Labour accused of 'wrecking' Telford & Wrekin borough
Telford & Wrekin Council seems "hell-bent" on building on every piece of green land in the borough, according to the leader of the opposition Tories.
But Labour councillors insist that they are only following government guidance and planning law, and that refusing applications when there were no legal grounds to do so would cost the council money it cannot afford.
Conservative group leader Andrew Eade told the council's cabinet they were "wrecking" the borough.
He said: "What concerns me greatly is the way this authority seems hell-bent on building on every piece of green land out there. People in this borough don't want it.
"This borough has a huge amount of brownfield land. If we are going for growth that's where we should be building.
"We don't need to build on greenfield sites.
"One of Telford's great attractions was its green open spaces, now your policies and the way you are pursuing them, doing it just for growth to try to get income, is wrecking this borough.We are seeing application after application starting to eat the green space up and it is affecting people."
But Labour councillors insisted that planning committees are bound by law – and that Conservative minister Eric Pickles had backed the council's ambitious plans for growth when he visited last week.
Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for neighbourhood services, employment and skills, said: "You never put together a coherent budget. If you did you would have to take out the new homes bonus for all these new homes you don't want.
"You would also have to put in the cost of planning appeals because at the moment the planning committee are making decisions based upon planning law, which is based upon guidance from your planning minister, who is saying quite openly: 'Build, build, build'.
"What you also need to say to people in places like Lightmoor and Lawley is: 'We don't want you'."
Councillor Charles Smith, cabinet member for housing and development, said much of the land perceived as "green" was actually brownfield.
He said: "If you look at Lawley, there was an open cast mine there. It's taken 20 years to consolidate so it looks green, but that is actually brown land."
