Interesting articles relating to topics covered by TBAG.
www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/8269715.EPPING_FOREST__Gypsy_and_traveller_requirements_lifted/ 13/07/10
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/8259089.Agency_ruling_puts_golf_course_revamp_in_doubt/ 08/07/10
www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/8258603.THEYDON_BOIS__Green_Belt_land_sales_condemned/ 07/07/10
www.dunmowbroadcast.co.uk/home/essex_gypsy_battle_set_to_continue_1_521879 07/07/10
www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/8184308.THEYDON_BOIS__Rural_village_has__low_sensitivity_to_change__says_council_s_housing_document/ 25/05/10
www.guardian-series.co.uk/your_local_areas/8134570.THEYDON_BOIS__Council_hustings_to_discuss_gypsy_site_issue/ 04/05/10
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1270538/Residents-form-human-barricade-stop-travellers-building-illegal-site-picture-postcard-village.html 03/05/10
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7215591/Conservatives-to-unveil-plans-to-stop-illegal-gypsy-encampments.html 12/02/10
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/5663156/Builders-forced-to-work-on-100-million-gipsy-camps.html 27/06/09
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/4091663/First-43-sites-named-in-100-million-gipsy-camp-scheme.html 03/01/09
www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/4870202.NORTH_WEALD__District_council_set_to_object_to_golf_course_plans/ 25/01/10
www.express.co.uk/posts/view/153733/Freezing-weather-could-shut-golf-clubs 24/10/10
www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/professionals/news/archive/2010/jan/2010-01-week-3/210110_4
21 January 2010
Waste site errors lead to £95,000 compensation
Two planning authorities and the Environment Agency have agreed to pay £95,000 in compensation to the neighbours of an unauthorised waste site.
This payment is being made after the three public bodies allowed illegal waste activities to go unchecked over a seven-year period, according to a joint report from the Local Government Ombudsman and the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
The payment by the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council, and Rosendale Borough Council, reflected years of “extreme distress, aggravation and financial loss” suffered by a mother and her son after the Environment Agency and councils did not stop a neighbour from using his land as an illegal landfill site and failed to take appropriate enforcement action.
From 2000-2007 thousands of tonnes of rubbish was illegally dumped, burned and processed on farmland a few metres from their home. The waste, dumped on land designated as Green Belt, was enough to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The complaints about the damage the waste was causing to the environment and their property went unchecked for seven years.
The report criticises the three public bodies for failing to work together despite the existence of a national protocol which clearly required a coordinated joint approach on waste enforcement. The ombudsmen concluded that the case represented maladministration and injustice.
Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham said: “Our investigation found that the relevant authorities failed to take urgent or robust enforcement action, despite the very evident and unacceptable activities taking place on the neighbouring farm.”
Local Government Ombudsman Anne Seex said: “Anyone seeing the evidence of what happened on that land and of the devastation wrought on this beauty spot should be justifiably shocked and outraged that, despite all the legal safeguards in place, such events could actually happen."
The financial compensation has been divided among the Environment Agency and the councils according to their obligations to use their powers to act on the complaint. They have all accepted the Ombudsmen’s recommendations.
Read the Local Government Ombudsman press release
www.lgo.org.uk/news/2010/jan/environmentally-unfriendly-press-release/
Roger Milne
21 January 2010
Cannabis: Britain's Secret Farms 21/01/10
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qbbwd
www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/4845417.NORTH_WEALD__Golf_course_proposals_unanimously_opposed/#commentsList 11/01/10
www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2009/08/10/landfill-threat-for-uxbridge-golf-course-113046-24363339/
www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Waste-tip-golf-course-binned-protests/article-1487474-detail/article.html
www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/cheadle/news/Campaigners-look-nature-fight-quarry-waste-bid/article-1440263-detail/article.html
www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/4834887.EPPING_FOREST__Council_to_ask_for_removal_of_gypsy_consultation_obligations/ 05/01/10
www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/4805864.EPPING_FOREST__Gypsy_and_traveller_consultation_was_useless_claim_residents/ 18/12/09
www.everythingeppingforest.co.uk/news.htm
Action group opposes golf plans
19th December 2009
AN action group which opposed plans for a golf course in Theydon Bois is objecting to two more courses in North Weald which would take the number of courses in the village to five.
Theydon Bois Action Group has written to Essex County Council claiming that the plans for Blakes Golf Club - which wants to develop a second 18-hole course and a nine-hole course - are unsustainable.
The development would involve the importation of some 65,000 cubic metres of 'inert waste'.
Theydon Bois Action Group secretary Jacqueline Dodman, in her letter to the county council, writes: "There are an excessive number of golf courses in the locality that are struggling financially, and another course would not be appropriate. This is yet another cynical application to make a great deal of money by importing demolition waste and avoiding landfill tax."
The action group states that the developers behind Parsonage Golf at Blunts Farm in Theydon Bois withdrew their appeal against enforcement because they felt it was no longer financially viable to construct a golf course.
