Planning victory

BGT, advising the Gardens Trust, has played a significant role in the refusal by Buckinghamshire Council of a planning application by the Ministry of Justice to develop a new ‘megaprison’ at Grendon Underwood. The Category C prison, intended to house up to 1468 prisoners, would have covered an area of 6.7 ha on a greenfield site next to Grendon Hall, adjacent to the existing Grendon and Springhill prisons. The reasons for rejection of the application emphasised the destructive impact on the historic landscape relating to the 1880s Grade II Grendon Hall and surrounding heritage assets, as well as, among other considerations, the impact on biodiversity, adverse effects on the rural setting and loss of agricultural land. The submissions by the Gardens Trust clearly had a major part to play in the Council’s decision. Sadly, plans for a very damaging new building at Stowe School were recently approved despite objections on the grounds of damage to the historic landscape from Council officers, based on an independent assessment they commissioned, and from the Gardens Trust, the Georgian Group and Historic England.