New Town: Tories Don't Want to Listen (Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats)

Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats <info@saffronwaldenlibdems.org.uk>

New Town: Tories Don't Want to Listen

November 13, 2007 8:44 PM

The Liberal Democrats are fighting Conservative plans for a new town near Elsenham.

Uttlesford Tories have today agreed the form of the consultation on the location of 4200 homes in Uttlesford including a new settlement in Elsenham. This will take the form of an A3 leaflet with little more than basic facts.

Cllr Peter Wilcock, Liberal Democrat Group Leader commented, "I am not sure that this leaflet will even start to engage with the residents of the area. It is frankly not good enough. The document looks pretty, with lots of chocolate box photos, but there is not a single map, nothing about the need for and the scale of affordable houses and no mention of closing or moving Stansted's secondary school and for dealing with the traffic that would be generated in both directions at Grove Hill in Stansted. It is altogether inadequate".

"I believe that the whole document has been rushed out, without giving any real consideration to engaging with the public - there are no questions to prompt a public response. Perhaps we should have consulted with BAA's team who has at least attempted to engage with the public, through public exhibitions at each of the settlements affected."

Cllr Alan Dean, Lib Dem Member for Stansted added, "This is a dishonest consultation leaflet. I have been speaking to one resident of Stansted, who is dismayed with Uttlesford Tories for treating residents like children by reprimanding them for not understanding past consultation leaflets. People have a right to know the impact of these proposals. They want to be able to respond to evidence, not guesswork."

"The latest leaflet refers to a new road in Elsenham to bypass the railway level crossing to get traffic into Elsenham High Street or the road to Takeley. It is silent about where the traffic will go to from there. The council's leaflet then says that Option 4 'significantly reduces the strain on existing infrastructure'. That is plainly untrue in the case of Elsenham Road to Silver Street in Stansted."

Cllr Wilcock confirmed that on Monday he had asked council leader Jim Ketteridge to include the missing information but Cllr Ketteridge refused to include these facts in the council's leaflet.

The Liberal Democrats are concerned that Uttlesford's consultation on housing growth options is inconsistent. The first three options distribute 4,200 homes across the district. The Conservative's preferred Option 4 totals 4,000, a shortfall of 200. "I think the Tories got their sums wrong in September in their rush to bounce through the Elsenham new town. Their competence is becoming a real issue," concluded Peter Wilcock.

The comments above do not refer to any dishonest act by officers in the production of the leaflet. The Lib Dem group does not question the integrity of any officer of the council and regret that officers feel that the opposite may have been implied.