Local Lib Dem councillors have been campaigning for years to
prevent building on green belt land near Churchtown. The areas in question (off
Bankfield Lane and Moss Lane) are liable to flooding.
As we have seen on TV recently, widespread hardship has been
caused by floods in the South of the country.
The following article has been written by Councillor Tony
Robertson, Lib Dem Planning Spokesperson on Sefton Council. We are reproducing
it here as the issues Tony raises are applicable to Churchtown.
Tony Robertson writes:
A group of experts led by the Landscape Institute have
written to David Cameron warning that the Government must not risk future flood
prevention by focusing on short-term problems. The experts are calling for
planners to adopt a series of measures aimed at tackling the risk of flooding,
including measures like planting trees, requiring that all new developments in
towns and cities should include flood alleviation and protection measures, and
that any new homes built on flood plains must be resilient to flooding. Sue
Illman, president of the Landscape Institute, said: “We want the money that is
going to be invested spent wisely to give us a proper outcome.” The Guardian
reports that dredging of two major rivers feeding the Somerset Levels is due to
begin in the next few weeks.
The LGiU produced the above (edited by me) but that is only
part of the story. Fundamentally, the UK problem is that Planning is seen as a
predominately economic matter with environmental consequences being very much a
secondary consideration. Such has been the case for generations and Governments
of all colours have failed to act to bring true harmony between environmental
and planning policy making.
The issue has not
been highlighted by flooding so much in Sefton, although concern about the
potential for flooding was a major consideration in the minds of Formby
residents when they recently rose up to fight a new housing development off
Liverpool Road. The elephant in the room, or should I say both elephants, are
flooding and building on high grade agricultural land. Both are high end public
concerns that most Westminster politicians seem to be oblivious of.
