NO NEGOTIATIONS!
NO MORE IMPORTATION!
Blunts Farm Estates are currently persuading Parish Councillors and EFDC’s Planning Department that given a minimum of 6 more months of dumping, as per a letter from the developer to TBPC dated 8th January 2007 and Parsonage Golf can be completed by Autumn 2007. Perhaps councillors have forgotten the promises made by Mr Newman and Mr Dilloway when they were developing Blakes Golf formerly Ongar Park Golf in North Weald.
The Guardian newspaper reported on 16th August 2001 ‘WORK started two months ago on the new pay-and-play golf course in North Weald but it will be four years before the course is open to the public.’
On 12th December 2002 the Guardian reported: ‘THE developer behind plans for a golf course at North Weald has dismissed a suggestion that the company has no intention of building a course on the land, and instead will use it as a landfill site. Serious concerns were raised regarding the construction of Ongar Park Golf Course during a special district council meeting, when members admitted they did not have a full grasp of what was happening at the site. "It's quite clear this very large amount of material has gone in without proper controls." He said work was currently underway filling the 160-acre site with tonnes of soil before it could be shaped into a championship-standard 18-hole golf course, hopefully by September next year.
Was the course finished by September 2003?
10th April 2003 the Guardian reported ‘Mr Dilloway spoke to the Guardian as councillors raised concerns about the material and high number of lorries driving to and from the site, and the route they are taking through North Weald. Work began on the 160-acre course in June 2001. Seven of the 18 holes are shaped and the rest should be shaped by September. There is no opening date for the par-72 course as it is going to be left to mature for about a year once work is complete. Councillors hope the lessons learnt in the development will guide them when handling similar developments in future.
North Weald Councillor David Stallan said: "They (the lorries) are continuous and going through very early in the morning. These sort of lorries should not be driving through North Weald."
On the 5th June 2003 the Guardian reported ‘Discussions are to be held to try and get a legal agreement with the developer of Ongar Park Golf Course to limit the number and route of lorries going to the site. "The developers anticipate that all earthworks and grading will be finished by September. As the soil importation and internal movement will last for only another four or five months, the developers question whether a legal agreement could be satisfactorily concluded within this time period."
Councillor Anne Grigg said: "My experience has been that many projects are not finished on time and there could be circumstances which mean the importation of soil cannot finish."
So the course was supposed to be finished by September 2003 and the developer is now talking about another four or five months of spoil importation.
The 11th December 2003 Gazette reported that ‘The developer behind work to create the Ongar Park golf course is being told it will get no more concessions UK Golf and Leisure is still taking lorry loads of soil on to the site three months after councillors were told it would end. Councillor David Stallan, chairman of a special district council committee set up to oversee the progress, has blasted the company for "misleading" the council over the timescale for soil importation. Councillors maintain they were told the countless trucks taking soil to the site through Epping and North Weald and along the A414 were going to stop on September 30 2003. Mr Dilloway said this deadline was not meant to refer to soil needed to fill a large hole dug for clay excavation.
Mr Stallan said: "I was very annoyed that despite the fact they're still importing soil two months after we were assured they would be stopping, they were being given concessions on other areas. They knew what we wanted when we asked for that date at the end of September. They should have said 'we have to dig this hole'. I feel we were mis-led." He added: "It's about time the district council said 'no more'.
The Gazette of 12th April 2004 states LONG-suffering residents living near the Ongar Park golf course at North Weald only have six more weeks to endure lorry loads of soil trundling past their homes.
In-filling at the A414 site is still going on but UK Golf and Leisure director George Dilloway has told the Guardian they are almost finished. Epping Forest Council officers have been keeping an eye on the situation and they too have promised residents that only a few more lorry loads are required.
The site was raised to the correct levels by last October but large amounts of soil were still needed to fill a hole, which had been dug at the site for clay.
Mr Dilloway said all 18 holes had now been constructed and the company hoped to have half the course playable by the autumn and the remainder by 2005. UK Golf and Leisure was slammed by councillors last year accusing the firm of "misleading" them over the timescale for soil importation. At the time, Mr Dilloway said the timescale had never included filling the clay hole and said the rest of the in-filling had been completed on schedule.
So it is seven months after the developer assured EFDC that the course would be completed and they are still importing material on to the site.
Eight months pass and the Guardian reported on 30 December 2004 ‘RESIDENTS who thought they had seen the end of heavy lorries trundling in and out of Ongar Park Golf Course, have been told to expect up to 1,000 more lorry movements. The bombshell came after it emerged that UK Golf and Leisure, the company building the course, has broken its planning permission and brought too much soil on to the site. Epping Forest Council's area plans committee members voiced their anger and voted to take a hard line with the company and make it remove the material. The meeting heard the extra material would lead to a store building being five metres higher than agreed. North Weald councillor Ann Grigg said: "The working group set up by the council attempted to work with this company and there was quite a lot of meetings, but at the end the group took a very hard line and said no more and now we find despite that they flouted it. "A very hard line has to be taken." Fellow village councillor Dave Stallan added: "The village has suffered enough for a number of years. I'm sure residents will not be happy with more lorries but we should be sending out a clear signal." The council's assistant head of planning, Barry Land, said: "About two to three weeks ago we received a number of complaints from local residents of a considerable number of lorry movements. We had been informed that all lorry movements have finished."
The course was supposed to be completed and spoil importation finished in September 2003 and in December 2004 lorries are still importing to the site.
How can anyone negotiate with these developers when it seems clear that in the past they have ‘misled’ EFDC and Parish Councillors to this degree?
The developers were importing building waste to the site for three and a half years. But the course is still importing waste to this day. During recent road maintenance in Theydon Bois, a Parish Councillor informed us that the old tarmac, which has to be removed from the roads before they can be re- tacmaced, was taken to Blakes Golf course. What are they doing with imported material two years after the course was supposed to be completed? Does this mean that Parsonage Golf will end up being a permanent landfill site even after the course is supposed to be finished? So please do not insult our intelligence by attempting to tell us that a few more months of importation will see an end to the damage that this developer has caused to the villages of Abridge and Theydon Bois.
The only way forward is to refuse any more importation of any kind.