The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) has referred Solihull Council to the Nolan Committee over its handling of a planning application submitted by British Land and Kingspark Developments for Blythe Valley Business Park.
CPRE is accusing Solihull Council of a “conflict of interests” over the application, which includes proposals for an 11,754 sq m (126,523 sq ft) factory, a business support facility, a hotel and a leisure complex. The Council owns part of the site and last year selected British Land and Kingspark Developments as preferred developers.
According to CPRE’s Gill Smith: “We are particularly concerned at the role of unitary authorities. A two tier local authority has planning checks and balances through structure and local plans. But a unitary authority, as is the case in Solihull, draws up the structure plan and makes the final decision. This is a more widespread problem than just in Solihull.”
But in the case of Solihull, CPRE feels the council tried to rush through the application without proper consultation. This was only halted when CPRE successfully campaigned for the DOE to issue an Article 14 on the application. This enables the DOE to spend more time considering the application.
The appearance in the joint venture’s planning application of proposals for a leisure and hotel element on the site is proving especially controversial. CPRE argues that this is contrary to the Environment Secretary’s decision to grant outline consent for 111,480 sq m (1.2m sq ft) of B1 and B2, on the grounds that John Gummer specifically ruled out hotel and leisure uses on the site.
PA News (Parliament) 18/10/96
