It is a natural thing to find that there is some politician out there that is feeling left disappointed because something has not gone his way! The normality of this acceptance is very shocking but none the less sometimes it’s for a good cause and sometimes it is personal. The disappointment we see today is one of the community as the politicians involved feel a decision taken will damage the environment around it.
There was a plan to construct a logistic warehouse in the Green Belt and it has been approved. Symmetry Park at junction 25 of the M6 has received the green light following a decision to call in the planning application. The inspectors’ report, which follows on from a public inquiry last December, recommended that the application for the warehouses should be approved. While the inspectors acknowledged that harm would be done to the green belt by building on it, the other benefits of the logistics hub outweighed it.
This was sad new for campaigners who have fought a long battle against Tritax Symmetry’s plans to build two units comprising 27,871 square meters of employment floor space and the associated infrastructure, including a sub-station, car parking, landscaping, access from the A49 roundabout and an internal estate road.
The local politicians however did not take it lightly Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue said: “This is a disappointing decision and one with which I strongly disagree. This development will be damaging to the local environment and once again demonstrates that the rhetoric from Government about protecting greenbelt belies the fact that swathes of greenbelt land around the country is being developed.” Winstanley ward representative Coun Paul Kenny, who was fired from his council cabinet role for his outspoken opposition to the development, said: “This has been a long campaign and one that residents have fought from day one. The truth is that there is an insatiable appetite from developers for virgin greenbelt land and they will pursue sites at the expense of local communities who will have to live with the development 24/7. I pay tribute to residents and the M6 South of Wigan Group who have long championed the retention of the greenbelt status. I know that they will be as disappointed as I am at today’s announcement.”
