Last Sunday's walk on Sutton's Green Belt to support Children in Need and mark the end of the consultation on Birmingham City Council’s proposals to build on it was joined by Andrew Mitchell, who addressed to a crowd of up to 350 Royal Suttonians, calling for a full and independent audit of all of Birmingham’s brownfield sites.
This is a proposal he has made to Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council, in a letter this week.
Andrew and Sharon Mitchell, along with their dog Scarlet, joined the protest march to underline the total rejection by the Sutton Coldfield community of what Sutton’s MP has described as the “outrageous and unnecessary” plans to build on the Green Belt.
In a letter to the Planning Inspector as part of his formal response to the ongoing consultation process, Andrew Mitchell outlined his opposition to the plans, and reasserted the need for the Council to consider his proposal for an eight to ten year moratorium on building on the Green Belt, stating that “I do not believe any case has been made which is acceptable or can withstand close scrutiny
With the reaffirmation by the Government of the terms clearly set out in the NPPF, I believe the proposals to be wrong in principle, and also unnecessary in practice for reasons clearly set out in my earlier letter”.
Andrew Mitchell praised local campaigner Suzanne Webb and Project Fields, together with the Walmley Residents Association run by Brian Storer, for their magnificent campaigning and forceful argument against these unwanted and unnecessary proposals.