Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, has condemned building materials company Wienerberger for acting in an ‘arrogant and thoughtless’ manner, after it used a legal loophole to avoid having to meet the full terms of its planning consent.
In June, 2012, Wienerberger received permission to demolish and re-develop its plant and buildings at the site of the former Baggeridge Brickworks in Gospel End, South Staffordshire.
A series of conditions were attached to the demolition to ensure that nearby residents didn’t experience any problems with access and that traffic continued to flow smoothly.
The planning consent document stated that no site clearance works should commence until the Gospel End Road (A463) signalised junction had been constructed and completed.
Furthermore, it stated no development, demolition or site clearance should take place until details regarding the parking of vehicles of site personnel, operatives and visitors, loading and unloading arrangements for plant and material, and storage area of plant and materials had been submitted and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.
The demolition was requested to be temporarily called to a halt by the Council after the responsible parties were challenged about their failure to meet several of these conditions.
However, it was successfully argued that the stipulations laid out in the document did not apply until construction commenced at the site and the planning permission was thereby implemented.
This meant that the conditions that the landowner was required to meet prior to the start of construction were not legally enforceable and the company was not forced to adhere to them.
Gavin is writing to the CEO of Wienerberger to express his and a number of residents’ disgust over the matter.
Gavin said: “I believe Wienerberger has behaved in an arrogant and thoughtless manner. I will be calling for them to act in the spirit of the permission that they received. While a number of conditions laid out in the planning consent document may not be legally enforceable, I feel there still exists a moral obligation for the landowner to do all it can to spare local residents from undue disruption.
“You would not have expected any responsible business to act in this manner and you would have hoped such a large company as Wienerberger would show a little bit of consideration to local residents.”