The District Council’s outrageous decision to remove Greenbelt land to the North East of Chesham from a list of Assets of Community Value, whilst allocating it for development of over 500 homes in its draft Local Plan appears self-serving and hypocritical.

It follows a growing list of questionable decisions and shortcomings relating to the Council’s preparation of its draft Local Plan where many Councillors have raised serious concerns or chosen to remain silent yet they have still voted to adopt this Plan anyway! 

The Countryside Charity (formerly the Campaign For Protection of Rural England – CPRE), recently called on the Council to withdraw this Local Plan as they felt it was already out of date

Is all this an indication that it is now time for change?  Why are our elected Councillors tacitly condoning such behaviour?
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BNG have concluded that the community has to elect independent Councillors onto the Town Council in May 2020.  We need Councillors who are INDEPENDENT of party politics and/or prepared to stand up for the community and openly question the “party line” of voting to approve a Local Plan that builds unaffordable houses on the Green Belt in an unsustainable location that creates more traffic congestion, worsens air quality in the town and compromises natural habitats and wildlife.

If you wish to discuss this or are considering standing for election onto Chesham Town Council and want support from BNG and its 1,800 supporters, please contact us at www.brownnotgreen.com/contact
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​The Countryside Charity (formerly the Campaign For Protection of Rural England – CPRE) has sent an open letter to Chiltern & South Bucks District Councils calling on them to scrap the draft Local Plan which is still awaiting public examination despite the fact the Council itself will cease to exist at the end of March this year when a new Unitary Authority for Buckinghamshire takes over.

BNG was invited to be a co-signatory to this letter together with a number of other local community groups and several Councillors who are also fearful of consequences of this Local Plan. 

CPRE highlighted that the draft Local Plan is already out of date and that the Council’s own advisors estimate the Plan will increase the carbon footprint of the District by at least 21% yet the Council have only recently themselves declared a “climate emergency” and so to proceed with this Local Plan would be reckless hypocrisy.

BNG urge everyone to write to their District & County Councillor urging them to drop this controversial and highly unpopular Local Plan.

You can view the CPRE Press Release:  Click here

You can view the Open Letter:  Click here

Chiltern District Council’s outrageous decision to remove land at Lye Green from a list of Assets of Community Value appears self-serving and motivated to retain the land at Lye Green as a housing development site within its draft Local Plan which is currently awaiting independent examination. 

The Council’s Review Decision on Lye Green was clearly not independent and it can hardly be in the community’s best interest.  It follows a growing list of questionable decisions and shortcomings relating to the Council’s preparation of its draft Local Plan where many Councillors have either raised serious concerns or chosen to remain silent yet they have still voted to adopt this Plan anyway! 
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Is all this an indication that it is now time for change?  Why are our elected Councillors tacitly condoning such behaviour?
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BNG have concluded that when the community has to elect Councillors for the new Unitary Authority for Bucks in May 2020, that  we need to elect Councillors who are either INDEPENDENT of party politics or prepared to stand up for the community and openly question the “party line” of voting to approve a Local Plan that;

• builds unaffordable houses on the Green Belt in an unsustainable location
• creates more traffic congestion
• worsens air quality in the town
• compromises natural habitats and wildlife
  
  

BNG will support ANY candidate seeking election onto the new Council who is prepared to publicly assert that they:

   a) Do not support this draft Local Plan 
   b) Do not support the policy of building on the Green Belt 
   c) If elected will seek to reverse any policy the Unitary Authority inherits to build on Greenbelt first without first                   exhausting Brownfield options
   d) Will actively work to explore all the other options that BNG and others have highlighted to build more affordable              homes at more sustainable locations.

With over 1,800 registered BNG Supporters any candidate flying the BNG Flag will receive a huge boost to their vote tally.
 
If any such candidates wish to discuss this or are seeking independent election and want support from BNG, please contact us at https://www.brownnotgreen.com/contact.html


Thanks
​The BNG Team
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The Council have now realised that in correctly issuing Asset of Community status to the fields around Lye Green that they have in fact scuppered their plans to take the land out of the Green Belt.  Shamelessly, they revoked the ACV status a few days ago so that they can push forward with their flawed Local Plan.  Read all about it by clicking here.

As well as giving ourselves a collective pat on the back here at BNG HQ, especially to Phillip Plato who did the lion's share of the work over the last few weeks on the DMMO and Reg 19 submissions, we wish to thank all our supporters who have helped us in one way or another.

