Latest news with #RichardBiggs
BBC News
11-08-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Expansion plan for 100 jobs at Winfrith former nuclear site
One hundred new jobs could be created at a former nuclear site in firm Norco is seeking permission to double the size of its operation at Dorset Innovation Park in company, which has its head office in Poole, said in its planning application that the expansion would create 40 new jobs in the short term and 60 in the medium to long Council's economic growth councillor Richard Biggs said the authority had set a target of 300 new jobs at the site in the next four years. About 30 people are already employed at the Winfrith site, according to Dorset Council documents when it agreed the sale of the extra land to the company earlier this Biggs, who is also deputy leader of the council, said: "Our new Economic Growth Strategy has a target for 300 new jobs at the Dorset Innovation Park by 2029, so we welcome planning applications from businesses already on the site who are looking to expand."The planning proposal is for a new store and an extension totalling 5,800 sq m (1.4 acres) and creating an additional 256 parking describes itself as "a leading manufacturer of lightweight composite structures and glass reinforced plastic mouldings" operating from six sites with more than 170 company website lists Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, Siemens, Airbus, Sunseeker, the RNLI and Princess boats as have until 20 August to comment on the application. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Guardian
27-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘No shops, no schools': homes in England built without basic amenities
Thousands of homes across England are being built without urgently needed community infrastructure, say councillors and campaigners, leaving families without access to playgrounds, schools, shops, and even doctors. Even where provision is built, it can take years to come into use, the Guardian has been told. Just outside the village of Cressing, in Essex, sits the Paddocks, a development of 225 new homes with a fenced-off playground, surrounded with signs warning 'keep out' and 'children are not allowed to play on this site'. 'It's been three years since families moved in,' saysKevin Dale, a local campaigner. 'And houses overlook an unfinished playground.' There are no shops, he reports, no nursery, and the recently planted trees have died. At Westvale Park in Surrey, councillors took the drastic decision to put a stop order on the building of thousands of homes in order to make sure that a play area and local amenities were being provided. 'They were supposed to build shops, a community centre and playgrounds once it reached 600 homes', Richard Biggs, the council leader, says. 'But we were at over 1,000 homes and there was nothing.' Steve Chambers, whose campaign group Transport for New Homes has been sending volunteers to visit housing developments around the country for several years, says: 'We are building homes on the fringes of towns in places that have very little public transport, where teenagers have nowhere to go independently. 'Our volunteers saw developments with no corner shops or cafes, no sense of space.' In the case of the Paddocks, built by Countryside Homes, which is owned by Vistry Group, it's been a long and complex process. The project started building in 2021 but subsequently the local council, Braintree, took action against Vistry and Countryside because 'it became apparent that the development was not being built in accordance with the planning permission'. A new planning application to regularise what has been built was finally approved in March this year. The council said: '[We] are continuing to work with the developer to get the open space set out, including the play area.' As well as a closed playground, Dale points out that 'there is no shop, no nursery, no pub'. The developer, Vistry, points out that under its planning agreement it does not have to build a shop, pub or nursery. In relation to the trees that have died, it says this problem is 'common in new plantings' and will be rectified at its expense. The playground is due to open this summer, Vistry Group told the Guardian, but is closed 'until surrounding landscaping is complete … [which] is subject to discharge of a planning condition which Vistry will continue to work in partnership with Braintree [local planning authority] to conclude'. The company also points out that changes after initial permission were 'standard' and that, more broadly, it works according to the local plan. It added: '[The] local plan provides the framework for how the district will develop.' At another development nearby, Silver End, a site of 350 properties built by Redrow Homes, James Abbott, a green councillor who has sat on his local planning committee for most of the past 26 years, says that pleas for a basic space for the community were turned down by the developers, despite locals offering to put in their own labour for free. 