Goverment's action too late
I now see this Government is finally taking the issue of food security and self-sufficiency more seriously in its new food strategy.
However, as yet this does not appear to include the reintroduction of a ‘presumption against the building of housing on the best farmland’, with the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ still holding sway in the determination of planning applications for new housing developments.
This current national planning policy states that development should proceed if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
This, of course, will be too late now to save the 30 acres of Grade two farmland between Newport and Church Aston, ironically to be known as Hutchison Gate after the long distance footpath currently bisecting the site, which is finally under-development after 11 years of local opposition, having been given planning permission on the fallacious argument of sustainable development and the need of a cash-strapped local council to realise the value of its land assets.
John Pay, Newport
