05/09/2025
Please read and join the group.
When Moto asked Brentwood Borough Council if it could build two giant motorway service stations in one of the narrowest parts of our Green Belt, it told the Council that local residents don't really care what it does. So, the Council doesn't need to worry about that.
We know (because you've told us) that Moto's got that wrong. But we need to prove it.
To help us, we've arranged for two Borough Councillors to join the audience at our next Members' Meeting, so they can hear our members' concerns first hand. And, of course, if everyone turns out, the message will be loud and clear: Moto's got it wrong!
The meeting will be at 7.30pm on 9 October, in the Victory Hall, Church Road, Noak Hill RM4 1LD.
Councillors Will Russell (Conservatives) and Sarah Cloke (Liberal Democrats) will join us. We're hoping that one of the three Labour, and one of the two Independent, councillors will join us too. (We're politically neutral, and we want to keep it that way.)
For this to work, we need you to be there too! We also need everyone who cares to understand that this might be our last chance to get our message across. (The Council's Planning Committee is meeting on 14 October, and it could use that meeting to make its Moto decisions.)
Our meeting will be open to members and non-members. So please bring interested colleagues and friends. (In case anyone thinks that Moto's inevitable, so there's no point coming, two of our 7 Myth Busters are below, to help you deal with that.)
We'll have more to say about the meeting in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please let us know if you can come, so that we can make the necessary arrangements.
Kind regards
Chris, Greg, Michelle, Simon, Lesley, Tony, Karen, Chris, and Dal
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Myth 1: Moto is inevitable. So, there’s no point trying to stop it.
Truth: Moto can only build if it gets:
the Church Commissioners' consent, because they own the mine and mineral rights under the land - They've told the Council they won't 'sterilise' their rights. So, Moto can't build; and
a planning permission from the London Borough of Havering - Moto hasn't even applied for this yet; and
a planning permission from Brentwood Borough Council - Moto's application is 14 months old. It's been changed several times, and still isn't in its final form. Even if it was, the Council is committed to protecting the Green Belt. So committed, in fact, that (a) its planners have already told Moto that its application will not be supported by them; and (b) the Planning Committee regularly rejects the smallest Green Belt development applications. So, it's hard to see how it can reasonably let Moto do this; and
a consent from the National Highways Authority. The Authority has lodged a standing objection to Moto's plans because - although Moto has changed its application several times - it still can’t show how it can provide safe access to, and safe exits from, its service stations onto the M25; and
a 'non-intervention' from the Secretary of State - Moto will only be able to get this if (a) it gets everything else; and (b) the Secretary of State chooses to give it.
No one can say whether Moto will get any of these things, never mind all of them. All we can say is that, Moto's PR people want us think everything is inevitable, because local apathy will make it easier for Moto to get what it needs. And that, of course, is why Moto's already told the Council that we don't care.
Moto is therefore far from inevitable. And our chances of success will get better, as our membership grows. As at 5 September 2025, we have 281 members. That will be enough to get us a seat at the planning enquiry (if there is one). But it might not be enough to defeat Moto's 'the locals don't care' claims. So, if you know someone who hasn't joined, please ask them to do so. Every new member counts, and it's quick and easy to join here: www.m25nera.org
Myth 5: these things are never really stopped. If it’s not Moto, it will be Welcome Break.
In the late 1990s, the government finally abandoned its plan to build a new motorway (the M12) between London and Southend. The M12 would have had a service station near Havering-Atte-Bower. That plan was defeated, and Navestock Parish Council participated in the fight.
More recently, Chalfont St Peter’s Parish Council and a local action group have forced a service station developer to move its proposed service station site from one (unsuitable) location to another (more suitable) site, some miles away.
These things can therefore be stopped (the M12 and the Havering-Atte-Bower motorway services), or moved from an unsuitable location (one of the narrowest parts of the Green Belt - as in this case), to a more suitable location (for example, junction 29 of the M25, where (a) the Lower Thames Crossing will join the M25; and (b) the land's already been ear-marked by the Council for development, as part of a major ‘growth corridor’)
Ah, you might say: but what about Welcome Break? If we stop Moto, won't Welcome Break go ahead instead. After all, it has 4 advantages over Moto - (a) its site will ‘only’ be 37 hectares (not 45) (so a slightly reduced version of the Lakeside Shopping Centre, dropped into our Green Belt); (b) it would be in a wider part of the Green Belt (so it would only reduce, rather than completely sever) the Green Belt; (c) it won’t have local roads access points like Moto (and the Highways Authority hates those, almost as much as we do); and (d) it will be almost entirely outside the M25 (northbound traffic will get onto the site using a bridge over the M25). So, if Moto fails, won't Welcome Break succeed?
Answer: No. If we beat Moto, we’ll be beat Welcome Break as well, with the same planning and other arguments that we're using against Moto. Welcome Break also has a bigger hill to climb than Moto because its plans depend on a new bridge over the M25, and (a) it's extremely difficult to get permission to build new bridges over motorways; and (b) it's a very (very) expensive and disruptive to do so.
We want to preserve the open countryside and prevent urban sprawl in the Green Belt, especially around the northeast corner of the M25. So we want to stop Moto and Welcome Break opening their proposed motorway service stations on the M25 between Havering and Brentwood.
