Moral support for Marlborough’s Rabley Wood residents opposed to proposed 46-property housing estate planned by the Sangster family for their recreation ground has come from Dame Helen Ghosh, director general of the Swindon-based National Trust.
Dame Helen is on record as challenging the government’s planning reforms and protesting that local councils are being “hustled” by Whitehall to build on greenfield sites while brownfield sites go untouched.
Jayne Baker and her husband David, who have led the Rabley Wood residents’ campaign, are both National Trust members and in a letter to Dame Helen say “how pleased we are to hear that the Trust is so concerned about the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).”
And inviting her to come to Marlborough to see for herself the recreation ground residents will lose if the project goes ahead.
But Dame Helen, while welcoming their invitation, has had to turn it down, her co-ordinator Katie Knowles explaining: “You will appreciate that, as a charity with a specific statutory purpose and limited resources, the National Trust unfortunately cannot take action in all cases where our properties are not directly affected.
“At the local level we do not have capacity to comment on all individual planning applications. We must look after the places and properties entrusted to our care. But beyond that, as Helen said in her interview, we can and do have a wider role and we recognise the importance of a fair and balanced decision-making process.
“We will continue to work with and make representations to the government at national level, where we think we can make our most powerful contribution, and will keep a close eye on the implementation of the government’s National Planning Policy Framework.”
The Bakers are nevertheless delighted that the National Trust’s concerns over planning issues are in the forefront of its activities.
It’s website defines what a planning system should be, listing in particular that it should be balanced – to integrate environmental, social and economic concerns, should safeguard the public’s interest – protect countryside, heritage and nature, and start from what people value about their place while giving the people involved a genuine say.
“We liked that section,” Mrs Baker told Marlborough News Online.