Government will gain £20m from Barn Hall (From Echo)

Government will gain £20m from Barn Hall

1:00pm Tuesday 2nd June 2009 in Search By Jon Austin

THE Government is set to make millions of pounds from a controversial homes development on Barn Hall, Wickford.

Documents seen by the Echo detail how six years ago Whitehall instigated plans to concrete the beauty spot, with a clause entitling the government to 85 per cent of any profit through house sales.

The Department of Environment sold the site to Gleeson Homes in 2003 for just £150,000 with the strict pay back clause.

Billericay MP John Baron has branded the revelation a conflict of interest and demanded the Government revoke the planning permission it approved following a costly legal battle with the council.

He said: “The whole community was against development – residents, councillors and the MP.

“The Planning Inspectorate agreed, yet the Government rode roughshod over local democracy.

“The Secretary of State’s decision made little sense at the time, but an 85 per cent kickback now perhaps explains it.”

He has written to Hazel Blears demanding she revokes permission now this has come to light, or he will ask the council to consider fresh legal challenges.

It was not made public that the Government stood to profit when Gleeson Homes first unveiled plans for 200 homes on the former green belt site in 2006, or at any time during the three-year planning battle.

Last year an impartial planning inspector sided with the council and campaigners, throwing out the scheme, but was overruled by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears in October.

Peter Boynes, of Wickford North Green Action Group, which spearheaded the battle, estimates 200 homes, at £100,000 a plot, could be worth up to £20million.

He said: “I’m horrified to learn of the extent to which the Government will benefit. 85 per cent is truly enormous – a matter which has never been made public, not even during the public inquiry.”

A contract obtained using the Freedom of Information Act shows how the Department of Environment, which took ownership of Barn Hall during the Second World War, forced Gleeson to submit a planning application and see it through to the bitter end of the appeal process, even if the council rejected its plans.

Mr Boynes added: “I really do not know what the public is entitled to feel about both the extent of local democracy and the impartiality of planning decisions in this country, based on this information.”

‘It is vital departments achieve best value’

THE Government has defended its involvement in the development of Barn Hall.

The Department for Communities and Local Government, which approved planning permission for 200 homes, and the Department of Food and Rural Affairs, which sold the land with the payback clause, said everything was above board.

The contract maps out in detail how Gleeson must put in a planning application, which has been first approved by the department, otherwise the sale would not have gone ahead.

It also had to agree to appeal to the Government if the council refused or failed to determine this application.

Rachel Clark, Defra spokesman, said: “In selling off Government assets it is vital Government Departments achieve the best value for the taxpayer.

“It is not uncommon for clawback clauses to be used where the planning situation is unclear, to ensure the public purse does not lose out when there is an increase in value as a direct result of sale to another party.”

Oliver Whitney-Coates, communities spokesman, said: “The Government has acted properly.

“The financial interest was not brought up in the inquiry and was not a factor in the Government’s decision-making.

“When that decision was challenged in the courts the case was thrown out.”