PROTECTION OF GREENBELT LAND FROM SPECULATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Early day motion 1236, tabled 2 May 2002 by Lord Lilley (Conservative). Signed by 26 members.

That this House is concerned about the activities of Property Spy Limited, who have acquired prime greenbelt land at Kimpton in Hertfordshire, Brede in East Sussex, Old Woking in Surrey, Thwaite in Suffolk, Sittingbourne in Kent and Fifield in Berkshire and is dividing these properties into small plots and marketing them for speculative sale on the hope of future residential development; fear that these plots will not be ploughed and will become unsightly and degraded in the cynical hope that this will make the grant of planning permission more likely; believes that fertile farmland should be protected and maintained in the event of protracted planning applications; urges local councils to consider all options available to them, including the compulsory purchase of the land; and warns potential speculators that greenbelt land will not be developed so that their investments would be fruitless.

Signatures by party: Labour 17, Liberal Democrat 5, Conservative 4.