New homes plan on derelict site refused

An application to develop a rural area in Waltham St Lawrence caused a lenghty debate at last night's Royal Borough development control panel meeting.

The application was for four new detatched houses and garages, following the demolition of exisiting buildings on the land at Kentwood House in Milley Road.

The applicant also wanted permission to build an access road, and change the use of three empty chicken sheds to include access, parking and landscaping.

The greenbelt land used to be the home of a chicken-raising business and the buildings are now derelict.

Cllr Humaira Khan (Lib Dem, Furze Platt) called on the Royal Borough to put in a policy to ensure landowners take care of greenbelt land.

She said: "What developers are doing is allowing sites like this to get overgrown so we are more inclined to build in the greenbelt. What I would like this authority to do is to have a policy in place which does not allow sites like this in the greenbelt to get in this situation.

"I hope that as a borough, that we don't have to be in this situation, that we are asked to make a decision as to whether we should have a derelict site or choose something that looks like this."

The application was refused for a number of reasons including the impact on the openness of the green belt.