricultural land". The project was completed in July 2012 and whilst a small part of the site was landscaped - the bulk of the buildings, roadways and lights remain.
The guarantee that the site would be returned to agricultural usage has not been met and despite numerous reminders to local planning officers, the situation has not changed.
I therefore question the legality of such land being considered as part of a proposed Enterprise Park.