Council splashes out on Green Belt enforcers

Jul 27 2010 By Russell Butt, Surrey Herald

CASH-strapped Runnymede Council is to spend more than £160,000 on two temporary senior staff to protect the Green Belt from illegal building.

Members of the corporate management committee will meet tonight to agree committing cash for two new planning department officers for 18 months.

A new principal planner and assistant solicitor will counter the costs of long-running enforcement action in the borough - of which there are currently 135.

Pat Roberts, vice-chairman of the committee, claimed most residents would welcome the course of action.

He said: "We have a significant number of planning enforcement issues - there's pages of them. All of them, with the exception of a few cases, are major incursions into the Green Belt.

"I believe that the maintenance of Green Belt in our area is something that 99 per cent of people want - we moved here because of the green and pleasant land. It's this council, in its current cash-strapped position, that has to enforce it."

Breaches of planning protocol that lead to enforcement action has cost the council dearly in recent decades.

Planning breaches at Padd Farm in Egham are believed to have cost the council hundreds of thousands in legal action in almost 20 years.

Further 'hotspots' have included Walnut Tree Farm in Chertsey, Woburn Park Farm in Addlestone, Aymer Drive in Thorpe and Greenacres in Hardwick Lane, Lyne.

Englefield Green resident Kevin Barry, of Bond Road, said: "This could not have happened at a worse time, the whole country is in a mire and Runnymede makes it worse.

"It's a lot of money, but this is a cock-up of the council's own making. Chief executive Paul Turrell has been going on about the Magna Carta, but I thought he was supposed to ensure the proper staff are in place. Now they have to spend oodles to get them."

But Hurst Lane resident Derek Payne, who has lived near Padd Farm for 20 years, said he was 'chuffed', adding: "I'm glad to hear this. To me that sounds like a good idea.

"But I am quite surprised the council wants to do it, because it hasn't had any backbone for a long time."

The committee will vote to approve £74,000 on the posts for the remainder of 2010 and £92,000 for 2011/12.

* GOOD MOVE: The council has taken enforcement action against Padd Farm, and (left) council corporate management committee vice-chairman Pat Roberts