An outrage –

NCC Cabinet Monday 7th September 2020

The Norfolk County Council cabinet has overuled the May 2019 decision of its professional highways officer and has given support on behalf of Norfolk Council to the construction of a roundabout on the a140 for the exclusive use of Ben Burgess Limited.

This act paves the way for the Burgess factory to be built on the agricultural land at Swainsthorpe and the destruction of a 1000 year old landscape described this week by Historic England as an important National Heritage Location which must be preserved for future generations.

The Cabinet astonishingly confirmed the report from highways stating that this was an important corridor of movement through to Norwich from South Norfolk and that it had been recently upgraded to a major road network (MRN)

Despite reporting these clear statements relating to matters of road safety and highway efficiency to the Cabinet. The Five Cabinet members under Leader Cllr Andrew Proctor heard that if Ben Burgess was not assisted onto the Swainsthorpe fields, he had threatened to leave the county, as no other site was suitable. In other words councillors were blackmailed.

In direct response to that threat, the Cabinet overruled the highways recommendation. In effect ruling against the safety and effeciency of the many residents of south norfolk in favour of one private companies objective to profiteer from the industrialisation of important and significant agricultural land.

This decision is nothing short of outrageous and undemocratic and made without a full assessment and presentation of the complete facts of the case.

It has been handled in this manner because the applicant is being assisted by political supporters to work the system on party political grounds.
The Burgess application lacks rigour and truth and does not stand any form of professional scrutiny.
If it did we would accept the findings as the best fit for the good of all, we are not Nimby’s.

You can see for yourself on ‘you tube’ the shameful process of Norfolk County Council Cabinet 7th Sept item 14. You can also access the sound recording on our web site.

You will hear from the outset the extraordinary request at the last minute from Cllr Colin Foulger our local NCC member on the Highways committee, request to have his comments objecting to the new Burgess plan removed from the minutes, as being in error!

You will then hear councillors being told that the economic benefit of Ben Burgess outweighed that of the road safety and efficiency of the many users, business and private, who use the A140!!

Rather than help the Burgess objective it simply confirms what we have known and said all along, the Burgess plan does not stand professional scrutiny on any level and the only way that this application can get through is by threat and lies and bullying and a high level of ill-informed political support .

Even the report in the EDP states incorrectly the sequence of events, but this is not surprising, as our small village does not have an advertising budget !
The village of Swainsthorpe will stand against this behaviour and supports keeping the professional planners independence from political pressure.

In the event of approval by the Conservative Council of South Norfolk and the Conservative cabinet of NCC the campaign will consider an appeal to the local government ombudsman on the basis of mal administration and if necessary will seek a full Judicial Review of the activities of NCC and SN councils.

These expensive processes may be the only way that those responsible for the abuse of power will be brought to account and to justify their damaging and dangerous decisions.

We have a huge support base from thousands of followers as well as local Parishes, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (Norfolk) and Historic England.
We need your help both moral and financial to help protect our planning system and our towns villages and farms from abuse by big business.

There is a Solution

We all dislike the idea that our community is having to defend itself so vigorously from such an organised well-funded and determined challenge, but we have no choice.

Surely as rural communities and country people, a way can be found that will enhance and improve Norfolk lives without the need for conflict challenge or aggression. There are opportunities and solutions which could benefit all of us:

• Ben Burgess Ltd
• The Norfolk farming community
• South Norfolk Council
• Broadland District Council
• Norwich District Council
• Norfolk County Council
• Easton Agricultural College
• The County Road network
• Food related businesses

The publicly supported South Norfolk and Broadlands food hub is designed to create a centre for excellence for the food and farming industry. Development of the site is already underway and is being aided and fast tracked to allow businesses to make a quick and easy relocation with built in infra-structure.

It is situated on a main arterial dual carriage way which is shortly to be made into the Norwich Ring Road making it easy access for farmers and all customers from the north, south, east and west of the county who will be able to obtain all their requirements in a one-stop location.

Sitting alongside this site is the Easton Agricultural College who welcomes students. With such a close connexion, the joint training opportunities are endless with access to a broader curriculum which could work in tandem and enhance the John Deere apprenticeship scheme run by John Deere, Nottingham.

