A senior Tory peer has called on the Government to block property development on a 60-acre wildlife “haven” in the Prime Minister’s Huntingdon constituency.
Ex-minister and former Huntingdon MP Lord Renton told the Lords yesterday that local people were “feeling very strongly indeed” about the Spring Common nature reserve : “They do not want it developed.”
Labour’s Baroness Nicol said the area was a haven for people and wildlife, which had been saved from develpoment only because the developer had gone bankrupt. She urged the Government to persuade Tory-controlled Huntingdonshire Distrcit Council to “heed the wishes of local people and stop development of the open space.”
Lord Lucas of Crudwell, for environment ministers, agreed to look into the issue and to “take seriously” peers’ comments. But he stressed the Government did not normally intervene unless an applicant appealed against refusal of planning permission.
EGi News 15/05/96