Mrs Dodman's letter states: "A second 18-hole golf course adjacent to Blakes cannot be sustainable or viable. A second course in the locality would cause financial problems for the three other golf courses in North Weald and the others in the district."
The action group adds that Epping Forest District Council must "make a stand" and ensure that the district "is not targeted by unscrupulous developers out to make a fast buck at the expense of the local environment and the health and safety of local residents".
Importation of material has been continuing at North Weald Golf Club in Rayley Lane while residents endured months of lorry movements during the construction of the existing Blakes course.
The letter from Theydon Bois Action Group will be discussed by North Weald Parish Council when they discuss the Blakes site plans at a meeting on Monday
The plots thicken for promoters of landbanking deals - Saturday Guardian 071109
www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/nov/07/landbanking-investment-scheme
Epping Life November 2009
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www.guardian-series.co.uk/archive/2009/11/10/Epping+Forest+News+%28eppingforest_news%29/4730549.THEYDON_BOIS__Drugs_factory_location_revealed/ 101109
www.guardian-series.co.uk/archive/2009/11/09/Epping+Forest+News+%28eppingforest_news%29/4727489.EPPING_FOREST__Two_to_appear_in_court_in_connection__with_cannabis_factory/ 091109
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/8349321.stm 081109
www.guardian-series.co.uk/archive/2009/11/08/Epping+Forest+News+%28eppingforest_news%29/4727078.THEYDON_BOIS__More_arrested_over_drugs_factory/ 081109
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/8348169.stm 071109
www.guardian-series.co.uk/archive/2009/11/07/Epping+Forest+News+%28eppingforest_news%29/4726638.THEYDON_BOIS__Huge_drugs_factory_busted_by_police/ 071109
www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23765990-pound-1m-worth-of-cannabis-plants-seized.do 071109
uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20091107/tuk-1m-worth-of-cannabis-plants-seized-6323e80.html 071109
www.guardian-series.co.uk/archive/2009/11/08/Epping+Forest+News+%28eppingforest_news%29/4726317.EPPING_FOREST__Council_rule_out_traveller_site_legal_challenge/ 081109
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223378/Gypsy-claimed-squatters-rights-land-tries-sell-BACK-council-450-000.html
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222638/Judge-rules-travellers-are-allowed-stay-Essex-green-belt-land-calling-victims.html 241009
www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/billericay/BILLERICAY-Bungalows-plan-green-belt-golf-course-site/article-1245690-detail/article.html 120809
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www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/ask-an-expert/article.html?in_article_id=409310&in_page
www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/01_january/23/inside_out.shtml
www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/news/CHELMSFORD-Victory-people-power/article-1347126-detail/article.html 170909
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080909
070909
Dear Editor
St Albans District Council have issued Legal proceedings at the High Court on 27th August, against the Secretary of State, in a bid to quash the increase in the number of Gypsy and Traveller pitches it needs to provide on the grounds it is disproportionately high.
The district council is challenging figures contained in the East of England Regional Assembly's policy on Accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers and Travelling Showpeople in the East of England – a document that forms part of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England. The council have said that they are not convinced there has been a robust assessment of what the need actually is.
St Albans already gives up 52 pitches of land to serve the community and the council says this figure is far more than other areas provide within Hertfordshire. The Government is asking the council to find space in the district for another 28 pitches between 2006 and 2011, and another estimated 24 between 2011 and 2021 – a total of 104.
The pitch provision for Epping Forest District has been reduced from 49 to 34 pitches, however various action and resident groups in the district believe this figure is still too high. The district will have the second highest number of authorised pitches, highest number of pitches per hectare of unconstrained land, highest number of pitches per population, highest number of pitches to planned new dwelling and the second highest concentration in relation to the distribution of construction and agriculture employment in Essex
Epping Forest District currently gives up 94 authorized pitches. The Government is asking EFDC to find space in our district for another 34 pitches between 2006 and 2011, ,and another estimated 40 pitches between 2011 and 2021 - a total of 168.
St Albans District council have said “The proposed increase would, given the environmental constraints that the district faces, threaten our Green Belt and result in an extra burden being placed on our already overstretched schools and other services.”
The Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is 'advising councils not to rush ahead with implementing the controversial elements of Regional Spatial Strategies, expending time and taxpayers’ money that may be wasted. Ultimately, councillors should seek to serve the best interests of their residents while operating within the law, rather than jump to the latest arbitrary demands from Whitehall or the Regional Government Offices. I would encourage councils to say ‘no’ when the Government attempts to force your council to act at a speed which is not a binding legal necessity.'
Is it time for EFDC to say 'no' ?
Theydon Bois Action Group
www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/4577223.High_Court_challenge_over_gypsy_and_traveller_pitch_numbers/?ref=rss 020909
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www.express.co.uk:80/posts/view/89364/War-on-the-waste-Mafia
150309
September 2008 issue of CPRE Fieldwork page 10.
Click here to download this file
www.dailymail.co.uk:80/news/article-1148767/Pensioner-faces-jail-refusing-pay-council-tax-travellers-door-commit-250-crimes.html 190209
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5569848.ece 230109
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2005-2007 News
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