26 August 2024
Fields like this near Ansty will be home to five massive warehouses as well as a hotel and retail outlets. Photo Stephen McKay via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).
A proposed development in a quiet corner of Warwickshire has provoked a challenge to the government’s ideas on planning and development.
Communities secretary Angela Rayner wants to designate some green belt land as “grey belt”, opening the way to a land grab. Developers are lining up to oblige.
Notorious
Frasers Group, owned by Mike Ashley, notorious for his imposition of zero hours contracts and thwarting union recognition, wants to build a 275 acre complex on green belt land adjacent to the village of Ansty.
The scheme includes five massive warehouses, each bigger than the village itself. And they will be filled with imported goods, not made in nearby Coventry or Rugby but most likely Asia.
Up in arms
Understandably the villagers are up in arms, and have detailed concerns about the scale and siting of the development on prime farm land. Ansty is awash with placards which urge “Save Ansty’s green belt”.
Others in the region are concerned that the proposal will set a precedent for further unsuitable developments in the area. Rayner looks to have a fight on her hands if she allows Ashley to have his way. The deadline for objections is Friday 30 August.