Instead of conflict and challenge there would be justified applause, the district councils would benefit from the utilisation of their flagship food hub. Ben Burgess would be rightly lauded in a high profile site with great access on a brand new location and play an important role in developing our County infrastructure and supporting young farmers of tomorrow.

Ben Burgess state they have considered this site and rejected it as it did not meet their self-selected criteria in that it is ‘10 miles from the Trowse/A47 junction’ (rather than their 4 mile criteria) and that ‘the nearest Ben Burgess dealership is less than a 30 minute drive away’. Surely these are inter-business issues that can be negotiated, managed and resolved.

If the local authorities are serious about finding them a location, then they can resolve the Ben Burgess criteria regarding availability ‘there is a Local Development Order for food related uses, so availability is unclear’ and remove any impediments.

Presumably, the Ben Burgess site constraints criteria of ‘potential contamination and land instability from historic landfill use, surface water flooding’ have been investigated by surveyors before the site was approved.

The food hub website states that there is a ‘3 acre infiltration lagoon in place plus foul water drainage, mains water supply, high speed broadband and electricity connections’.

The Norfolk food hub is the obvious solution instead of sticking their poor staff alone in an isolated field on a busy already congested A140.

So why are all the alternative sites so unappealing to Ben Burgess and why does the
Swainsthorpe site tick all their boxes?

Could there be a horse in the room?

We all know that Malthouse Farm was bought for one reason. The MD of Ben Burgess, Mr Ben Turner, said directly to South Norfolk counsellors that he wanted to go into property development and no doubt following the visits to Mr Turner at the Ben Burgess offices, Mr Fuller’s encouragement has further helped the board to conclude that they could make a real killing, by converting the old Norfolk farmhouse into dwellings and the cheap agricultural farm land north of Swainsthorpe into an industrial site.

The horse in the room is of course the Trojan horse galloping into South Norfolk District Council using the name of good old Ben Burgess and powered by the marketing might of John Deere USA. Brilliant tactic to use such a respected name to turn the planning law upside down and make a killing on land prices for its owners.

Let’s all stop a moment and think what benefit could be gained for everyone if Mr Turner and the Ben Burgess Board members were given support, encouragement and incentive, to think of the County rather than their own selfish enrichment.

Betrayal of the people

The latest Ben Burgess Newsletter contains a report from Managing Director Ben Turner on the subject of his new headquarters depot at Swainsthorpe.
He tells us that after eight failed attempts elsewhere he was encouraged by the leadership of South Norfolk ( John Fuller) and the professional South Norfolk planning department to put forward plans to convert the then working Malthouse farm into an industrial complex, which will dwarf the village of Swainsthorpe.

After two years of amendments and lobbying the ‘final solution’ and much amended application has been presented to South Norfolk planners.
Mr Turner refers again to the fact that he is in Swainsthorpe because South Norfolk leadership and planners encouraged him to be here.

Can this be true?
Were the professional planners so influenced by the Turner story that they were prepared to overlook access, environmental and rural protection guidelines. We somehow doubt it, planning is a noble profession and not hijacked easily.

It is evident from the outcry from many areas, that this is far far from being a desirable planning application. It is dangerous, unsociable, unsightly, bad for the environment and its neighbours and destructive to the landscape, and all for the benefit of one privately owned business.

It has taken two years of amendment after amendment. Countless volumes of drivel and down right lies, all of which have been designed to grind down the planners and public opinion ( at tax payers expense).

Had this been a good application it would have rightly sailed through. It did not, because it is wrong and proven to be so.

With encouragement from South Norfolk leader John Fuller, Mr Turner has ‘pressed on’ to the annoyance and exhaustion of all concerned.
Despite having been rejected by Norfolk Highways, despite GNLP saying the site was not needed, despite CPRE report damning the project, despite 99% of the village signing a petition against it, despite hundreds of letters of opposition from neighbouring villages and councils.
Unwavering, Mr Turner has continued to lobby the council, all the Norfolk MP’s and continues to be supported by the leadership of South Norfolk Council.

Now the final grubby act is about to unfold.
Under the Covid 19 restrictions a small group of 5 councillors will sit and Zoom meet to decide the outcome of this extremely detailed and extensive application.

