A REDDITCH business that’s actually based in Bromsgove district is so fed up with council planners it’s teamed up with singer Sam Ostler to release a song highlighting what it calls is the postcode lottery of planning.
Supply chain giant Oakland International have their HQ in Beoley and the business, which has 245 full time employees, has been trying to expand into what it says is ‘a derelict site sandwiched between wasteland and a scrapyard and adjacent to the busy A435 dual carriageway.’
However the plan was rejected by Bromsgrove district planners because it was development in the Green Belt.
Oakland co-founder and chief executive Dean Attwell said: “We want to see a complete shake-up of the planning system. There is a balance to be struck between economic development and Green Belt protection.
“And we want to hear from other businesses which have found themselves in similar challenging circumstances to us.”
He added that Bromsgrove planners were effectively telling them that to expand they should move elsewhere.
“It’s an easy solution, but we have a responsibility to 245 people and an extended family of suppliers and so it’s not that simple just to up and go, yet we can’t just sit still because the supermarkets are driving deals all the time and we have rivals who would happily take a share of our business,” said Mr Attwell.
However the head of Bromsgrove and Redditch’s Planning and Regeneration department, Ruth Bamford, gave a robust response to Mr Attwell’s claims.
She said: “Reflecting the Government’s stance, the current planning regime is both pro-economic development and pro-Green Belt. One of the fundamental aims of Green Belts is to prevent urban sprawl.
“This business has built a large warehouse in the Green Belt without planning permission, and the national Planning Inspectorate has agreed with the district council that this unauthorised building should be removed. It’s a great business that in this instance is in the wrong place.”
Oakland International has appealed against the decision and launched a website www.plannersblockbusiness.co.uk for other firms to contact them.
For a copy of ‘Application Refused’ by Sam Ostler, visit iTunes with all proceeds going to help the underprivileged in Redditch and Bromsgrove via the OaklandsFoundation.
