No Legal Action On Center Parcs Decision
At Wednesday morning’s Executive meeting councillors received legal advice on potential options they could pursue if they wished to challenge the Government’s decision. They also heard that the cost of this action could run into tens of thousands of pounds, without the guarantee that even if successful the final outcome would mean the holiday village was not built.
After much debate, including contributions from councillors representing local people from Steppingley and Flitwick, the Executive decided that it would not be the best use of council taxpayers money to take legal action.
Cllr Ken Matthews, Planning Portfolio Holder, said: “Because of these unusual circumstances we felt it appropriate to seek Counsel’s opinion on whether there might be a basis for mounting a legal challenge to the decision. Having received advice this morning the Executive decided that even if a challenge could be made it would not be in the interests of the whole Mid Bedfordshire community and local taxpayers to do so.
“As a responsible authority we will not be wasting council taxpayers money on a Judicial Review to challenge a Government decision. We feel it is now time to begin to work with Centre Parcs to ensure that work on the holiday village progresses as smoothly as possible.
“Our aim is to ensure that the benefits of the development are fully realised, including the predicted generation of 1,500 jobs on-site. We will also want to ensure that the impact of the development on the Green Belt and the surrounding communities is minimised and that the planning obligations attached to the permission are fully implemented.”
