Rural revolt . . . Lord Howard faces fury over new town plans
Former Tory Minister faces fury over vast development planned in the heart of rural Somerset
FORMER Conservative leader Michael Howard is one of the key players behind plans to build a massive new town that will despoil vast swathes of some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain.
Lord Howard of Lympne is the chairman of South West Strategic Developments (SWSD), a littleknown company ultimately owned by a private equity firm based in Bermuda, which has drawn up proposals to build up to 15,000 houses in rural Somerset, next to the village of Sparkford.
A large slice of the land in question is owned by a multi-millionaire property developer, Bill Hopkins, who is best known for a bitter High Court battle over his fortune with his ex-wife. The cement tycoon, who would stand to profit handsomely from the deal, also owns a nearby castle.
Local councillors say it will wreck a beautiful part of the rural landscape and is motivated by greed.
Critics also argue the land is on a flood plain and that the town could take up to 20 years to build, causing huge upheaval in an area where there are no extra opportunities for employment and no rail infrastructure.
Henry Hobhouse, a Liberal Democrat district councillor for South Somerset, claims the land is unsuitable because it is on the River Cary flood plain and lacks the infrastructure needed to support the families who would live in the homes, such as schools and roads.
‘They [developers] are not interested in thinking about anything. This is about money,’ he said.
Hobhouse said local residents are ‘absolutely against it’, adding: ‘I’ve yet to meet anybody who likes it apart from the landowners. It’s a complete greenfield site that has absolutely no infrastructure at all.’
Lord Howard hit back, telling the MoS: ‘The people who would benefit – if the scheme gets planning permission – would be the thousands who will then have houses to live in.’
The plans have won the backing of local Tory MPs, but have divided local residents, some of whom are horrified at the prospect of thousands of new-build homes. Unsurprisingly, Tory MP Marcus Fysh, whose constituency next door will not be affected, supported the scheme.
He said: ‘It’s a big job and quite daunting in planning terms but there are fine examples happening elsewhere in the country and we should be confident in bidding for that level of investment here.’ Despite its name, South West Strategic Developments is based in Chichester, West Sussex, nearly 100 miles away. It promotes development schemes and funds projects in their early stages.
Companies House documents reveal SWSD is owned by a company called Cardinal International.
Cardinal is owned by a firm called CRBF Private Equity Limited, which is based in Bermuda, a well-known offshore tax haven. CRBF was named in the so-called Paradise Papers because it used Appleby, the law firm at the centre of the leak that exposed offshore dealings of banks, billionaires, and major world companies.
The accounts state that SWSD is reliant on loans from Cardinal, which itself depends on loans from CRBF. Lord Howard said: ‘SWSD is a UK company liable to UK taxes and any profits it makes are taxed in this country.’
It is unclear exactly how much Lord Howard is paid for his role at the company because this is not
I’ve yet to meet anybody who likes the plan apart from the landowners
revealed in the accounts. Landowner Bill Hopkins, 69, a property tycoon worth more than £38 million, amassed his fortune from his companies Hopkins Developments and Hopkins Concrete.
He won a High Court battle with his ex-wife Caroline in 2015 after she claimed she was owed £2 million but received a tenth of that because she signed a post-nuptial agreement. Hopkins bought luxurious Compton Castle, more than five miles away from the proposed new town, for £6.5million in October 2015. South West Strategic Developments’ proposals were put forward as part of a local review into tackling the housing shortage. The proposal claims the scheme could create up to 19,000 jobs.
The new settlement would be situated near the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton ‘so as to harness the potential for economic development focused on the airfield’. The plans mistakenly refer to the air base as an RAF station.
Plans also include building a new university or college to support ‘technology-based businesses’.
Grass Roots, the planning consultancy working on behalf of South West Strategic, said the plans are at a very early stage.
Lord Howard lives between London and Kent, both well over 100 miles from the planned town.
The developers are not interested in anything. This is about money