It is unlikely that they will have read the thousands of pages of the report and it is unlikely that they will defy their leader.
One would hope that the Councillors will follow the guidance of the Professional planners on whom we all rely.
We are however, left with a disturbing thought, that if, as Mr Turner keeps telling us, the Professional Planners of South Norfolk are the very people alongside John Fuller that brought him to Swainsthorpe in the first place, can the outcome be fair, democratic or right?

Will this case be judged fairly by the very people (according to Mr Turner) that are the promoters of this destructive and selfish plan?

After two years of amendments by the applicant, our Parish Council requested a month extension to evaluate the many additional volumes of text.
South Norfolk has said NO, stating that they want this application to be rushed through in the September Zoom meeting.

We hope that this denial of our rights by the Council is not a sign of what is heading our way, but it does not look good.

The Prime Minister, Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP promised us a green led revolution instead South Norfolk are supporting one covered in concrete, diesel and 30 pieces of silver.

Shame!

THE GATHERING STORM

The agents for Ben Burgess Ltd have written to South Norfolk Council requesting a further extension of their planning application for the Burgess factory in the village of Swainsthorpe (ref 2631/2632) to September 2020.
Having ‘reached agreement with numerous parties’ they write that they will be presenting new ‘agreed’ and amended plans in the next 3-4 weeks.

Mr Turner has been busy lobbying Norfolk MP’s, councillors and planners and they now feel ready to make a big attempt to get this factory through planning committee.

With the shock of Covid 19 hanging in the air, and a reduced and restricted planning committee and environmental oversight, they may well believe they are presenting at a time when the planning controls are weak.
They believe that executive decision in the face of a national emergency may well be employed to overule existing planning protections.
They would be wrong.

The Government has made a commitment to a greener rebuilding, and we must ensure that this pledge is fulfilled.

The fight back against the economic catastrophe has to be made in a plan led manner not in a ‘wild west’ fashion with developers doing as they wish without oversight.
If the Government and their local District and County councils do not honour that green promise we will end up with a quality of life dictated by greed for the few instead of the good of the many.

Be in no doubt our cause is right and just.
In almost every case we have proved that the Burgess Industrialisation of Swainsthorpe is wrong.

From the environmental, social, highways and planning point of view, we are supported by friends, neighbouring villages and farms and the CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) and even the Highways authority.

Planning law itself makes it quite clear that this plan is flawed in almost every area.
We believe that a good Barrister would demolish this application and plan if it is allowed to continue its course, and we are therefore determined to take this through to judicial review with the full backing of friends and supporters.

Despite this, the diggers continue their work on Malthouse Farm and efforts to redefine planning legislation continues behind the scenes.

We must not fail, as this is a test case upon which the Norfolk Countryside depends. If we lose this case the precedent will have been set for any developer who has the cash to buy a working farm and agricultural land and convert it to industrial use, regardless of the fact that designated alternative industrial sites remain empty and underutilised throughout Norfolk.

How many times over the last months have you said to yourself thank God we live in Norfolk, as you walk the footpaths or cycle the lanes and breath the clean unpolluted air.
Mr Andrew Proctor leader of Norfolk Council described Norfolk as ‘a world class environment’. We agree, this is a natural Paradise protected by the planning laws of the land and it is under attack.

We need to work together to defend it for the future generations who will inhabit this place long after Covid 19 and the Giant diesel powered tractors have disappeared.

The time is here for us to stand up and strengthen our planning laws and protect villages and rural Norfolk.

Swainsthorpe is a Rural Planning test case, please support us now.
If you can, please make a pledge to support the funding of our legal challenge.in this way the facts will be made public and the case decided by planning law and not behind closed doors.

UNWELL BUT NOT STUPID

Covid 19 has brought into sharp focus the importance of the natural world and the danger of abusing our eco systems. Eventually, this particular crisis WILL pass as have all the other pandemics and life will go on, we will mourn the losses, learn the lessons and work to speed economic recovery.

The biggest single lesson we must learn; is to preserve and protect our environment which brings us to our local problem. As a village we have had an industrial planning threat hanging over us for the last two years, and we are sick of it.

