Bow Brickhill - land investment proposal

INFORMATION FOR THOSE
CONSIDERING INVESTMENT IN LAND AT BOW BRICKHILL

Land Registry has produce a useful guide entitled "Land banking schemes – buying land in England and Wales claimed or thought to have development potential" "intended to alert the public about ‘land banking investment’ schemes."

Stephen Cleeve, who owns part of a meadow at Bow Brickhill (ie. those portions that he has not already sold to others), operates land banking businesses under the name of European Land Sales and Commercial Land.

Stephen Cleeve features once again on Australian TV - click here to see the video

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The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England launches a campaign against landbanking and calls for the Government to clamp down on the schemes - .... more

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BBC South covered the activities of European Land Sales and Stephen Cleeve on Monday 25th September 2006 - click here for more information

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European Land Sales Partnership's sales techniques challenged
22 November 2005
In Australia, Consumer Affairs Victoria has applied to the court for injunctions that would force the European Land Sales Partnership - which opened an office in Melbourne earlier this year - to modify its sales pitch. ...... more

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On 12 July 2006 Gred Mulholland MP mentioned Europan Land Sales Parntership and made the case for urgent action against mis-selling of greenfield land ...

Stephen Cleeve was mentioned in the House of Commons on 1 November 2005. Greg Mullholland, Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds, North-West said:

"...... There are disgruntled investors not only in this country. The Australian Government are taking action against the land banker, Stephen Cleeve of the European Land Sales Partnership under the Australian Fair Trading Act. The situation in this country, however, is more complex. When approached by a solicitor acting on behalf of disgruntled investors, the Department of Trade and Industry replied that it cannot, or will not, take action against land banking companies because they are partnerships, not companies. The DTI only has the jurisdiction to investigate companies, not partnerships. Officers from the Serious Fraud Office visited farms in my constituency, but the SFO is not interested in investigating such companies, despite the mounting evidence against them. That is why we must seek to amend the law....."

[Read further down the page for the first mention of Stephen Cleeve in the House of Commons in July 2004.]

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Announcement from the Department of Consumer & Employment Protection, Government of Western Australia:

"Issue Date: - Friday, 16 September 2005
Discredited British property promoter targets WA

A discredited British property promoter is targeting Western Australians with an alleged land speculation scam.

Today Consumer Protection Commissioner Patrick Walker warned Western Australian investors against dealing with Stephen James Cleeve and his business European Land Sales Australia (ELS)......."

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THE SITE

This is an aerial image of Bow Brickhill and the meadow bought by Stephen Cleeve has been coloured here in orange. A footpath which runs through this meadow is coloured yellow. A field gate to the meadow is shown coloured red. More information about the supposed access routes to the meadow can be seen in these photographs - click here.

The meadow, which can actually only be accessed from a footpath at the end of London End Lane or a field gate from Downs View, lies to the south of Station Road (Land Registry reference BM286658). The pictures (click here) are not taken from 'clever' angles, they show the reality.

Note in particular the photograph of the field gate access from Downs View. This is a “right of way” for the owner of the “adjoining land situated to the south” of Downs View for the “passage and repassage of farm vehicles and mechanically propelled farm implements only and should not be used for the driving of cattle or any other animals”.

A hand drawn map of the site showing the actual status of the access points is shown here.

There is no public road access to the meadow, there has never been any, none has been planned nor is it anticipated there will ever be public road access to the meadow.

Bow Brickhill is surrounded on all sides by open countryside and this meadow lies within an Area of Attractive Landscape which is to be maintained. Protected species have been found nearby. The possibility of this site ever being developed is remote in the extreme.

This meadow is not included in the Local Plan, it has not been proposed for development by the Local Plan Inspector and it has nothing to do with any plans for the expansion of Milton Keynes. Read down this page for more information.

On October 13th 2004 Milton Keynes Council agreed to an Article 4 Direction for land at Bow Brickhill.

Milton Keynes Council comments:

"Milton Keynes Council is aware that a plot of land immediately to the south of Bow Brickhill is currently being marketed as a potential development area. The site is an area of some 2.6 hectares and road access is shown from the cul de sac of Downs View and also from London End Lane.

The site falls outside the defined limits of development of Bow Brickhill village, within the open countryside and the Brickhills Area of Attractive Landscape. Planning policy for this area is not to allow new housing unless it is essential for farming, forestry or countryside recreation."

Further comment from Milton Keynes Council and contact details can be seen here.

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Land investment at Bow Brickhill was raised in the House of Commons by Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes North East, Brian White on Thursday 22nd July 2004:

" I read with interest early-day motion 1496, which is about unscrupulous property developers from Bromsgrove, who divided up fields and offered plots for sale. A European land sales partnership is doing something similar in a lovely village called Bow Brickell in my constituency. It is offering a field for future homes and taking money now with a promise of a home in the future. The person responsible has bought a field for £90,000 and stands to make £3 million. There is little chance of the field getting planning permission, but the developer's information advances the growth of Milton Keynes as an inducement. As well as stressing the points made in early-day motion 1496, I emphasise to the Deputy Leader of the House that someone who has been barred as a company director is running the scheme and gets round the law by forming a partnership. I ask my hon. Friend to take up with the Department of Trade and Industry not only closing the loophole that allow scams such as those in Bromsgrove and Milton Keynes to occur, but extending the bars on directorships to partnerships."

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Memo from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to Chief Planning Officers in England dated 19th April 2004 concerning the sale of rural plots and action that planning officers may take can be found at the web site of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister here.

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London End Lane is not a suitable access route for further development:

On 13 February 2002 a planning application for land served by London End Lane - a development of five terraced houses - was considered and rejected by Milton Keynes Council. Papers before the Council at that meeting contained the following paragraphs:

“Senior Engineer, Highways Development Control recommends refusal on the grounds that the roads serving this site are not suitable to accommodate the additional vehicular and pedestrian traffic that the proposed houses would generate, leading to the site are not suitable to accommodation the additional vehicular and pedestrian usage generated by the proposed houses. (sic) London End Lane is in place too narrow to properly accommodate emergency or service vehicles, there is no footway, verges, lighting or drainage. Forward visibility at the junction with Church Road is hazardously sub-standard.”

“ London End Road is very narrow and scales as approximately 2.2 metres minimum at the entrance to the site increasing to approximately 3.0 meters towards the existing houses at the junction with Church Road. The Council’s senior Highway Engineer has recommended that planning permission be refused on the grounds that the roads serving this site are not suitable to accommodate the additional vehicular and pedestrian traffic that the proposed houses would generate and as such would prejudice highway safety and convenience.”

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