DEAR Editor – The South Worcestershire Development Plan is all about developer greed and never about community need.

On Thursday, April 28, a planning application will go to Wychavon District council that could see a huge 51,637sq m agricultural facility being built just outside Pinvin and Pershore.

The facility will include a

two-storey central building as well as worker accommodation a water treatment plant and 122 parking spaces.

This is no farm, it is a factory. It will never see anything planted in the ground, it’ll just be paved instead. Huge lorries will move in and out of this facility every day. Pollution will increase.

And what makes us so angry is this land was never earmarked for development.

It has always been farmland and was never included in any development plan.

But, as it is cheaper than land on industrial estates, companies make excuses about needing to build here because it makes their operations viable.

They would still make a healthy profit on the more expensive industrial estate, but they want to make more money.

At the expense of the locals and those who use the A44.

And when we fight these developments we get accused of being Nimbys.

This is a huge facility right next to a school.

So what is the point of the councils spending hundreds of thousands in taxpayers’ money if they are just going to have planners propose developments anywhere?

The council keeps allowing development outside of development areas, never takes the environment into consideration, repeatedly ignores concerns of the public and keeps making arguments that it is good for the economy.

If you need to build accommodation on the land, you know you don’t have the workers available locally and have to bring people into the area.

As usual developments are proposed without the impacts on local communities being at the heart of decision making.

Hundreds of people have made it clear we do not want this.

It will add to congestion, cause a huge environmental impact and increase risk to our waterways from a company that has already been fined in the past for contaminating local waterways!

And these issues are not just seen in this case.

We see constant building across the area with housing built in areas with pressures on infrastructure, schools and medical facilities.

We constantly see reports of the pressures our local hospitals are under and can anyone get a NHS dentist?

It is time to give community need the priority, not developer greed.

Cllr Dan Boatright

County Councillor for Pershore