Planning is always a nightmare for MPs. I’ve mentioned it in these pages before. But next week, a contentious planning decision is being debated, and I am hoping to get involved.
Planning is, rightly devolved to local communities and it is right that local councillors deicide on what local priorities are. Bigger issues – ones that have wider economic significance – are decided by the county council, whilst really big ones, such as railways and motorways, are decided centrally.
Here in Wyre Forest, a proposal to dig a quarry north of Kidderminster, and close to Wolverley and Cookley, was rightly refused permission by Worcestershire County Council. Councillors were persuaded by the arguments put forward by the local campaign group that its proximity to local communities and local schools was detrimental to health and wellbeing. They refused permission for the Lea Castle quarry to go ahead.
But according to legal guidance, the quarry operators claims it meets the requirements for it to be given permission to go ahead and so they are appealing this decision. The formal appeal hearings happen next week and I am proposing to speak out in support of the strong local campaign group, doing their best to stop the quarry and keep our local environment clean.
As I say, it is unusual for MPs to do this. If the decision is to allow it to go ahead, I will try to get the decision made by the Secretary of State, known as “Calling In”. Moreover, having looked at international guidance, it is clear that other countries would never dream of allowing a quarry so close to schools. The risk to school children is, in countries like Canada, deemed to be sufficient to prevent any quarry within 600 yards of a school.
So, in addition to trying to stop this quarry, I have set up a new all party group in Parliament, seeking to work with cross party MPs to get a change in the guidance that prevents something so obviously wrong as the proposed Lea Castle quarry from ever going ahead.
This all takes time, but sometimes there are planning anomalies that are so obviously wrong, so obviously not in the interests of anyone who is being affected, that MPs will try to support their local communities when they are a victim of poor laws and guidance. I can’t guarantee that I can stop this. But I will do my best to do so.
