Greens ask government to block Brands plan.
Brands Hatch's hopes of staging the British Grand Prix from 2002 have been put on a temporary hold, following continued opposition to its redevelopment plans by environmentalists.
The Woodland Trust, which made its disapproval of the plans known before the circuit was granted initial planning permission by Sevenoaks District Council last month, has now written to the Government Office for the South-East [GOSE] asking that the DETR [Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions] holds a public enquiry into the development scheme.
Brands Hatch's hopes of staging the British Grand Prix from 2002 have been put on a temporary hold, following continued opposition to its redevelopment plans by environmentalists.
The Woodland Trust, which made its disapproval of the plans known before the circuit was granted initial planning permission by Sevenoaks District Council last month, has now written to the Government Office for the South-East [GOSE] asking that the DETR [Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions] holds a public enquiry into the development scheme.
In response, the GOSE has issued an Article 14 holding direction, suspending the local authority's involvement in the planning application for as long as necessary for the DETR to decide on the viability of such an enquiry.
According to a spokeswoman for the Trust, the organisation repeated its objections to the redevelopment scheme, as originally sent to Sevenoaks District Council, in the letter to the GOSE, claiming that the application was inconsistent with the government's own strategy to halt the decline of ancient woodland - 37 acres of which would be destroyed in the redevelopment of the Brands Hatch.
In all, the Trust claims that the approval of the circuit's application contravenes the Sevenoaks local plan, the UK Sustainable Development Strategy, the England Forestry Strategy and a draft Regional Planning Guide for the south-east of England, all of which suggest that ancient woodlands should be protected. It also claims that the loss of woodland at Brands Hatch would be the largest instance of its kind since the construction of the Channel Tunnel rail link, which also cut a swathe through the Kent countryside.
It was also stressed that the Woodland Trust was not opposed to grands prix, or motorsport of any sort, but that the Brands Hatch example was a case in point regarding the issues it had raised in a report on the threat to Britain's ancient woodland.
No date has yet been set for a reply from either the DETR or GOSE
[Source: www.woodland-trust.org.uk]
