Council could evict own team (From Stroud News and Journal)

Council could evict own team

EBLEY mill binmen could be told to pack up their black bags and go in the latest twist of the Aston Down planning saga.

An enforcement action to stop businesses on the former RAF base means the council's own refuse contractor Serviceteam, which operates from the site would be among those told to move elsewhere or face closure.

Planning cabinet member Cllr Barbara Tait (Con, Chalford), said Ebley Mill was working closely with Cotswold District Council and county council officers to resolve the situation but refused to answer what might happen if Serviceteam were told to move on.

"They would have to find another site but that is a bit subjective," she said. "That is a hypothetical question and I am not being drawn into it."

Opposition leader Hilary Fowles (Lab, Dursley) said she agreed with council officers who stated that where the contractors work from was not the responsibility of Stroud District Council.

"It is a little unfair to blame the council for this," she said. "It says in their contract 'you will do x, y and z' and we expect them to be able to do that."

The site left government hands in 2002 and was acquired by Oxfordshire-based Leda Properties Ltd, the company behind the current application to use the site as an industrial and commercial complex.

Sally Morgan of the Aston Down action group, which is campaigning to use the site as a public amenity, said she was hoping the application would be unsuccessful.

"We have to consider that Serviceteam are on a site which has no existing employment use and is in an area of outstanding natural beauty," she said. "It would be far better if the whole thing was razed to the ground."

Development control councillors are not expected to decide on the application until March at the earliest. No-one from Serviceteam was available for comment yesterday.