Development South View Broughton.

Dear North Lincolnshire Council,
As you are aware a fence has been erected around an area approx. the size of a football pitch behind houses on South View Broughton, possibly with the intention of future development. Mature trees have been chopped down and up rooted, habitats destroyed without a Habitat Surveys, asbestos littered the site and plant machinery including JCBs and lorries are squeezing between properties to gain access with no pedestrian or traffic management. I have been told as the person carrying out the work owns the land there is nothing you can do. However this is incorrect as the properties are rented out this is a business premises not a residency. It would be like saying a Resident Management Company who own say a housing estate land can act with impunity because they simply own the land, or a takeaway does not have to abide by food standards as the owners live above the premise's. If you are saying you can not take action simply because a person owns the land then you can never take action because the person carrying out the work must clearly have to own it to be able to undertake the work - you appear to be getting 'ownership' and 'residency' and 'business' and 'private' land confused, your legal dept. will clarify this. Thus as this land is obviously part of a 'business' and not the 'residency' of the person carryout the work can you please outline again why you can not take action or at least monitor these works.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Quigley

Dear North Lincolnshire Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of North Lincolnshire Council's handling of my FOI request 'Development South View Broughton.'. There has been no reply almost 1 year now. All trees (some mature) have now been felled and removed and the whole site levelled prior to development, all with no planning permissions. If you allow developers to undertake such actions prior to archaeology and environmental surveys there is no point in having such protections. Letting this go will simply encourage others. Hence what action is being taken. If none why?

[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Yours faithfully,

Tim Quigley

Dear North Lincolnshire Council, enforce appear to be saying the development is private i.e garden clearance, but its near the size of a football pitch covering several gardens some purchase then cleared with an access point for vehicles only not the residents that once used these gardens, furthermore the person doing the work does not live there i.e. it is not their garden they simply rent out the properties the land was once attached to but now no longer accessible by those renting. This is not garden clearance it is work carried out most likely prior to a future housing development with no consideration for statutory environmental protections (there were bats on site) nor potential archaeology, note there was a possible Roman Villa found along Brooklands Avenue and this site is very close to Roman Ermine Street. Could you please provide any info, minutes etc... regarding the decision to NOT enforce nor issue a stop order as this sets a dangerous precedent for other developers to follow. I.E clear and level first, apply for planning after.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Quigley

Dear North Lincolnshire Council, here is an analogy. I used to live in Market Rasen on a development that had the statutory surveys before any work by Alison Homes began. as a result old ponds were retained as they contained protected species as were the mature trees. This must have cost the developers tens of thousands of pounds as this land could not be built on. However looking at this situation in Broughton it would have been prudent for the developer to build say two houses on what was a small area of old hard standing then rent them out and claim the land for development was their garden. The developer would then have been able to remove the mature trees fill in the ponds as this would constitute garden clearance. They would then be able to apply for planning permission saving themselves tens of thousands of pounds. Hence who made this ridiculous decision to not enforce / use a stop order and why. Note the land at Broughton is no longer part of the residents gardens as it has now been annexed ready for building work to begin as I said it would be.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Quigley

Dear North Lincolnshire Council, the land is behind 68-80 South View Broughton. No planning application has been submitted which is my point. This is not garden clearance as the gardens this land once belonged to no longer have access to it, a seven foot fence and double gate have isolated it. In fact some of the land was recently purchased, isolated, and then stripped of trees etc.. using excavators and 20 tonnes trucks.... This is surely first phase development ready for possible future building work but clearly no environmental or archaeology surveys have been carried out.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Quigley

Dear North Lincolnshire Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of North Lincolnshire Council's handling of my FOI request 'Development South View Broughton.'.
The work on the area in question was clearly not garden clearance as the properties that back onto it no longer have access. The work appears to have been done as first phase development, i.e. habitat clearance with disregard to statutory laws protecting wildlife and potential archaeology.
Can you please tell me who made the decision not to issue a stop order and why, and what further action will be taken if any. Allowing a developer to clear land before potentially applying for planning permission sets a very dangerous precedent.

[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Yours faithfully,

Tim Quigley

Dear North Lincolnshire Council,

Planning permission is only needed if the work being carried out meets the statutory definition of ‘development’ which is set out in section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

‘Development’ includes:

building operations (eg structural alterations, construction, rebuilding, most demolition);
material changes of use of land and buildings;
engineering operations (eg groundworks);
mining operations;
other operations normally undertaken by a person carrying on a business as a builder.
subdivision of a building (including any part it) used as a dwellinghouse for use as 2 or more separate dwelling houses

Note 'other operations undertaken by a person carrying on a business as a builder' - which applies in this case hence it constitutes development.
I ask again why is this not development? - I await your reply before forwarding to the ombudsman.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Quigley