Thanks to everyone involved who helped us:

• Deliver leaflets
• Achieve Asset of Community Value status for the land at Lye Green
• Submitting evidence for the Definitive Map Modification Order, helping us adopt footpaths
• Submit a record number of quality Reg 19 Submissions
• Fund our campaign with generous donations
• Keep the BNG Committee sane with continued messages of support

Once again I am going to shamelessly use this opportunity to say a massive thank you on behalf of all the community to Phillip Plato who for the last few weeks has worked selflessly 24/7 on our campaign.  To see just some of Phillip's output on BNGs official Reg 19 Submission response click here.

Thanks again to everyone for the continued support.  We now just need to wait to see what the Planning Inspector has to say.

The BNG Team

RE: Public Rights of Way Definitive Map Modification Order (DMMO) – Lye Green

You will be aware that BNG successfully applied to have the fields at Lye Green listed as an Asset of Community Value.
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Unfortunately, since that Decision was published, the landowner has now started fencing off some of the access points into the land and stopping people using unadopted footpaths that have been in use for decades. BNG feel it is now necessary to seek a Definitive Map Modification Order to get all the six informal tracks adopted as public footpaths, so these paths stay open for the community’s use.  Accordingly, we need your help again in providing the appropriate evidence to the County Council to support the DDMO.

There are two different processes depending on whether you have used the paths for:

• twenty-plus years
• less than twenty years.

Both require completing pre-populated template forms (we have done all the hard work for you).
These forms will need to be accompanied by a signed map of the route(s) that you use.  Again, we have prepared all these for you, all you need to do is tell us which paths you walk on and sign the relevant maps that we will provide or you can print off yourself.

Contact us (click here) with the following information:

• length of time paths used
• which numbered paths used, see map above
• name, address and phone number
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We can either send digital copies on to you for completion or hand-deliver a pack of printed, collated forms and the relevant maps plus full instructions.  

This is a bit involved but we have tried to make things as easy as possible by preparing template forms for anyone, to complete, add, delete, expand upon or modify. 

Your evidence will help Bucks County Council decide if the informal footpaths will be dedicated as a public right of way which then means the farmer must then take down any recent fences or obstructions. The County Council MUST make a Modification Order (ie: adopt the footpaths) but only if we can demonstrate that the paths are “reasonably alleged to exist” which can only be proved by us getting enough statements to support our application. 

Let's repeat the success of our campaign to have the land listed as an Asset of Community Value.

Please help if you can.   Recruit your family and friends.  

Thank again for your continued support.

The BNG Team

Since the success of Brown Not Green having the land and woodlands at Lye Green listed as an Asset of Community Value there has been a growing number of reports of intimidation from the landowners where previously there has been none.  We have now had reports of over 20 people being approached in the last 2 weeks being told to get off the land. 

BNG is not qualified to give legal advice however we wish to give a commentary on this issue for our supporters to take on board and share with their friends and family who use the fields for recreational and commuting purposes.

• The threat of prosecution is a hollow one and may well just be an attempt at intimidation.
• Trespass is NOT a criminal offence (other than squatting in residential premises or specific types of property e.g. railway premises, airports, foreign diplomatic premises ). 
• As such the police would be very unlikely to attend even if the landowner called them and certainly would not arrest anyone (unless that person then refused the Police request to leave).
• Trespass is a “tort” however and the landowner can bring a civil action against someone for trespass if he/she wanted to spend the legal costs of doing so! 
• The remedies are usually an award of “damages” to the landowner or an “injunction” preventing the person coming on the land again. Subsequent breach of an injunction would be contempt of court. 
• Damages would likely be very modest or trifling (but beware legal costs awards could be granted)
• However, torts are expensive to bring especially if there is a potential defence. 
• The most robust defence is to claim prescriptive rights namely that the alleged trespasser has used the land / route regularly as of right openly for over 20 years.  Frankly, legal advice that BNG have had is there is little a landowner can do to prevent someone with prescriptive rights exercising them!
• Even if the alleged trespasser has not got prescriptive rights (ie he/she has not used the land regularly for over 20 years) he may still claim that he has had “implied consent” (or a licence) having enjoyed open unrestrained use for say 5, 10 or 15 years whatever without complaint or restraint.  Open unrestrained use could be implied by there being no keep out notices, no locked gates or non-fenced openings, the presence of well-trodden footpaths or just many others doing it openly too for decades etc.
• However, if the landowner asserts there is no consent and asks him/her to leave, they must do so.
• NOTE: Fences are currently being put up on the land to close off access to these unadopted paths.  
• BNG would not recommend confrontation, just say you don’t agree you are trespassing and walk away. 
• Similarly BNG would NOT recommend tearing down fences that are being put up.
• However, BNG are seeking to have various unadopted footpaths on the land adopted as Public Rights of Way and we URGENTLY need to hear from anyone who can give written evidence about the prolonged use of these paths especially if they have used then for over 20 years.  Please ask them to get in touch with BNG ASAP so we can take a statement from you.  (However, we would NOT recommend repeating this to any landowner/farmer if they challenge you on site please!)

