Lorely Burt presents Bill to give residents a say on planning and parkland

6.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th Jul 2005

Solihull's MP, Lorely Burt will present a Bill before the House of Commons on Tuesday to protect parkland from being sold off by local councils and give local people more of a say in planning decisions. I was active in Lorely's campaign and the commitment to introduce this bill was key to her victory in my opinion. It is great the Lorely has been able to make good this commitment so early on - we will have to see if it will Be supported by the other parties.

During her successful election campaign, Lorely vowed to continue the fight by over 15,000 Solihull residents to stop the Conservatives selling off local green spaces. She even received the backing of Liberal Democrat Leader, Charles Kennedy to introduce a Bill, dubbed 'Lorely's Law', and will be the first Liberal Democrat to present a Bill during this parliament.

Lorely said "I was third in a ballot to present a new Bill, and two of my colleagues have stepped aside to allow me to fulfil my promise to introduce Lorely's Law, for which I am extremely grateful. This Bill would restore the balance and give local people a say in the planning decisions which shape their environments and their lives"

The Bill has 4 main provisions:

• With any proposed sale of public green space sufficient objections would trigger a local referendum

• For windfall developments gardens would be re-designated as green space instead of brownfield and true inner city brownfield sites would have to be developed BEFORE people's back gardens

• Residents could appeal to the Secretary of State against decisions to grant planning permission to developers

• Trees over a certain size and age would be protected so that developers could not get rid of them prior to submitting a planning application

Lorely is also calling for the implementation of the 2004 Planning Act which will stop developers being able to re-submit applications time and time again, causing communities years of worry while developers try to wear down their resistance.