Beddington Farmlands New Planning Application

Tree Sparrow. The last remaining stronghold of this species was at Beddington Farmlands. Due to delays in habitat restoration they are now extinct on site. Furthermore Yellow Wagtails and Redshanks  were also driven to local extinction and Reed Buntings and other target species have significantly declined. Lapwings are the last important species to remain on site and their population is reducing and threatened with local extinction too. 

After nearly two decades of restoration delays which have resulted in a local ecological meltdown, the company Valencia have re-applied to Sutton Council to get planning permission for a re-visioned restoration plan. As of 31st December 2023 Valencia are now in breach of extant planning permission and are thus in an illegal position and are seeking to re-legitimise their position and have submitted an application which is ecologically inferior to the extant permission. 

The full planning application can be found HERE

My full objection to the application can be found  HERE  

We are encouraging members of the public to also object to this application. A summary of the local community objections are as follows:  

1) Enforce current planning conditions as per Condition 42 and enforce immediate increase in public access- a further five year delay in public access is completely unacceptable and there is legitimate expectation from the public to have more access. Paragraph 59 of the National Planning Policy Framework states that ‘Effective enforcement is important to maintain public confidence in the planning system’. 

2) The loss of acid grassland has created a biodiversity net loss from the original application which is contra to the Environment Act 2021 and national, regional and local planning policies. If acid grassland and heathland cannot be created then ecological mitigation measures need to be provided with a biodiversity net gain set against the 1995 ecological baseline. This can be achieved by developing habitats to Save the Lapwings in 100 acre and Southeast Corner. 

3) Lack of mitigation in the s106 for the investment reduction between the applications. The loss of acid grassland has created an enormous financial saving for the applicant. Acid grassland and heathland creation was a multi-million pound obligation- that precise investment saving should now be diverted to investing in other areas of the Beddington Farmlands project such as better public access facilities to the reserve including a new pedestrian bridge at the former site of the Irrigation bridge and a visitor's centre

If you haven’t submitted an online response before, it is relatively easy. You need to register before you can comment.

·       Click on the link : HERE

·       Click on ‘register’. Once you have registered, click on ‘login’

·       Click on ‘search’ – ‘planning’ – ‘simple search’

·       In the box entitled ‘enter keyword, reference number etc’, put in the planning application number. DM2024/00199

·       Near the top right is the button ‘make a comment’. Click on it and you should find your details already there.

·       Click on ‘commenter type’ and pick ‘member of the public’

·       Pick whether you object, support or neutral

·       You can then add your comment text. 

·       When you have finished, click ‘submit’ and you should receive confirmation of your response by email. If you have issues, check to see if you have used any special characters like “%” and remove and try submitting again.