John Baron

Conservative Party | Billericay and District

John Baron MP formally objects to development at Barn Hall

MP says the view of local residents must prevail

At the end of last year, John Baron MP made public his opposition to the proposed development on the land to the north of Station Avenue, Wickford, known locally as Barn Hall. As developers have now submitted planning applications, John has written a formal letter of objection to the Council.

John said:

“Although I have always made public my opposition to Barn Hall being developed, now that a planning application has been submitted I have written a formal letter of objection to the Council. I have stressed the importance of ensuring that local resident’s views must decide what happens to this site, and the majority view is against development.”

“I have reminded the Council of my long held view that decisions affecting our local greenbelt need to be made by local residents, and not by politicians sitting in London or elsewhere – for it is local residents who have to live with the consequences of these decisions. It is simply undemocratic to do anything else.”

“In addition, we must always remember that development of our open spaces puts an increased strain on our already overstretched public services. We do not have enough police on our streets, nurses are being laid off, our teachers are overstretched, whilst our roads and pavements need more investment. Putting up hundreds more houses without an increase in investment in our local services can only make matters worse.”

“The Council has previously explained that Barn Hall is allocated in the Basildon District Local Plan as an ‘area of special reserve’, and that the owners may have been prompted to consider developing it due to the fact that the Council has withdrawn from the Replacement Local Plan – but this in itself does not mean that sites such as Barn Hall become available for development. Indeed, in previous correspondence, the Council has assured me that all applications will be assessed on the basis that the land is a greenbelt site, and that therefore any development is inappropriate unless there are very special circumstances to justify granting permission. I cannot see what these circumstances could be.”