On 26 March 2013, Mark Reckless former Medway Conservative Councillor and current Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood made the following speech in the House of Commons:
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to speak in this debate following my Select Committee meeting and in advance of the planning Minister’s response.
Earlier this month, Natural England declared Ministry of Defence land at Lodge Hill in my constituency to be a site of special scientific interest. In numerous plans over 18 years, the site has been clearly designated for 5,000 homes and for employment opportunities for 5,000 people. A total of £35.5 million has been spent to get to the point of planning consent being granted. After all this time and money, the council is concerned, to put it mildly, to be thwarted at the last hurdle by Natural England, which does not consider the economic impacts. The council leader, Rodney Chambers, responded as follows: “This is very disappointing news to receive from unelected quangocrats at Natural England. As a local authority we are eager for this scheme, which is on government owned land, to progress and deliver the houses and jobs we badly need. The government is constantly telling us that we should be going for growth, kick starting the economy and fighting the recession and yet here we are with a shovel ready project that would deliver 5,000 much needed homes being delayed by a government agency.”
The reason for this, we are told by Natural England, is that a study of some description has discovered that 84 nightingales might use the site. The comparison to be drawn is between those 84 nightingales and homes for 12,000 people and jobs for a further 5,000 people. We are told by the Prime Minister that we are in a global race, but it is not clear that that message has yet filtered through to bodies such as Natural England.
There have been similar instances locally. On the Isle of Grain, a proposal for the generation of 6,000 jobs on a site owned by the National Grid Company has been delayed for some three years because it is possibly the habitat of a certain type of bug. Near Medway, in the Swanscombe area, a proposal that would deliver 27,000 jobs has been delayed because of concerns about a breed of spider. At Dungeness, there are concerns about vegetated shingle that has to be considered in the context of the development of power generation.
It is not surprising that council leaders in the area say that we need to end the absurd situation of a non-elected Government agency dictating to national and local government on how to run things. Medway is an example of a council that is pro-development, that wants to support the Minister and that wants to show that it is open for business. Will the Minister assure me that our local council will be able to decide where it is best for development to go, not Ministers or their inspectors, and still less these quangos? We have heard of the bonfire of the quangos; in the case of Natural England, it appears to have fizzled out.
I understand that the executive board of the body has taken this decision, that it is going to be reviewed and that there is, as ever, some consultation process, but I am not sure whether that is a mere formality or a genuine process. We are told that in July the decision will be reviewed by the full board of Natural England, but we do not know if that will be anything more than a rubber-stamping exercise. I would appreciate the Minister’s views on whether it will be a genuine exercise and whether the board will really consider the wider representations or the Government’s policy. If it is not able to consider Government policy, how can democratic Ministers have their way when competing in what they call the global race? When councils such as Medway have planned to develop land for many years and have spent millions of pounds, will they be able to make the decisions that are required?”
Does Councillor Chambers agree with me that it is at best politically opportunistic and at worst completely hypocritical for Mr Reckless to then say that the decision made by Medway Council, not ministers or inspectors or non-elected government agencies, was "appalling" when it was made?
Minutes:
“On 26 March 2013, Mark Reckless former Medway Conservative Councillor and current Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood made the following speech in the House of Commons:
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to speak in this debate following my Select Committee meeting and in advance of the planning Minister’s response.
Earlier this month, Natural England declared Ministry of Defence land at Lodge Hill in my constituency to be a site of special scientific interest. In numerous plans over 18 years, the site has been clearly designated for 5,000 homes and for employment opportunities for 5,000 people. A total of £35.5 million has been spent to get to the point of planning consent being granted. After all this time and money, the council is concerned, to put it mildly, to be thwarted at the last hurdle by Natural England, which does not consider the economic impacts. The council leader, Rodney Chambers, responded as follows: “This is very disappointing news to receive from unelected quangocrats at Natural England. As a local authority we are eager for this scheme, which is on government owned land, to progress and deliver the houses and jobs we badly need. The government is constantly telling us that we should be going for growth, kick starting the economy and fighting the recession and yet here we are with a shovel ready project that would deliver 5,000 much needed homes being delayed by a government agency.”