It has been stressful and very unpleasant but we have been heartened to have enormous active support from hundreds of people and organisations including: our and neighbouring Parish Councils, expert opinion and advocacy from CPRE, the GNLP the National Highways Authority and senior academics. What is clear is that as a campaigning group we are not being selfish, our opposition is justified, the wellbeing of all of us under threat from the destruction of countryside through industrialisation and inappropriate development.

We fear that, faced with huge financial and budgetary pressure, government at local and national level may see loosening, or loosely interpreting, current planning laws and constraints in the name of supporting business. That would be the gravest of mistakes.

Under the restrictions of Covid 19, South Norfolk District Council’s Development Management Committee have decided to hold virtual planning meetings with a reduced number of councillor members and eliminating verbal representation from the general public. Saving Swainsthorpe members observed the first virtual meeting of the committee on Wednesday 6th May and reported that the system worked well but remain concerned that members of the public were only able to observe and not participate verbally in the meeting. What was particularly encouraging was to see the Planning Officers supporting and upholding existing planning policies and the County Plan.

At the time of writing, the revised Ben Burgess Ltd. plan has not been presented. We know that its Managing Director Mr Ben Turner, has been actively lobbying for support and is envisaging a new roundabout on the A140 at Hickling Lane and Stoke Road to enable access to the agricultural fields bordering the village homes.
If an amended Burgess plan were to be submitted during the current emergency, Saving Swainsthorpe would not be able to physically attend nor be able to speak. Our objections would have to be made once again in writing, as we have already done so many, many times before.

If anyone had chosen to listen or read the powerful arguments we have already made to date, with strong valid planning objections; this application should never reach the Development Management Committee. But someone continues to give this plan support and is actively lobbying in support of the proposal. We are therefore concerned that any decision on such a large contentious application will hinge upon the decision of a smaller ‘virtual’ committee.

It is our genuine and real fear that the supporters of the ‘Burgess plan’ will use this temporary reduction in democratic oversight and the national emergency to take advantage of a reduced planning mechanism, lacking proper public scrutiny or voice, in the hope that their application could be waived through.

This will be a grave error and an abuse of planning law. We must give our maximum support to the South Norfolk Planning officers to ensure that policies are upheld.

The proposals of Ben Burgess Ltd, will not save or increase the number of jobs or facilitate economic regeneration in South Norfolk. What it will do is enrich the small group of shareholders, cause permanent damage to agricultural land and the eco systems of our village and the thousands of users of the A140 and, critically, South Norfolk taxpayers.

We may be denied our voice at this time of physical isolation but we will ensure that our voices are heard. In common with the rest of the world, the nation may be unwell but we are not stupid.

The Sword of Damocles and the Abuse of Power

Recently, representatives of the Saving Swainsthorpe Campaign attended a meeting of the Association of Local councils (ALC) at the South Norfolk Council offices. The agenda was primarily focussed on wellbeing in our local communities. No specific communities were mentioned but there was a presentation and discussion on ways to improve our communities and encourage cooperation.
Specific mention was made of issues such as transport, energy and community development, environmental pollution and mental health discussed in the context of the current draft Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP), the latest draft of which is out for public consultation until 5pm 16th March.
In the minds of our representatives it brought into sharp focus the lip service being paid to the wellbeing of the people of Swainsthorpe and the distress caused for almost two years by the Ben Burgess plan hanging like a ‘Sword of Damocles’ over our heads in their determination to build their headquarters and industrial units on arable farm land, that covers a larger foot print than the village.

From the outset the case against the proposed destruction of the agricultural fields and the loss of our rural environment for industrial development has been clear and contrary to planning rules relating to ‘other villages’….. but Mr Turner, MD of Ben Burgess Ltd continues to confirm his determination to build on these fields.

Despite extraordinary and valid opposition to his proposals Mr Turner continues to be allowed to pile more and more stress, anxiety and planning blight on our village, month after month and now year after year. Now, yet another extension is granted till June 2020, and the village has been forced to endure more delay, before this case is placed before the planning committee.

