Blocking glasshouse expansion in the Lea Valley will undermine and possibly threaten the future viability of commercial horticulture businesses, growers have said.
Lea Valley Growers Association (LVGA) has responded to a letter from the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA), seen by FPJ, which addresses fears over park redevelopment proposals that state future glasshouse expansion “will be resisted”.
Growers were left shocked last week after the proposals, which were published online and displayed in local libraries,earmarked areas for redevelopment where several commercial growers are located.
Despite deeming the plans “unrealistic”, LVGA said their publication could undermine customer confidence in the implicated horticulture businesses, as well as potentially influencing an ongoing judicial review of significant expansion plans at Valley Grown Nurseries.
Addressing the issue, LVRPA chief executive Shaun Dawson wrote: “I consider that the fears of the Lea Valley growers are unfounded. The authority acknowledges the importance of the glasshouse industry in the Lee Valley and it does not want to undermine it by the closure of existing businesses, but we don’t believe that new glasshouses should be built or expanded within the Regional Park.”
But secretary of LVGA, Lee Stiles, said the authority is ignoring the fact that restricting growth potential of the businesses effectively threatens their future.
“This is a fundamental failure by the Park Authority to grasp a simple economic fact – if you block glasshouse growers’ attempts to expand their businesses, you will undermine them and put them out of business,” he said.
Dawson wrote that it is not the authority’s intention to use its compulsory purchasing powers to undermine existing businesses. But the published proposals state that:“Existing horticultural glasshouse sites within the Wetland Park east at Sedge Green, off from North Road and Dobbs Weir Road to be brought into recreational use in the longer term through the use of the Authority’s land purchasing powers if necessary.”
Stiles added: “Although the Park have stated that our fears are unfounded, they refuse to withdraw the proposals and we are still very concerned that the consultation is continuing unaltered and with no clarification on the exhibitions or the website.”
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