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Below
gives an overview of some of our work;
2014 Staffordshire Moorlands Core Strategy Examination
September
2015: Leckhampton Green Land Action
Group (LEGLAG)
Based in Cheltenham LEGLAG formed over 20
years ago to save the countryside south of Cheltenham that sits under the
Cotswold escarpment from housing development.
Lufton & Associates most recently represented them at a major
appeal by Bovis and Miller Homes against the refusal of planning consent for
the development of an urban extension to Cheltenham including provision for
750 dwellings. Previously Lufton &
Associates has assisted LEGLAG in making objecting to planning applications,
with technical response to matters such as EIA and representing them at
planning committee.
BBC News Kidnappers Lane turned down by Planning Committee
Cheltenham Borough Council
Appeal dismissed for 650 new houses on sensitive site
June
2015: Save Sefton Park Meadows
Campaign
Lufton & Associates engaged with
the Save Sefton Park
Meadows Campaign from June 2014 and have been carefully advising and providing professional
objections and negotiation. The campaign is particularly challenging in
that the land in question is owned by Liverpool City Council who are the local
planning authority. The campaign is exceptionally well supported having
almost 5,000 'likes' on Facebook alone.
Battle to Save
Sefton Park Meadows Trees
at Stake
Kim
Cattrall joins the Campaign Lufton and
Associates Objections to the Campaign
Update (May 2025) From the Chair Save Sefton Park Meadows Campaign Group
Remember the Save Sefton Park Meadows
campaign 2014 to 2015 when we commissioned you to give a professional
opinion of the planning and sustainability merits of the Redrow planning
application to build houses on Sefton Park Meadows, to back up our own
objections to this ill thought out scheme?
Our
campaign started in March 2013 and I am pleased to inform you that 12
years later, from March 2025, that Sefton Park Meadows are now legally
protected from development in perpetuity. That is because Liverpool City
Council in an agreement with Fields In Trust https://fieldsintrust.org
entered into a Deed of Dedication for Sefton Park, including Sefton
Park Meadows, which protects the area from development in perpetuity.
Redrows
planning application never got as far as the LCC Planning Committee as
there was disagreement over who should pay for the land valuation, plus
the ever growing number of green space campaigns across Liverpool, which
heavily impacted on the ruling Labour party at local Council elections.
Come
January 2018 and the elected Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, raised
the white flag and declared houses would not be built on Sefton Park
Meadows.
In
2019 a meeting took place with Mayor Joe Anderson, Fields In Trust,
several green space campaigners and Ian Byrne M.P. to discuss
entering into an agreement with Fields In Trust to put 100 of
Liverpool's parks and green spaces into Deeds of Dedication to protect
them from development in perpetuity. The Mayor was persuaded to agree to
the agreement as it would boost his chances of re-election the
following year. It took two more years until the LCC/FIT agreement was
approved at a Liverpool City Council Meeting in March 2021. The first 20
sites consisting of the ten largest city parks and ten smaller green
spaces were programmed to have Deeds of Dedication completed by the end
of 2021, but due to delays caused by LCC this did not happen until March
2025! https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/sex-city-star-redrow-joe-20244269
In
December 2020 Mayor Joe Anderson was arrested on suspicion of
conspiracy to commit bribery and witness
intimidation as part of a wider Merseyside Police investigation,
Operation Aloft, into
development and building contracts in the city of Liverpool. He then
stood down from the Mayor of Liverpool position. Fast forward to last
month, April 2025, Joe Anderson and 11 others appeared at Preston Crown
Court to answer charges and be informed of dates for their trials in
2026. 'Joe Anderson and Derek Hatton bribery charges to be heard across
three trials.'
We
wanted to let you know we finally got Sefton Park Meadows protected
after 12 long years of campaigning and are grateful for the part you
played in this epic.
We now look forward to
October 2026 when Joe Anderson and 4 others go on
trial, scheduled to last 15 weeks. Be interesting to see if Sefton Park
Meadows gets a mention during the trial.
March
2015: Highwood Road, Uttoxeter
With
the assistance of Lufton & Associates residents have successfully
campaigned for the refusal of planning consent for a housing development on a
virgin greenfield site on land between Highwood Road and Wood Lane.
Appeal Decision
January 2018: Brewood, South Staffordshire
With the assistance of Lufton & Associates residents successfully lobbied South Staffordshire District Council to refuse a predatory application for a single bungalow that would have impacted on eight local families.
Decision
October 2019: Cedar Hill, Alton
Assisted a group of residents to successfully stave of a housing development. The application was refused by SMDC.
January 2020: Featherstone, South Staffordshire
Successfully assisted Featherstone Parish Council with professional planning objections to a major housing development that had considerable negative impacts on the village.
October 2021: Chebsey, Stafford
Successfully objected to an unnecessary housing development that claimed to be required as essential to the running of a rural based business. Refused by SBC as an over development of the site.
May 2022: Rowley Park Action Group, Stafford
Engaged with the Planning Authority for a group of residents (10 households) objecting to a major Care and Residential Home seeking mitigation to protect their residential amenity. Successful and instrumental to three major design changes to the scheme to one much more acceptable to the community.
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