The reason for this, we are told by Natural England, is that a study of some description has discovered that 84 nightingales might use the site. The comparison to be drawn is between those 84 nightingales and homes for 12,000 people and jobs for a further 5,000 people. We are told by the Prime Minister that we are in a global race, but it is not clear that that message has yet filtered through to bodies such as Natural England.
There have been similar instances locally. On the Isle of Grain, a proposal for the generation of 6,000 jobs on a site owned by the National Grid Company has been delayed for some three years because it is possibly the habitat of a certain type of bug. Near Medway, in the Swanscombe area, a proposal that would deliver 27,000 jobs has been delayed because of concerns about a breed of spider. At Dungeness, there are concerns about vegetated shingle that has to be considered in the context of the development of power generation.
It is not surprising that council leaders in the area say that we need to end the absurd situation of a non-elected Government agency dictating to national and local government on how to run things. Medway is an example of a council that is pro-development, that wants to support the Minister and that wants to show that it is open for business. Will the Minister assure me that our local council will be able to decide where it is best for development to go, not Ministers or their inspectors, and still less these quangos? We have heard of the bonfire of the quangos; in the case of Natural England, it appears to have fizzled out.
I understand that the executive board of the body has taken this decision, that it is going to be reviewed and that there is, as ever, some consultation process, but I am not sure whether that is a mere formality or a genuine process. We are told that in July the decision will be reviewed by the full board of Natural England, but we do not know if that will be anything more than a rubber-stamping exercise. I would appreciate the Minister’s views on whether it will be a genuine exercise and whether the board will really consider the wider representations or the Government’s policy. If it is not able to consider Government policy, how can democratic Ministers have their way when competing in what they call the global race? When councils such as Medway have planned to develop land for many years and have spent millions of pounds, will they be able to make the decisions that are required?”
Does Councillor Chambers agree with me that it is at best politically opportunistic and at worst completely hypocritical for Mr Reckless to then say that the decision made by Medway Council, not ministers or inspectors or non-elected government agencies, was "appalling" when it was made?”
Councillor Maple requested that it be recorded in the minutes that he had submitted this question on Friday 26 September 2014 and that this was before Mark Reckless had announced his resignation as MP for Rochester and Strood.
Councillor Rodney Chambers OBE stated that he did think it was hypocritical.
He noted that Councillor Maple had referred in the question to Mr Reckless being hypocritical. Councillor Rodney Chambers OBE stated that he wanted to take that hypocrisy a stage further.
He stated that what was perhaps not widely known was that on 9 May 2014 an officer briefing was arranged for the three Members of Parliament to appraise them of the position following the designation by Natural England of Lodge Hill, the effect of this on speculative applications and the early indications of the call for sites process as they affected Medway.
Following that briefing and in discussion with Council colleagues and Members of Parliament following that briefing, Mr Reckless stated quite clearly that he supported what was his long held view that Lodge Hill was his preferred site for development in order to defend the other areas that were now coming forward due to the designation of Lodge Hill, and that he would continue to support that view.
Councillor Maple asked whether Councillor Rodney Chambers OBE felt it was hypocritical for anyone who was concerned about the issue of the environment to not support an application which would, if not going through, lead to huge amounts of piecemeal proposals, piecemeal development which would not have the important infrastructure of hospital and care facilities, schools and, because Councillor Maple stated that he knew this was a massive issue when campaigning with Naushabah Khan, the issue of roads on the Hoo Peninsula. All of that would be lost without the Lodge Hill application.
Councillor Rodney Chambers OBE stated that this had been reflected in the report as one of the reasons, amongst many, to recommend approval of this application because this application came with all the supporting infrastructure that was expected with the creation of a community of this size. He stated that he did agree with the comments that were made. The piecemeal developments that would be proposed would not be accompanied with the supporting infrastructure. Therefore, this was one of the reasons, amongst many, for the support that the Planning Committee gave for this application.
Councillor Rodney Chambers OBE stated that he would like to emphasise that this (application) should not have come as a surprise as it seemed to have to some people. This was a site that had been identified for the last twenty years for development and it had been through a number of iterations as far as the various local plans were concerned and it had been included in those local plans and therefore it should not have come as a surprise. The only surprise was the advent of nightingales arriving on the site but this had been taken into account with the mitigation proposals that were encompassed in the planning applications and that mitigation would have been undertaken in consultation with Land Securities and those who were qualified to advise them.