Beddington Farmlands site visit and objection to application CLC2020/00087

Update

We received an email on the afternoon of 17 July to say that Viridor has withdrawn their application. This is great news and we hope to continue our positive discussions to get the best access for visitors onto Beddington Farmlands.

On 3 July 2020, members of the NDG and Conservation and Access Management Group (CAMC) went on a site visit to Beddington Farmlands. The main purpose of the visit was to understand Viridor’s submitted application to vary Planning Condition 42 (landscape).

• The application swaps the Sustrans cycle route through the Farmlands onto the permissive path, leaving the original cycle route as a mown path. Viridor understood this was not acceptable and that they heard ‘loud and clear’ that a man made path would be the only option.
• Read our previous post about the changes
• We had the ability to discuss other access routes including east/west and potential issues/constraints from an engineering and ecology perspective.
• It was a very positive visit in what we hoped would result in the withdrawal of the application to enable further discussions.

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Decision to be made by 21 July

To date, Viridor has not withdrawn the application. On 14 July, Viridor provided the CAMC with a draft Statement of Common Understanding to comment on. This sets out formally some of the discussions from the site visit. Unfortunately there is not enough detailed information on the man-made replacement for the cycle route. Due to the time constraints, we have been left with no option but to object to this application.

Formal objection submitted

• We have submitted our formal objection today (15 July). Despite asking many times, we were never told what the cut off date would be as Sutton Council were under the impression that the application would be withdrawn.
• As it is not a planning application but an application to clear planning conditions, the planning portal is not accepting comments.
• We have addressed our emails to Andy Webber – Head of Planning, Iain Williams – Case Officer, and Development Management.
• If you feel strongly that these changes should not go ahead, please read our letter to help you create your own response.
  

Submitting your own response

• As mentioned, we have never been given a cut off date, despite first asking nearly 3 weeks ago, but would suggest any response should be received no later than 17 July.
• Due to COVID-19, we would suggest email is the safest option, as we don’t know what staff will be in the Council’s office.
• Again, we never had confirmed who to send our response to, so suggest emailing all the following:-
  • andy.webber@sutton.gov.uk (note, you will receive his out of office)
  • iain.williams@sutton.gov.uk
  • developmentmanagement@sutton.gov.uk (you will receive an automatic bounce back email)