Blears' ruling is not a surprise
Echo 22 October 2008, letter from John Rushton

Like many people in Wickford, I'm disappointed Hazel Blears has over-ruled her own inspector, the local council, and local residents, and allowed the developer to build 200 homes on Barn Hall fields. However, I'm not at all surprised. 
   It has always been clear to me and the other members and supporters of the Wickford Action Group that this development was actually wanted by the council.
   There was also an interesting Conservative party leaflet with the headline 'Barn Hall or Wickford Masterplan? You can't be against both!'. The implication was that by having the Master Plan, Barn Hall would be safe - how wrong did that turn out to be?
   Our view is that the conservative council now want as much house building as they can get, to meet targets and to bring in more tax money, but don't want to be seen to have thrown away the open space at Barn Hall.
   The council planning department's appalling record on house building was one of the main reasons for the Secretary of State's decision. 
   Had the Council got a local development plan in place at the right time, the land would have been put back into green belt, and all of this would never have happened.

John Rushton
Guernsey Gardens, Wickford

Note from Wickford Action Group.

Link to a previous letter in Echo on 22 Feb We will get masterplan AND Barn Hall homes