FEARS OVER AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY LEADS TO 'CALL-IN' OF CHURSTON GOLF CLUB PROPOSALS

11.48.05am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 28th Apr 2009

Fears that development at Churston Golf Club could 'trash' an area of outstanding natural beauty has led to a 'Call-in' of the Mayor's decision made at the Cabinet meeting on 14th April.

Five Liberal Democrat Councillors (Steve Darling, Ian Doggett, Roger Stringer, Christine Carter and Colin Charlwood) have signed the call-in papers. The reasons given are:

1) The land concerned is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Council has failed to consult with our partners on Natural England or the Campaign to protect Rural England;

2) By granting a 999-year lease, the Council is effectively disposing of the site. Therefore the land should be subject to the Council's Asset Disposal Policy which would allow community groups to put bids to make use of the site.

The lead signatory of the call-in and Liberal Democrat Group Leader Steve Darling said:

"Torbay is special to so many people because of its green spaces. I fear that our green spaces are being sacrificed on the altar of development. There is a fine line between providing enough new homes for local people and over development. This is what happens when you have a former estate agent and a former builder in the two top jobs on the Council as Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively."