Commenting on the application by the consortium RPS for a 5,000 home
development at Curborough near Lichfield, Michael Fabricant says:
"This development – the largest of its kind in the West Midlands – is an
opportunistic attempt to cash in on the Government’s plans for an
eco-town and would be disastrous for the Curborough and Fradley
communities and spell the end of Lichfield as a close knit community. I
totally oppose it. If successful, this development would destroy
Lichfield as we currently know it.

"We have neither the roads, schools, nor medical facilities to support
such a major development and it would do for Lichfield what over
development has done for Sutton Coldfield: changing it from an elegant
Borough to a suburb of Birmingham.

"Government planning legislation prevents local councillors from
speaking out prior to their meetings to discuss this application, but I
will be urging local councillors at both parish and district level to
reject this application. I am also entering into talks with David
Cameron to ensure that a future Conservative Government will stop this
sort of development, including so called eco-towns which are just an
excuse for central government to ride rough-shod over local planners,
being imposed upon our unwilling communities."