About Bewdley.
Bewdley is an historic town on the River Severn in Worcestershire, a few miles to the west of Kidderminster and 22 miles south west of Birmingham. The town is centred around the 1798 Telford bridge across the River Severn, with approximately 56% of the residents living on the western side.
In the 2011 census the town had just over 9000 inhabitants, living in just over 4000 households.
In the 14th century, the town had come to be known as Beau lieu, French for "Beautiful place" , but its heyday was in the 17th and 18th centuries when it flourished due to the river trade. The centre of the town contains many historic buildings including some lovely Georgian architecture and is now a conservation area.
See Bewdley History on the Town Council website for a short history of the town.
Who are 'Bewdley says NO to Gladman' ?
We are residents of Bewdley, who live all over the town, some with local roots going back many generations. Like all residents, we are the current custodians of the town. The town is on loan to us and it is in our interest to make certain that we help the town to have a long and sustainable future.
A committee for the campaign has been appointed and can be seen on the About us page of this site.
Who are Gladman Developments ?
Gladman were founded in 1987 by multi-millionaire David Gladman and are based in Cheshire. They describe themselves as “the UK’s most successful strategic land promoter”. Gladman have taken a strategic decision to tackle a weakness in UK Government Policy and in particular where County Councils and District Councils do not have a current Strategic Development Local Plan. We should point out that not all Gladman planning applications fall into this category, but a large number do.
Gladman simply find land and submit outline planning permission applications. If outline planning permission is granted they sell that land along with the permission to the building developer with the highest bid.
Yes this is all about money. Gladman approach the land owners on a “No Win No Fee” basis and the landowner and Gladman split the profits.
Can Gladman be defeated ?
Yes !
Although they claim a high success rate, analysis of recent schemes would suggest that where schemes go to appeal they are currently losing more than they are winning.
Who owns the land ?
The land was sold on 5th September 2016 by the landowner to a company that is wholly owned by himself - Karma Development Company Ltd.
Karma Development Company Ltd was formally known as Karma Agricultural Services Ltd until January 2016
How much is the land worth ?
As agricultural land the current value is in the region of £6k per acre.
If outline planning permission were to be granted the value would be between £600k & £1m per acre.
The site is just over 23.5 acres.
If the site were extended to the size of the original submission for 400 houses it would be 31.25 acres.
How can you help us now ?
If you are opposed to this planning application, now is the time to join our fight against the proposals.
Please contact us if you have any information that you think could help us fight this proposed development. All ideas are welcome and you could be the difference between success and failure for this campaign.
Please display our campaign posters to show your support, they can be download from the Gallery page of this website.
We sincerely hope that we will be able to convince Wyre Forest District Council to reject the application. However we know from experience that Gladman will take this to appeal.
How can you help with the appeal ?
In order for 'Bewdley says No to Gladman' to fight Gladman's appeal, we need to have our arguments represented before HM Government's Planning Inspectorate, and this will mean hiring a specialist planning lawyer to act on our behalf.
The good news is that Gladman can be defeated by a well-organised and well-presented case being made to the Planning Inspectorate, and they often have been. The bad news is that protecting our town will come at some considerable cost. We know from our friends in other targeted areas that fighting an appeal will cost many thousands of pounds, but that they were able to raise the majority of this through crowd funding and pledges from residents.
Many residents and others who love Bewdley have already donated, for which we are extremely grateful. We are now considering fundraising events, and other means of generating funds and we hope you will be able to assist with ideas and help.
We need funds and we need your help. Please consider a donation, however small (although the more the better!) If you would like to make a donation to help fund the appeal fight please see our Fundraising page
Many, many thanks for anything which you feel able to give.
We would like to reassure you that all donor identities will be kept confidential and that any surplus funds at the conclusion of the campaign will be donated to projects within Bewdley.
Further Information.
If at any time you require answers to any questions related to our activities and the battle to defeat Gladman, please see our Contact us page or email us at LoveBewdley@gmail.com
This next phase (the appeal) can be very complex, but as a committee we are determined to fight hard in a professional manner and obtain the best outcome for our town. Please support us and please help to keep our town sustainable and a town we are all very proud to live in.