Formby green belt development still at risk from flooding say campaign group

Jan 1 2013 by Jamie Bowman, Formby Times

CAMPAIGNERS battling to prevent developers building on Formby’s green belt have vowed to continue their fight following a public exhibition designed to allay residents’ fears.

David Wilson Homes and Barratt Homes North West invited householders to view the updated proposals for new homes at land off Liverpool Road, in Formby, at a meeting on December 13.

But members of protest group FRAG OFF say they remain unconvinced about the updated plans for the site which includes over 270 new homes, with the creation of 240 jobs.

FRAG OFF chair Maria Bennett said: “FRAG OFF consoled many residents from Formby who were upset and angry at the proposed development and exhibition put on by David Wilson Homes.

“With regard to David Wilson Homes’ statement that they will create 240 jobs, we asked them how this will be achieved, to which their response was ‘when we build the site it will need a milkman and a window cleaner’.

“We are not sure if they mean each house will need a milkman or window cleaner, but if that is the case then obviously it will create 240 local jobs.”

One area of particular concern to the protest group was the danger that the risk of flooding would be increased by building on land already vulnerable to rising water.

Photographs of the area following recent heavy rain have shown how at risk the site is from flooding.

Mrs Bennett said: “This is a place that does not flood, according to everyone who wants to build on it.

“ I wonder what people who may buy houses on here, if they get built, would think when they see these pictures.”

FRAG OFF’s campaign has been backed by Sefton Central MP Bill Esterson, after he recently raised questions in Parliament urging the Government to take action to protect green belt land by ensuring that brownfield sites were the first to be built on.

Mr Esterson quizzed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP about the issue.

Despite Mr Esterson’s support, FRAG OFF maintains that Sefton council are ignoring their concerns after they defended the development plan and insisted they were not at risk of losing green belt.

Mrs Bennett said: “We believe that Sefton Council are hanging their residents out to dry, leaving them to the mercy of the developers whose only interest is profit and the bigger the profit the better for them, regardless of the needs and wishes of the people who live in Sefton.”