This week I have urged Lib Dem County Council bosses to come clean about their plans to build on green belt land around Ponteland, and all across Tynedale. It is well known that we have green belt applications in Ponteland, and in other areas in Tynedale. Indeed, only on Friday I met with Ovingham residents worried about another green belt application in a flood area north of the village's main settlement
The Council has yet to confirm when it will reveal its plans for Tynedale and Ponteland's green belt.
If the Lib Dem Administration wants to build on all, some, or none of the green belt then that is their democratic choice, but they must let the people have their say. What I am very concerned about is that the Council will delay unveiling its plans for the green belt until after the elections, denying people their democratic say.
The Lib Dems who run the Council must be open and honest. If they hold back telling local people their plans until after the elections local people will know why; they are not stupid. In a few weeks time the Council will release it's latest document for its local plan. In it they should address their green belt plans. We have been waiting long enough, and local people want to know where they stand.
I gave a speech on this issue in the House of Commons on the 20th December: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-12-20a.1051.0&s=speaker%3A24962#g1079.0
Locally across my patch there is great, and legitimate, fear for the greenbelt, whether this is in Ponteland, or Hexham's West End. People must know these plans before they go to the polls in May.