'I asked them to give us just the shell of a building on the land that had been allocated for early years care. We had local tradespeople lined up who were offering to do the rest voluntarily; Redrow turned us down.' The developer says that a building on that spot was not in the plan: 'We purchased the site with outline planning already approved, which included £2.5m funding to support local infrastructure, but did not include a community centre. We discussed potentially amending plans with the local authority, but the decision was made to proceed with the original plans. The site has protected space left on it to build early years provision.' Planning meeting notes show that Redrow offered a community hall as part of a renegotiation of the larger section 106 agreement, which the council turned down. Where does responsibility lie for the problem? Abbott believes that developers have too much freedom. 'Changes to the planning system made under both Conservative and Labour have put developers in an extremely strong position to build houses that maximise their profits and avoid building everything else.' But in some cases the developer was not required by the local authority to supply community facilities as part of its planning permission: the economics of much-needed housing do not always allow it. And in others, applications were denied by local authorities because they did not meet the requirements, but the project was then given permission on appeal to the government. There are many developers who go over and above in making sure that they are building livable, sustainable housing spaces, and who take their responsibilities extremely seriously. On Conningbrook, near Ashford in Kent, for example, Redrow is building new wetlands to protect the local special area of conservation from nitrates. As well as the £3.5m wetlands, the 725 home site will have 11 hectares of open space, including a village green and a community building. But Chambers's organisation has also seen developments where 'vast spaces on new-build estates are given up to parking … this is the reason there is no space for anything else. In its report What is being built this year, volunteers visited 40 sites across England and fund: 'Many greenfield developments are in poor locations for sustainable transport and are car dependent.' Wherever your new home is, Chambers says, 'You should be able to go out the front door, and know that there are local amenities to walk to, and 'turn up and go' public transport. The current planning system is not delivering this vision.' Some local authorities have felt the only way to get what they need for their communities is take matters into their own hands to press developers to build what is needed for communities. At Westvale Park in Surrey, a development of 1,500 homes on what were once farmers fields near Gatwick airport, Katherine, a childminder, is pushing a toddler on the swings in the recently built playground, and has nothing but good things to say about living here. 'Oh, it's lovely, absolutely great for children, there are lots of playgrounds and it's safe. It would be nice to have a shop though. At the moment you have to drive for everything.' But if Reigate and Banstead council in Surrey hadn't stepped in, there might have been nowhere to play and no hall being built. In 2023 the council called a stop to building on the site because the developers had not built the promised playgrounds and community hall. 'There were rules about what had to be built at a certain point.' says Biggs. 'So we had to put a stop order on them and that was a difficult decision.' In doing so the council was risking the wrath of families desperate to move in and pressure from four of the biggest housebuilders in the UK. 'We had families waiting to move in so I was getting unpleasant phone calls,' Biggs adds. 'The developers weren't happy.' He says planning law must ensure vital community provision gets built along with houses: 'Developers will concentrate on building houses first. So it's important that the government recognises that we have to protect green spaces.' The consortium of builders – Crest Nicholson, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and A2Dominion – was served a stop notice for 'failing to deliver important community facilities to support the development and its residents in a timely manner', and last summer an agreement was reached for the developers to put a series of bonds in place, totalling about £12m, which the council held to build the facilities if they weren't finished to a new completion date. The pause was lifted on 5 July 2024; several play areas are now open on the site but there is still no shop or an NHS GP surgery that was originally planned for. A spokesperson for the consortium said: 'The final phase of the development, the Horley Neighbourhood Centre, will feature a neighbourhood hall, retail spaces, play areas and allotments. We expect to have completed all works by the end of 2026, in accordance with the revised programme timeline agreed with the council.' A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'We are committed to strengthening the rules on developer contributions so that developers deliver the required infrastructure faster as we build 1.5m homes through our plan for change. 'Developers are expected to provide infrastructure where this is needed to make a development acceptable, regardless of size.' But campaigners and local councillors fear that, in the government's haste to build new homes, vital provisions may be left behind. Biggs warns that further deregulation of the planning process has to leave protection for councils to hold developers to account. 'We need to keep the power to say 'stop'. If we hadn't stepped in I think we'd still be arguing now with the developers over when we were going to get these playgrounds.'