Why the delay? Initially it was described as necessary to re-shape the plans , but Mr Turner has used Christmas and the summer holidays to attempt to slip this awful plan through. But we remain on 24 hour, alert for such events, as we expect similar evasive attempts will be made. Are these delays designed to wear us down, or is the applicant waiting for a more advantageous moment (perhaps a fair political wind blowing through South Norfolk) to make his full application.

The failure of South Norfolk Council to put a stop to this unsound planning application which flies in the face of their own planning policies and coupled with the recently announced withdrawal from the GNLP elements dealing with ‘Village Clusters’ puts Mr Fuller’s South Norfolk ‘Breakaway Plan’ into sharp perspective.

The GNLP recorded that there was ample industrial development land available and that there was no need for further allocations. This should have been the death knell to Mr Turner’s plan to destroy Swainsthorpe. The decision by Mr Fuller, Leader of South Norfolk Council, to withdraw South Norfolk from the GNLP plan and to have its own independent policy (based upon on unrestricted development of small villages) may well be the fig leaf that Mr Turner has been waiting for.

The people of South Norfolk need to know:

· What is the additional cost of the South Norfolk Breakaway Plan ?

· How much money has already been wasted by South Norfolk by their decision to withdraw from the original GNLP which so many of us had participated in only a few months ago.

· How many of our District councillor’s voted for it, and when did any vote take place?

· Where is the democratic control on this process?

We understand that many of the sites originally dismissed will now be returned to the table under the new rules of Mr Fuller’s Breakaway plan. We wonder will Mr Turner’s Burgess company be one of them?

It feels to us that the South Norfolk rule book is quietly being re written behind our backs, particularly for all our small rural villages, and all at South Norfolk ratepayers considerable expense.

Parishes need to come together and questions need to be asked of South Norfolk, as we will all be affected !!!

TURNING PLOUGHSHARES INTO WEAPONS.

There is something very wrong with our countryside planning when we have to fight so hard to save it from exploitation. The struggle that we are having in Swainsthorpe against a determined developer (Ben Burgess Ltd) has been out of all proportion. It is little wonder that the Norfolk that we love is being eroded; the odds are stacked against the defenders of the countryside from the outset.

Most ordinary village people want to concentrate on living their lives, bringing up their children and looking after the elderly. This is community, this good neighbourliness. This is the social glue and magic of community that creates wellbeing.

We should not have to be the ultimate defenders of the environment, this has to be in the hands of those we entrust and fund with power and technical resource in local government.

We do not expect the Tribes of the rain forest of Brazil on their own to prevent its destruction, we expect governments to act on their behalf. And so it is with the rural villages of Norfolk.

Our planners and politicians are there to protect the greater good and oversee the precious resources with which we are entrusted. In particular they are there for the overall welfare of our South Norfolk Community

Here in Swainsthorpe we are not threatened by forest fires like Brazil, but we do face something equally destructive to our village and our wellbeing. Wellbeing is increasingly not a word used in our modern planning considerations. We have no department for wellbeing but we do have them for economic development, human welfare it seems is secondary to economics.

27th August 2019

Malthouse Farm further development:

A special meeting of our Parish Council was held last week to discuss yet another application for the development of Malthouse farm by Mr Ben Turner on behalf of Ben Burgess Limited.

The details of this application for 5 more houses to be used for rental purposes speak for themselves. Mr Turner admitted that further applications for the development of more houses on this site would follow and so the planning system is being drip fed bit by bit with more and more development. This cynical approach means that each small application eventually leads to a large one which on its own would never have been approved.

This is misleading, clever, or dishonest depending upon your viewpoint, but what we would argue is that it is designed to avoid scrutiny and control. We have already seen retrospective planning applied to this development and work taking place without the proper environmental impacts being considered. It is as always, brutal, inadequate and without regard to the professional planners of South Norfolk.

But most of all it is without regard for the wellbeing of those that will live in those houses directly on to the A140, the users of the A140 and the people of Swainsthorpe. This will be a dangerous place to live when so many residents have only their cars as a means to vacate the site. Therefore marooned unless they take their life in their own (or their children’s} hands and attempt to walk up the side and cross the A140)

Mr Turner told the Parish Council that these building were redundant; indeed they are since he has owned them but they were not 5 years ago when this was a working farm. They could have been working again. This is grade A land on the Tas valley; this is an appalling abuse of resource, landscape and environment for commercial gain.

