Crispin Blunt

Conservative Party | Reigate

Minister finally confirms airfields’ planning status unchanged

Redhill Aerodrome still protected from speculative development

Local MP extracts answer from Government

 

In a letter to Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, the Housing and Planning Minister has confirmed that Planning Policy Statement 3 does not change the status of airfields compared to the previous policy PPG3. In a letter dated 24th January Yvette Cooper states: “there is no presumption that previously-developed land is necessarily suitable for housing development…This applies to airfields as to all other land uses.” The letter goes on to say: “It is up to local authorities to decide on a case by case basis.”

It took three letters from Mr Blunt to first the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and then the Department for Communities and Local Government and finally a Written Parliamentary Question to extract the information. In a letter of 29th March the Minister stated that it “was not the intention in proposing these amendments…to change policy in relation to the prospective development of airfields for housing.” Mr Blunt, was concerned that this could be read as an unintended change but a change nonetheless. A second letter delivered the same reply – after a wait of some five weeks.

Speaking in Westminster Mr Blunt said:

“I was not prepared to accept that the Government had not intended a change, but wanted a clear statement that there was no change in status. I am only sorry that it took the best part of a year to establish this. Thankfully the letter from Yvette Cooper states that there is no change of status – a copy has been placed in the House of Commons library and the status of airfields is now unambiguous and on the record.”

Yvette Cooper’s clarification of government policy will come as a blow to developers who had hoped that the new PPG3 would declare airfields to be Brownfield. Instead the decision rests with local authorities. Current proposals to developed Redhill Aerodrome cannot now rely on new central government planning rules but will have to take their case to Tandridge District Council. The Chief Executive of Redhill Aerodrome wrote a letter to Mr Blunt in November in which he erroneously declared: “As you will be aware, the aerodrome is previously developed “brownfield” land.” However, Tandridge Council disagrees. The Director of Planning, RW Evans stated: “I wish to reiterate again the Green Belt status of the whole of Redhill Aerodrome…the site is wholly within the Green Belt and subject to strong Green Belt policies.

Crispin Blunt went on to comment:

“I hope Redhill Aerodrome Limited will finally accept that the land is not automatically Brownfield – indeed that it is Green Belt land. Here is a clear example of central government’s refusal to protect the Green Belt with enough vigour giving encouragement to developers by refusing to clearly state the policy. Any planning decision for this site is the responsibility of the local authorities – whose views could not be clearer.

“Every week I hear of a new development which would alter the character of the constituency. A combination of imposed targets and central government policies allows developers to adopt a policy of wearing down local residents and deliberately misrepresenting planning laws. As I have warned before, local people and local elected representatives must be ever vigilant in the face of this threat to the character of our towns and villages.”