Blears approves Green Belt Center Parcs scheme

Communities secretary Hazel Blears has granted planning permission for a Center Parcs scheme on a Green Belt site near Woburn in Bedfordshire.

Her decision went against the advice of the inspector who held an appeal inquiry into the earlier refusal of the £200m project by Mid Bedfordshire District Council. The local planning authority had rejected the proposals on the grounds the project breached policy safeguarding Green Belt land.

The company's proposal for a holiday complex at Warren Wood will involve 700 forest lodges, a 75-bedroom hotel, and two main buildings housing indoor sports facilities, a swimming pool, restaurants and shops.

In her decision letter Blears acknowledged that the scheme breached both local and national policies on safeguarding Green Belt.

But she argued that "in this particular case, the economic and employment benefits of the proposal, when taken together with the ecological and biodiversity benefits... constitute very special circumstances and are sufficient to clearly outweigh the harm to Green Belt".

Center Parcs had said the complex would create some 1,400 non-seasonal jobs and its environmental impact would be offset by the planting of 500,000 trees.

The company's chief executive Martin Dalby said the project would "generate significant local economic benefit including the creation of new jobs and further investment into the region".

Ken Matthews, the council's planning portfolio holder, said: "Our aim is to ensure that the benefits of the development are fully realised, including the predicted generation of 1,500 jobs on site."

He added: "We also want to ensure that the impact of the development on the Green Belt and the surrounding communities is minimised."

Read the Secretary of State's decision letter here (PDF 95 Kb).

Read the Center Parcs press release here.

Roger Milne

13 September 2007