DEVELOPERS looking to build 275 house on the outskirts of Melksham have come under fire after a Daily Mail investigation.
Gladman Developments are consulting local residents over plans to build 275 homes in Shurnhold on land opposite the former George Ward School. The plan has met with opposition locally and the fears of local residents have now been fuelled by a Daily Mail report which describes Gladman as a ‘predatory developer’ looking to exploit planning loopholes to build houses on open fields.
“In a damning indictment of the Government’s relaxed planning laws, one successful land agent is now so confident it can bulldoze past local objections that it does not charge farmers an upfront fee for its services,” says the Daily Mail.
Their investigation claims that Gladman Developments, a ‘strategic land promoter’, offers landowners the chance to increase the value of their land by a multiple of 50 or 60 by transforming agricultural land into development sites.
Gladman, says the Daily Mail, “is pursuing 102 planning applications for huge housing developments all over England, most of them on greenfield land on the edge of rural towns and villages.”
The Daily Mail report continues, “Councils must now show they have enough land to meet housing targets for the next five years – or lose key powers to ward off planning applications.
“The Government is desperate to build more than 200,000 homes each year to meet booming demand.
“Under its National Planning Policy Framework, pushed into law two years ago, councils which have not earmarked suitable land to meet housing demand over the next five years must adopt a ‘presumption’ in favour of planning permission.
“Gladman Developments, which has a turnover of £200million a year, targets councils that cannot demonstrate a five-year housing supply.
“It offers to pay all the costs of obtaining planning permission – including the fees for lawyers and experts in the event of any appeal – which can exceed £300,000.
“If the attempt to win permission is unsuccessful, the farmer does not have to pay anything. The firm recently took out adverts in the farming press calling for sites of up to 50 acres on the edge of a towns or villages. Its adverts boast: ‘We aim to never lose and have won 90 per cent of our housing planning applications. ‘You pay nothing, win or lose. We only get our percentage after you have sold your land to the highest bidding housebuilder.’
“The firm has an astonishing success rate, having secured planning permission for rural sites in 41 out of its last 43 cases, despite substantial local opposition,” the Daily Mail continues.
“David Gladman, director of Gladman Developments, insisted his company focused on ‘sensible, sustainable locations’.
“He said: ‘We are professional at what we do, and proud to help deliver homes and associated prosperity to these towns and villages. Everyone needs reminding that we all live in a home which was built on what was once a green field.’
“Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said: ‘There remains strong protection of the countryside and Green Belt. The best way for councils to send speculative vultures packing is to have an up to date local plan.’”
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