We urge all our supporters to remain polite and courteous in all instances so that we can prove that all the intimidation is in a one way direction only.  If you are involved with a confrontation with the farmer/landowner, if you can please record it on your mobile phone and/or write a record of it in the event that BNG wish to take matters further.

Thanks again for your continued support

​The BNG Team 

Please take the time to fill in our survey by clicking on the clipboard.
​It only takes three minutes.  We need all responses by 31st July.
Thanks, the BNG Team

June and July has been a VERY busy period for the Brown Not Green (BNG) campaign but we have some important news to share with you that illustrates how your support and pledges of money ARE making a difference. 
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• First, we are delighted to announce that we have recently been told that our application to have the fields at Lye Green listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) has been APPROVED!  This is a very significant development which I will explain later in this message.

 

• Brown Not Green had recently raised concerns with the planning department about incorrect assertions being made by a few Councillors that any letters & written comments made by the public would not be considered to the current Regulation 19 consultation unless they were submitted online or via the Council’s website Portal.  These assertions have since been confirmed as INCORRECT.  Any form of written comment made by the public (including letters or written statements) and submitted before the deadline WILL be considered and passed to the independent planning inspector.

 

• Finally, (and probably because of the above) the deadline for making comments under the Regulation 19 Public Consultation has just been EXTENDED from 19 July to 23 August 2019.

The listing of the fields at Lye Green as an Asset of Community Value now means that we have demonstrated that the land satisfies the requirements of the Localism Act 2011, namely that the land is widely used by the community for a variety of informal outdoor recreational uses and as such the land “improves the wellbeing of the local community”.  This was the burden of proof we had to satisfy under our s.88 application. 

The land will now be listed as an ACV for 5 years and this gives BNG the “Right to Bid” for the land. Restrictions will be recorded on the landowner’s title at Land Registry.  This means that if the landowner(s) wish to sell the land at any time during the next 5 years, they must give a clear prior 6 months’ notice to Brown Not Green to enable us to arrange finance/loans etc in order for BNG to bid for the land.   BNG as a not for profit company, have stated that any purchase of the land would be held in Trust for continued community benefit in order to maintain the status quo; namely to maintain the land in agricultural use whilst also ensuring the community still has access for the many informal recreational uses that have been enjoyed by hundreds of people for decades.

However, this designation as an ACV also raises several material planning considerations that we want to put before the Inspector too.  Including:

• The 13 Green Belt sites being allocated in the new Local Plan for housing are supposed to represent the “worst performing” Green Belt sites in the District. The Land at Lye Green is one of these sites in the emerging Local Plan - (SP BP2).  We have long maintained that the Council’s Green Belt site selection methodology was flawed and based on many preconceptions and assertions that were not properly tested. The very fact that the land at Lye Green is now listed as an ACV underlines its informal recreational value (which is one of the few uses encouraged under Green Belt designation) and as such this listing supports our contention that this Green Belt site, at least, has been incorrectly bought forward for allocation for development.
• We also assert that now the land is listed as an ACV, it really should be removed from any allocation for development in the Local Plan and it should be retained in Green Belt. This is because any allocation for development is (like the grant of planning permission) only going to add to the land’s financial value and would therefore undermine the very principles of the community’s right to bid afforded under the Localism Act 2011.  This principle was adopted following a similar decision passed down in the Court of Appeal last year in the case of Banner Homes vs St Albans City & District Council 2018. 
• We will be asking the Inspector to consider this precedent and the perverse implications of leaving an Asset of Community Value allocated for development in the Local Plan therefore.

We urge anyone still contemplating making a Regulation 19 Submission under the current (now extended) consultation process to consider this too when drafting their comments to the Inspector! 

We are also heartened by the many messages of support and the continuing donations through our CrowdJustice portal to fund the legal & professional fees we are incurring to protect this land and the wider town from the effects of its inappropriate development.

Thanks again for your continued support

The BNG Team