Footpaths:

Remember the circular footpath much used by dog walkers that would continue to run alongside the railway and the back of the proposed new HQ for Ben Burgess Ltd? Clearly marked in the planning application (2018/2631) – say goodbye to it. Mr Ben Turner made it clear that he intends to remove it under the guise of EU environmental protection and if this fails will ‘plough it up’ so much for respecting residents of Swainsthorpe and their access to any amenity. This clearly shows the approach this organisation intends to take to residents of Swainsthorpe. Another example was when the footpath warden asked if a permissive path would be developed from the back of the Malthouse Farm development down to the River Tas (readers may recall the previous owners of Malthouse Farm had guided walks here) the answer from Mr Ben Turner was a firm ‘NO!’.

Mr Turner’s Ben Burgess is doing what we always expected and the much trumpeted amenity footpath in their factory application has disappeared, along with the bats and wildlife on Malthouse farm.

Mr Turner said on arrival at the Parish Council meeting ‘We have come along to spoil your fun.’ Footpaths, wildlife and wellbeing – he is certainly spoiling a lot more than ‘fun’ in Swainsthorpe!

27th August 2019

August 2019-One year on and still the village of Swainsthorpe remains under siege.

Mr Ben Turner and his Ben Burgess Company continue to plan to industrialise the agricultural fields bordering the A140 and the ancient community of Swainsthorpe.
The threat posed by this planning application has blighted our lives since the objectives of Mr Turner were made public in the spring of 2018.

We hear that he still plans to take his application to the committee in September despite the negative views of Norfolk highways and the environmental bodies.
We hear that he is producing yet more amended plans to add like sticking plasters to his wounded scheme, and No doubt once again we will have limited time to react to these manoeuvring’s.
So more work, more study for the village and the poor planners.

Why is our District Council not strong enough to say NO to this appalling scheme, and help move this application to a planned industrial development site?
Instead it is allowing this application to proceed despite so much public outrage against it. This proposal will damage so many for the benefit of the few.

The village of Swainsthorpe has been struggling with this for over a year and the surrounding Parishes and users of the A140 have made it abundantly clear that we do not want this factory in this sensitive and difficult location.

9 Parish Councils using the A140 for access to Norwich are against this application and hundreds of free independent letters of opposition have been written. Yet the interests of one company and six private shareholders trump all other democratic interests. Our combined rates are considerable and we do wonder what it is that makes the interest of this one company so important, when so many practical, sensible and planned alternatives exist.

More than 2000 regular followers of our campaign also watch with interest and curiosity at the way Mr Ben Turner continues to press his case with such confidence in the outcome when so much seems to say this is environmentally legally and civically wrong.

The irony and curiosity is made even more infuriating when one sees the billboards opposite Tesco with invitation to business to purchase industrial land close to the Ipswich road roundabout. A site large enough to match the size of the Swainsthorpe fields, with bus station hub links next door, shops and canteen facilities, and easy access on to the A140 and southern by pass yards from the site. This high profile site is even closer to their existing site, not bordering habitation and little less than 2 miles from the Swainsthorpe ‘protected’ productive agricultural land and village.

If this applicant is allowed to fly in the face of the planning laws and destroy this village, this environment, this countryside, principally for planning gain, he will not only have destroyed forever this place but also the laws that have been put in place to protect our environment our communities and infrastructure. Laws made by professional planners to protect Norfolk.

A dam will indeed be breached if we fail to stop this. It will be much more than Swainsthorpe that is lost. It will be open season for rural South Norfolk and we will all be flooded by inappropriate profit led development.
We must all act and act now, we will not give up this fight we owe it to the environment and future generations of Norfolk people.

31st May 2019

A member of The Brooke Village page has commented to say the following:In case you are not aware. An adult bird goes back to the same location to lay its eggs. When these hedges and trees are removed not only have we lost the beauty but we have also lost plants that help with the Co2 in the air… not content with that we also lose a year supply of fledglings as the females ingest their eggs, they do not move on for another year… That is a terrible knock-on effect that nature can never make up.

30th May 2019

27th May 2019

THE ANGRY DAWN CHORUS OF SWAINSTHORPE