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MP's column: News from Nadine
'Shameful act' was bound to whip up anger over eco-town plan
The people of Lidlington discovered that Caroline Flint, the Housing Minister, would be at the Marston Vale Community Forest to hold private
meetings to discuss the proposed eco-town development for 15,000 new homes.
She probably thought that keeping the meeting quiet would minimise any potential problems posed by local residents – she hadn't counted on
the strength of local feeling or the dedication of parish councillor Iain Clapham.
Residents from three communities came to meet her – they arrived on crutches, in buggies and in arms. She was met by a chorus of boos, not a normal Bedfordshire welcome, but then we don't have 15,000 homes landing out of the sky every day.
I went inside for the private meeting with the minister and listened to the developers wax lyrical about a Bedfordshire none of us knew or
recognised.I made four simple points:
There is very little unemployment in Mid Beds and, as the mayor pointed out, employers aren't clamouring to build on the brownfield sites in
Bedford.
No jobs, no growth, why do we need 15,000 new homes?
n The developers had done nothing to convince me with regard to the eco
credentials of the properties, in fact, they where decidedly evasive.
The people in Mid Beds are very unhappy and, to date, have been
completely excluded from the consultation process.
It's their environment, community and way of life which is about to be destroyed.
This new town won't be a development in the distance, it will completely sit upon and surround three substantial communities. To have been kept in the dark in this way and have information withheld in order to minimise the time people have to contribute to the process has been a shameful act and one guaranteed to whip up anger.
The infrastructure in Mid Beds just can't take this. The M1 widening scheme has been halted, the A421 is congested. With no local jobs available if these houses are built and sold, the new owners will have to get into their cars and commute. What's 'eco' about that?
Contact Nadine Dorries by email dorries@parliament.uk; Tel 020 7219 4236, or at www.dorries.org.uk/
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Weather for Bedford
Monday 06 February 2012
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