Help us Save Dedham Vale
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Does this development at Manningtree Station conserve or enhance the natural beauty of the Dedham Vale National Landscape? That’s what the law says it must do. If you think it doesn’t, please help the Dedham Vale Society to fight a test case to protect our beautiful valley and other National Landscapes from this and other threats.
Greater Anglia has built two extensions to Manningtree station car park without planning permission. In the process, it has ignored a law that is supposed to stop National Landscapes – formerly called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty - from being blighted by insensitive development. If we let developers get away with this, the floodgates will open to other developments here and in other protected areas.
The station emits three times more light pollution at night than the nearby town of Manningtree.
Who are we and how can we make change?
The Dedham Vale Society was founded in 1938 by Sir Alfred Munnings, the artist, and Raymond Erith, the architect, both of whom lived in Dedham. The Society's goal is to protect the natural beauty of the Dedham Vale landscape and its villages, the setting for many of the paintings by renowned artist John Constable. As a result of a major national campaign by the Society against unsustainable development of the vale in 1965, the Stour valley was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (now called a National Landscape) by the Countryside Commission in 1969.
Over the years campaigns have been fought with a great deal of success against water and electricity-generating companies, building developers and even the Civil Aviation Authority.
All have been persuaded to amend or withdraw their plans in order to protect the fabric of this important National Landscape. Our work today is as vital as ever.
The Dedham Vale Society has a committee who meet regularly throughout the year. It's Dark Sky Campaign aims to get international status for our vale, one of the darkest places this close to London, and we are active in opposing unnecessary pylons from Norwich to Tilbury and destructive forms of undergrounding through the vale. In this case our lawyers have advised us to seek judicial review, which is an expensive undertaking.
So what exactly are we fighting?
The Dedham Vale Society accepted the need for more car parking at Manningtree station but asked that Greater Anglia submit a planning application so the effects on the landscape could be properly considered and reduced.
Instead, Greater Anglia went ahead without planning consent, removed trees, scrub and an old stables and built an unscreened steel “Berlin Wall” more than 200 yards long, together with two-storey car parks and bike parks that emit more light pollution than the whole nearby town of Manningtree. The view of the wall compromises enjoyment of the St Edmund Way pilgrimage footpath into the vale and the lighting affects the proposed dark sky status of the whole National Landscape. That is the view also of the National Landscape team who work for the four local authorities involved.
The bike shed - light spilling everywhere and nobody in it
After nearly four years Tendring district council took enforcement action against the railway company. But in April, just before the election, a government planning inspector decided to let Greater Anglia get away with it so Tendring had to back down. We think that by authorising this development – in the face of strong opposition from local councils and local bodies such as the Dedham Vale Society, the CPRE and the Ramblers Association - the Government has ignored its own law.
One side countryside, the other side steel. St Edmund Way long distance footpath in the middle. All in the National Landscape.
A law already exists that should prevent developments like this.
Section 85 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, revised by Parliament in 2023, says:
"In exercising or performing any functions in relation to, or so as to affect, land in an area of outstanding natural beauty in England, a relevant authority … must seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the area of outstanding natural beauty."
No way has this scheme done that.
The station makes much of being in the country - why develop it as if it was in an industrial wasteland?
And if the law doesn't work, what then?
There are many new threats to the Vale, from pylons and undergrounding in particular, but we will have no way of protecting it from them if this piece of law is ignored. So please help us fund a judicial review of this unacceptable decision and a continuing campaign to make sure the national law is applied everywhere. We already have "leave" to bring this review - which means a judge thinks we have an arguable case.
Preparing to measure the brightness of the night sky, just across the river Stour and its watermeadows from the station
How much will this challenge cost?
Taking this fight to government isn’t cheap but we believe we need effective legal protection before other developments come our way. For example, 23,000 people, 14 MPs, four county councils, several district councils and many parish councils have said NO to 180km of pylons through the heart of East Anglia and YES to an offshore grid, and yet poor planning proposals are still being pushed forward. Although the section through the National Landscape will be underground, it is in danger of creating a 250m wide scar across the vale with 250 lorry journeys a week passing along local roads for the several years it will take to construct it.
Pylons all around and undergrounding 250m wide through the vale
What we can all do
We ask members of the Dedham Vale Society and anyone concerned about the Vale to rise to the occasion and give generously to our fighting fund.
We need to raise a minimum of £25,000 to fight our cause.
Any donation is welcome. People have however asked for guidance and what we really need to keep fighting your corner is a minimum of £10 per month from at least 250 people - as a regular donation after your first donation here. If we raise more than that, it will go towards fighting the next battle.
Thank you in advance for all you can give – we will make it count.
