11:03 - 17-July-2008
Mr Healey also made a whistle-stop tour to Tewkesbury to see how it has recovered from last summer's flooding.
On the way he made a very quick visit to see the site of a controversial planned housing development in Longford, which was under water last July, shown around by Gloucestershire County Council chief executive Peter Bungard and Coun Julie Girling, lead Cabinet member for Environment and Community, as well as leader of Tewkesbury Borough Council Coun Robert Vines and Strategic Director for Operations Chris Shaw
But the stop was too short for any local campaigners against the plans to build more than 500 houses on the site to be able to talk to Mr Healey.
County Councillor for Longford, Phil Awford said “I would have liked the opportunity to talk to the Minister. I was at a reception in London with him last night and I knew he was coming to Tewkesbury, but I didn't know he was visiting Longford.”
“People have been campaigning for a long, long time about this and they would have wanted to be able to talk to him.”
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears last week gave the green light to the plans to build on the greenfield site.
Residents say that any development on the site will be prone to floods and increase run off of water into other areas.
