Five Villages news

11.11.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 24th Jun 2009

UDP – We win!

Cllr Chris Dolphin's latest contribution to the Five Villages news is now online! Read it here http://www.flintshirelibdems.org.uk/pages/5villages.html

UDP LATEST

The Golch Field which was the former cricket pitch in Carmel adjacent the Halfway House pub is now going to be referred back to the County Council for clarification.

The recommendation of the Welsh Assembly appointed planning inspector is to delete HSG1 (27) from the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) and, together with the development in the vicinity of Mertyn Lane, be excluded from the settlement boundary.

It is not all over yet, but the biggest of all hurdles has now been overcome. The County Council will need to approve the recommendations of the inspector and formally adopt the UDP with a very important deletion - the Golch field.

Chris Dolphin is informed that it is unlikely the total deletion of the Golch field will be challenged by the County Council. The UDP and all its consequences good and bad for Flintshire has been many years in the making. It was a plan to deal with originally the year 2000 - 2015.

The next plan will be the Delyn Local Plan - the battle is nearly over but the war on building in the countryside never will be and at some stage will intensify.

Hundreds of people supported the keeping of the open countryside within our Five Villages. The Public Inquiry held in 2007 was a major turning point for what has now occurred. Chris Dolphin spoke at the inquiry and would particularly like to thank the other speakers; Professor Robert Moore, Richard Davies and Christine Marsh.

 A consultant Emyr Hughes supported farmer Richard Davies at the inquiry and spoke on technical matters, we are also indebted to his professionalism.

Christine put great efforts into alerting the local area to what could happen and was the original driving force for what has now occurred. Robert spoke with great clarity and calmness at the inquiry.

If this development had gone ahead, do not be fooled there would have been no cheap housing options, no low cost housing. The land would have been expensive; the houses would still have been unaffordable for many.

The open countryside is winning here in Carmel. All raise a cheer, enjoy the view, and enjoy the countryside.