NEWS RELEASE
From the office of the Green MEPs


September 7th, 2004

ERITH MARSHES SOLD OFF IN SECRET BID FOR EU CASH - GREEN EURO-MP DEMANDS ACCESS TO PAPERS AFTER DEAL REVEALED

LONDON Euro-MP Jean Lambert has condemned Bexley Council for failing to declare a vested interest after it emerged the borough is to receive a parcel of land free of charge from developers Tilfen Land but only if it grants permission for a controversial business park to be built on an important conservation site on Erith Marshes.

The secret deal emerged during a series of meetings between conservationists, locals campaigning to save Erith Marshes from the development, the Council, the Office of te London Mayor and developers Tilfen Land Ltd. The free parcel of land would be used to house an Innovation Centre, which could be build using EU cash.

Mrs Lambert, the capitals Green Party MEP, said: This deal gives Bexley Council a vested interest in the planning applications for the Southmere Green business park and leaves a sour taste in the mouths of campaigners.

Tilfen Land Ltd told local campaigners that land on the controversial Southmere Green site which lies just outside a protected Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation but remains one of the capital s few remaining grazing marshland sites and an important local amenity would be donated to the Council to house the proposed East Thamesmead Centre for Innovation, but only if planning permission was granted to all three phases of its proposed business park.

The deal represents a double blow to campaigners the proposed centre itself represents another development threat on the site, and gives the Council a vested interest in over-ruling conservation objections to the original application.

Mrs Lambert, who earlier this year prompted an ongoing European Commission inquiry into the impact of the proposals on the marshes, has written to the EUs regional funding chief Graham Meadows demanding he refuse the bid to fund the proposed innovation centre.

The proposed Innovation centre will directly contradict two of the goals of EU regional funding providing local benefit for local people and promoting sustainable development.

I'm not opposed to an innovation centre in the area just one on this site, which the Mayor of London's biodiversity team has described as priority grazing marsh habitat which should be protected. There are, after all, plenty of alternative Brownfield sites available locally.

In a further twist, the Government Office for London (GOL) has denied Mrs Lambert access to the EU funding application, describing the documents already submitted as commercially confidential.

How can one public bodys application to another for public funds be considered commercially confidential? The public must have full access to all proposals for the site especially given the secrecy and wheeler-dealing which seem to have characterized this application thus far, added Mrs Lambert.

ENDS

For more information please contact Ben Duncan on 01273 671946, 07973 823358 or at press@greenmeps.org.uk