Tuesday 31 January 2012

Amber Valley Borough Council - Green Belt Plunderers

To continue with my 'lets have a go at the council' theme:

I mentioned in my last post about 'Aldercar and Langley Mill' and the border between the two - once upon a time, separate hamlet and village [in that order] - is now somewhat fuzzy. But now I have to say that by the time Amber Valley Borough Council have finished with their big push to build on green belt land - that all the greedy, grasping developers have been buying up in readiness - the borders between most of our villages will be non-existent and instead of being individual communities, we'll just be part of a large town that may as well be called 'RIPNOR' or 'HEAPLY'

There have been protests, meetings, facebook groups and petitions all against AVBC selling off land at Ripley to accommodate a new Morrisons supermarket plus housing etc. The council are elected representatives to do our bidding but it seems that they're hand in glove with developers all the way. They even held this part of the - often postponed - planning board meeting in private, where the public was asked to leave. We know who voted to pass the proposals, we'll remember their names when they want electing again.

AVBC's best friends - the philanthropic developers - tell us ... and we're meant to be grateful by the way:

"We'll build a nice supermarket for you, create jobs for you, and we'll provide you with some lovely little boxes for you to live in and then we'll landscape a 10" wide strip of land with - exciting new idea - some indigenous plants ... Instead of keeping all these fields of unsightly green and woody stuff that just sits there growing. And did you know that it's full of pesky vermin living in it?"

"What? no, you're wrong, it's a completely absurd idea that all this greenery is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, because it's ours, we've bought it now. It needs building on so that it doesn't keep sucking up all the excess water or continue making the air too oxygen rich, thus giving you daft ideas about saving the green belt or the planet [whichever soap-box you're all on this week]"

And back to me in the real world:
All the - up to now, relatively clear - boundaries between ... Aldercar/Woodlinkin, Aldercar/Heanor, Aldercar/Loscoe, Langley/Marlpool/Shipley, Heanor/Crosshill, Woodlinkin/Loscoe, Codnor/Waingroves, Waingroves/Ripley, Alfreton/Swanwick/Leabrooks/Riddings/Butterley, Marehay/Codnor/Ripley, Belper/Heage ... Will be as blurred as Langley mill/Aldercar - I've no doubt missed a few proposed builds and made some huge mistakes, please feel free to correct me and I'll amend accordingly.

All these unique places with their precious green bits and individual identities will be lost forever as they merge into one vast sprawl ... Sad isn't it?

But I can't help feeling that it's all a smokescreen ... throw all the suggested builds in the pot at roughly the same time - so that we're up in arms about it - then they'll come back with maybe just one or two ideas that we'll have to accept and make it look like they've listened to us - and we'll think we've won ... cunning.

Hmmm, Amber Valley Borough Council have the audacity to tell us that they've got to build houses on green belt land - and accept s106 bribes so that they can afford to tart up their preferred areas - because people want to live here as it's lovely and rural ... Hellooo, you're busy urbanising our rural bits, you morons.

Rant over ...

8 comments:

  1. I do hope you don't get into trouble with your council. :(
    Do they have a sense of humour?

    I was reading the other day about a fellow from Wetwand near Driffield who has been given a 10 year ASBO for
    criticising his council on his blog.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Bernard, they don't scare me, they've received a lot more very public name calling just lately. And this is just the beginning.

      They've found that people just aren't accepting it quietly. I've only named the places very close to us. There's far more proposed green belt developments in the pipeline just over t'other side o t'hill :-)

      Delete
  2. And don't forget that 'Langley' as was, has now totally disappeared! Does anyone who lives here even know where it used to be???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sarah, oooooooh Langley - I know where it is/was - I lived there for nearly seventeen years. I've had thirteen addresses and there's only two that I've felt at home in. Edwinstowe was one, Langley is the other, I love them both.

      I've been indifferent to some places, moderately happy in others, disliked one intensely and I hate one :'(

      Delete
  3. To add insult to injury,Julie,they also voted AGAINST ringfencing the money from the sale of the land to Morrisons,to use on improving Ripley.This means that the cash raised by dumping an unwanted supermarket in Ripley,will be used elsewhere in the borough.Rumour has it that it will be on the new leisure centre in Belper,that seems surplus to requirements.And guess who voted in favour of the sale?All of the Chief Exec's reliable old tory crones including the Belper lot...Messrs Cox,Nelson,Anderson,Makin,Arnold et al plus his tory crones from Kilburn and Holbrook...Mr.Bull(who's also a director for Homescapes Housing(social housing association) and Mrs.Jean Gemmell of Kilburn Hall,hostess of the AVBC Tories 'black -tie get-togethers,now calling herself Lady Fenton!(obviously a bought title).Shame on you tories,shame for not sticking up to Carney and saying 'no!'.You are all an utter disgrace and should be voted out by all,when the time comes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmmm, yes completely anonymous.

      AVBC has followed your Facebook link - twice today - to my blog. You see, unless you know how to cover your tracks, 'anonymous' just isn't ... well, anonymous :)

      If I'm asked or advised to remove your comment, then as much as it pains me to do so - free speech and all that - I will.

      If you'd read any of my other posts, you'd know that I don't name people here. Rightly or wrongly, I prefer to generalise, knowing that anyone interested can find out for themselves who is who.

      I've removed my comments from Facebook because I'm no longer as anonymous as I like to be :)

      Good luck with your cause.

      Delete
  4. Julie,
    I've removed your blog link from the AVBC SOS facebook page.Sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused you.
    Feel free to delete comment 5 from your blog too,as you'll know it was me,an AVBC 'hater'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooh no, I won't do that. As I said I believe in free speech. I will only delete it if requested to by AVBC.

      Just be aware that they are monitoring you - but I'm sure you already know this - as they came to my blog via your link.

      I panicked when I realised that it was my real name on Facebook - Yikes! - and that's the only reason I deleted my comments.

      I have written a fair bit of ahem, unkind stuff on here and it's convenient not to be [fully] known by the baddies :-)

      Delete

Be nice, I'm very sensitive.