Friday 7 September 2007

Centre Parcs taking over Warren Wood

Warren wood is known to us for the splendid Moneypot Hill which has one of the most interesting landscapes and lovely views in our area. It's not a real hill of course as Bedfordshire is pretty flat but it's a wonderful vantage point on a clear day. In future we won't have access to this area but will instead have a new path alongside the main road. We'll also have to put up with more noise and light pollution, unreasonable levels of traffic and much more activity generally in what's already a busy, noisy county where it never really gets dark, between the M1 and the A1. Why? Because of a new Centre Parcs holiday village that has finally got the OK to go onto Green Belt land because our Government has over-ruled local planning decisions. There are allegedly 'special circumstances' and economic and employment gains top the list but ecological considerations are allegedly also taken into account.

Aside of losing one of my favourite walking areas what concerns me are the values implicit here - that someone at national level who doesn't give a damn about rural Bedfordshire knows better than planners and communities at local level. That "It will attract a greater number of visitors to local sites and amenities in and around Bedfordshire." is automatically perceived as a good thing. To me it's consistent with Government's plans for economic growth rather than sustainable development. There's such a lot of papering over of the many potential adverse impacts ....swamping of local villages which will have smaller communities than this village, dominating the area with a Centre Parcs culture which has no sensitivity to local history and culture, taking over the whole wood not a part of it as with other Centre Parcs villages, the huge potential impact of increased traffic and new traffic infrastructure in an area that's already being significantly disrupted in this way. Extra employment? Yes - but according to newspaper coverage at the time of the appeal that won't necessarily be of local people or even people currently in the UK. It's also setting a precedent for building on green belt land and limiting public access to the countryside.

There are also unacknowledged opportunity costs - just because the woodland is a bit run down at present does not mean that it can't be managed more effectively for biodiversity and for public use in future rather than fenced off for extra weekend travel and tourism. Like with road building, I'm convinced that the result of providing this kind of amenity will encourourage extra trips rather than replace people's holidays abroad.

No doubt Centre Parcs and the Woburn Estates are well connected at Westminster whereas local people aren't. It's been a common pattern in our County for years that local planning decisions get over-ruled at national level. It smacks of arrogance and corruption to me not balanced judgement.

3 comments:

Dr Frank said...

Ghastly - and lacking communal sense.

Anonymous said...

What a good idea - good for teh local economy, bith for jobs in the venue itself, but also for other local attractions, which will find people visiting on tehir way to or from Centre Parc. Nimbys need not visit, although they may find the tranquil environment of a centre parcs village something they liek if they tried it!

Matt said...

Hi Chris- found you're blog whilst researching online the new Centre Parcs in Woburn. I'm an anthropology undergraduate doing my final dissertation in environmental anthropology- would like to hear more of your views on Centre Parcs in general, and particularly in regards to the completion of the Woburn village- do you have an email I can contact you on? Thanks very much.

PS! Couldn't disagree more with anonymous' comment- I'll email you my dissertation when it's finished.