Formby petition against building on Liverpool Road greenbelt has gained over 500 signatures
On Saturday 27th February we highlighted the fact that the Green Light has been given for 319 new homes to be built on Liverpool Road's Green belt in Formby. A petition has been started on change.org by Simon Lomax who is a Formby resident.
Click this link to go top the petition:
Here are some extracts from that petition:
'This is a huge mass of land that houses a diverse array of wildlife. As you can see on the planning image, the development will cover all of the greenbelt on the outside of Redgate/Liverpool Road and along the bypass.
Not only that, this will put a huge strain on Formby as a whole and will create a 'city town' which is the exact opposite of the village everyone moved here to enjoy.
They seriously need to rethink this. As far as I'm aware, none of the residents were made aware of this proposal, so nobody had a chance to appose it.
The Green belt should be left alone, it is not ours to touch.
Furthermore, the developments were supposed to be a response to a NEED for "affordable housing." There are many houses in the local area at both ends of the spectrum which remain unsold after many months on the market.
This puts the "need" in this area in question. The proposals now admit that they do NOT fulfil the brief of being "affordable." There is no evidence of there being a "need" or that the houses will be "affordable."
In my view, before we even consider the very real problems of infrastructure, flooding, overcrowding and the devaluation of existing properties we should be asking whether these plans are in any way resolving any issues. If not, there is no logic in disrupting our community, spoiling our town, eating up green areas, affecting wildlife and creating traffic for what could well be hundreds of empty boxes.
Again, the Green belt should be left alone, it is not ours to touch...once it's gone it's gone.
UPDATE ON 28 Feb 2016 — We are on almost 500 signatures, Thank you! We just need to post and share this petition as much as possible so Sefton council clearly understands we do not want a housing estate on the Formbys Greenbelt! We understand about affordable housing but this clearly isn't about that, it's about making money! We, as residents employ the council by paying our taxes, they cannot simply ignore something that thousands of people do not want! Thank you again, lets save Formby's Green belt!'
Formby MP Bill Esterson responds to the petition:
" I made my views clear to the government inspector at the public enquiry into the Local Plan. The inspector will decide what the final plan will be as that is the way the government has set planning law. Hopefully he will listen to local residents concerns about congestion, the impact on health services in Formby of large scale development and concerns about flooding. I also made clear that any development that is built should benefit the existing community including housing being for local people and development sites not having an adverse impact. The trouble is that the government has biased planning law in favour of the developers and away from the community and it is the government inspector who will have the final say, following the guidelines set by the government. Hopefully those of us who made our concerns clear to the inspector, will be listened to. Hope this helps. Regards Bill "
We have been informed that in order for objections for building to be taken seriously by Sefton Council, you will also need to write an email to the Sefton Planning department:
In the email you will need to explain why you object to houses being built on the Liverpool Road Green belt.
Email them here - planning.department@sefton.gov.uk
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