BBC News
27-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Concerns over rent increases for council-owned Weymouth hotels
Rent increases for 65 council-owned hotels could put small businesses out of business in a seaside town, a councillor has Louie O'Leary has raised concerns about Dorset Council's new economic growth strategy, which would see increases at venues in at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said any large rises in rent for small, family-run businesses in council-owned hotels or bed and breakfasts would be "contradictory to the council's aim of promoting growth".Portfolio holder for growth, councillor Richard Biggs, defended what he described as "appropriate" rent levels ahead of the strategy being approved. Mr O'Leary told councillors: "Higher rents will, potentially, put a lot of small businesses out of business."Mr Biggs said tourism was "very important" in Weymouth, but the council was "not a charity".He added: "It's our properties, council taxpayers properties and clearly we have to get rents which are at market values."We recognise the importance that the hotels everywhere offer to tourism and some of those are very viable, some less viable and some people want to get out."Tourism is one element, but it's not the element that's going to deliver the high, well-paid jobs we are looking for." 'Businesses need support' Council officer Nick Webster said the authority's aim for tourism was to increase visitor spending across the told the meeting: "We are also looking to see if we can increase the productivity of some of our tourism business and undertake innovation within their processes, so they become more productive, contributing to our overall higher economic growth."Conservative councillor Simon Gibson said his party "welcomed much in the economic growth strategy", but called for more focus outside of what he described as the "Weymouth-Dorchester corridor"."Our plea is to be more open minded about what is possible in other areas, especially in the north of the county," he councillor Ryan Hope added: "We should fully support this strategy, it's timely, our businesses need the support and it shows that Dorset Council is committed." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
20-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Redhill theatre to be brought back into use after Raac discovery
Council leaders have voted to save an iconic theatre which was shut two years ago over unstable and Banstead Borough Council's executive has agreed to bring the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill back into theatre has been shut since September 2023 when reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) was discovered at the Biggs, the council's leader, said: "Deciding how best to deal with the Raac in the theatre has been very complex but now we can really push forward with getting the theatre back open as quickly as possible." Allocating £4.5m from the authority's reserves to fund the work is set to be finalised at a meeting in council will also look to appoint a specialist company to market and seek expressions of interest for a third-party to run the told BBC Radio Surrey the theatre had become "a cultural hub for community via the arts"."We recognise the importance of it and we're doing everything we can as a council to make sure that legacy and the theatre continue," he added. David Fisher, from the Harlequin Support Group, which was representing users of the venue, said he was "delighted" with the added: "It's critical from our point of view that once the decision is confirmed at the full council next month that we proceed very quickly to the contracting process," he added. On Thursday, the executive also agreed the next steps for the creation of an additional arts and cultural venue in Redhill, which would be run by a leader said the council had already received interest from more than one local organisation to run the site.
BBC News
11-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Reigate & Banstead Council to discuss future of Harlequin Theatre
A Surrey council's executive will meet to decide the future of a theatre, which had to close in September 2023 due to the discovery of Raac (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete).Reigate & Banstead Council (RBC) will meet to decide the future of the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill on 19 June, as well as discussing the creation of a new arts and cultural venue.A report makes recommendations to secure the future of the theatre and bring it back into use as soon as possible, including to proceed with removal of the Raac and essential works to allow the theatre to reopen at previous the discovery of the concrete, the theatre had a capacity of over 500 people. The report advises the council to appoint a specialist company to market and seek expressions of interest for the Harlequin to be run by a third-party operator, with a budget of up to £40,000 for this work, funded by council also says RBC should allocate up to £4.5m in funding from council reserves to fund a design team and the works required to bring the Harlequin back into approved this will also need to be agreed by the full council. Council leader Richard Biggs said: "We remain committed to bringing the Harlequin Theatre back into use and securing its future. "The recommendations seek to balance the community aspirations to bring the theatre back into use as quickly as possible with the need to prioritise community safety."The recommendation to secure a third party to operate the theatre in the future, is about seeking to ensure the financial sustainability of the theatre by reducing the council's subsidy contribution."
