THEYDON BOIS: Green Belt land sales condemned (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

THEYDON BOIS: Green Belt land sales condemned

11:09am Wednesday 7th July 2010 in

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TACTICS previously condemned by the district council as a way of hard-selling Green Belt land have emerged again in a new sales brochure.

Epping Forest District Council issued an official warning to potential investors last year when a company called Emerging Property Partnership (EPP) began putting out glossy brochures advertising land for sale in Theydon Bois.

Persuasive language used in the brochures, including statements that the village was set to be the site of 3,500 new homes, was condemned by the council but exactly the same language has now been used in a brochure from Castra Land Ltd.

Castra Land is registered as a company at the exact same address as EPP and its sales document repeats the 3,500 homes claim as well as the statement: “Theydon Bois is a prime location for redevelopment”.

The document also makes use of the recent core strategy consultation document produced by the council which suggested Theydon Bois has a “low to moderate” sensitivity to change- a statement which outraged residents.

In the new document from Castra Land, 32 plots are for sale at prices starting from £5,950, and all are agricultural land near the Blunts Farm site off Abridge Road, which the district council has said it has no plans to earmark for housing.

The document, labelled phase 4, boasts it has already sold out all plots in phases 1, 2, and 3, despite the warning from the council last year that the land could well be worthless as an investment.

Theydon Bois Action Group, which had condemned the previous document, has reacted with anger to the new brochure.

A spokeswoman said: “The owners of Blunts Farm have already marred this land by dumping spoil on it, and developers should not be allowed to get away with yet another scam by continuously attempting to compromise this area of Green Belt.”

Castra Land consultant Craig White denied the sales brochure was misleading.

He said: “We make quite certain that every bit of information in that document or any document we produce is accurate.

“When we make any document we conduct research whether that's from local papers, the district council or whoever. It's an area which is near the M25, it's got the London Underground station. From all reports this area isn't far away from being designated for housing.”

In a new twist, one section of land near Blunts Farm is currently being offered for sale on internet auction site Ebay.

As of today (July 7), the highest offer for the land, which the seller claims is worth over £7,500, was £1,020.