NEWSLETTER No 1
SWINDON AND NORTH WILTSHIRE BRANCH
From the Chairman
Welcome to the first
edition of our Newsletter, and with it, the invitation to attend our
AGM on 9th
May 2008 at 7pm in the Memorial Hall, (Station Road) Wootton Bassett. This
is not far from the 55 bus route.
(CLICK HERE FOR A MAP ON INTERNET).
We have two speakers;
their topic will be Climate Change and its effects on the Countryside.
Everyone is aware of the environmental changes taking place all around us, but
as an organisation working principally with planning matters, CPRE has an
additional set of challenges.
The effects of the new planning system being thrust upon us by Central Government will be felt in every aspect of the work we do. Wiltshire has started down the road towards becoming a Unitary Authority in April 2009. CPRE volunteers need to understand about this change, as it will govern how representations and the voice of organisations like CPRE will be heard in the future.
One of the major issues over the next few years will be managing transport on our roads, and congestion in our towns. This, almost more than any other issue, makes our market towns either attractive destinations of choice, or places we seek to avoid. The intractable problem of out-commuting, largely governed by the local authorities achieving the right balance of employment and housing in their area, must be addressed for this reason. Too much of one or the other leads to our transport problems. This is but one area where the new Local Development Frameworks and Local Development Documents will be crucially important.
I hope the Newsletter will enable you to keep up to date with some of what the Group is doing; we will welcome feedback and suggestions for articles.
Our focus in 2007 – A (small) Snapshot.
We have contributed comments to the CPRE response to the consultation on the Planning White Paper and also submitted comments on the Nuclear Energy Consultation and the NWDC draft Spatial Strategy.
We have contributed (with mixed success) to: the Examination in Public of the South West Regional Spatial Strategy, Basil Hill and the new Abingdon Reservoir consultations and, through Postwatch, to resisting Post Office closures. We have continued to work with other NGOs to resist vigorously the M4 tunnel option for the Swindon Front Garden development. Members have attended numerous planning meetings to ensure that developments respect the countryside and are, so far as is achievable, sustainable. We attended the CPRE Delegate Conference last November where we contributed to shaping the CPRE policies for the next 12 years. For 2008 we anticipate our focus moving even further towards pressing for sustainable developments with better public transport, cycling and footways.
John Swainson
Post Office Closures
I am a panel member representing rural affairs for Wiltshire on the Postwatch (the Government's independent watchdog) panel for monitoring the quality and performance of postal services in the Swindon and Wiltshire area. It has been both an interesting and depressing experience watching the Quality of Postal Services slipping further and further downhill as competition bites. Unfortunately our lobbying has caused the Government to decide to disband Postwatch this year.
The panel members have not been involved in the decisions on Post Office closures but have sent all relevant information to the Wiltshire Postwatch Chairman. However, the closure plan has been drawn up on the quite sensible (business) basis of the number of transactions made in any one post office on any one day. Geography has also played a part, as the post offices need to be mainly 3 miles apart in rural areas and 1 mile apart in urban areas.
In theory the wishes of the sub- or postmaster do not come into the equation, but those selected will be given quite generous retirement payments. It is therefore likely that there will be some sub- or Postmasters who might have wished to resign but were not chosen, so it is possible that more offices will close voluntarily in the future.
A 6-week public consultation process that started on 10th December followed the 11-week private consultation process that started in North Wiltshire on 24th September. The Government had decided that Post Office Ltd. should close up to 2,500 branches across the UK; an extra 500 replacement 'outreach' services, such as mobile post offices will be provided. The public consultation process is now over and we await the final list of closures. Post offices provisionally marked for closure are:
Bradenstoke: 63, Bradenstoke;
Broughton Gifford: The Bell on the Common;
Chippenham: One-Stop Community Stores, Sheldon Road;
Corsham: Prospect, 17 Lypiatt Road;
Kington St. Michael: The Village Hall;
Lea (Malmesbury): Pembroke Green;
Lydiard Millicent: Toomers Garden Centre;
Swindon: Cheney Manor Road, Lawn; Guildford Avenue; Westcott Place; Farringdon Road.
'Outreach' solutions are proposed for: Hullavington, Lacock, and Yatton Keynell
M4 Jct 16 – ‘Stop the Tunnel’ Campaign.
In October 2007 Wiltshire County Council (WCC) Cabinet resolved to urge Swindon Borough Council (SBC) not to discharge Condition 99 of the Outline Planning Permission for Swindon’s Southern Development Area - the ‘Front Garden’. The Condition provides that no houses can be occupied until it is discharged and there is a need to ensure the proposed alterations to Jct 16 are safe and legible for all users, including pedestrians, cyclists, vulnerable users and public transport. WCC found that the current proposals do not provide for pedestrians, cyclists and vulnerable users.
Consultants who have studied the Jct 16 proposals have shown the width of the road is inadequate to provide for non-motorised users as well as the increased traffic flow. There are also safety problems with the proposed contra-flow, and there would be greatly increased congestion on local roads.
SBC appears to be intent on discharging the Condition; a stance that is encouraged by the absence of objections to the proposals from the Highways Agency which, does, however, wish to see detailed proposals after the Condition has been discharged!
A huge amount of work has been undertaken by CPRE and TLC (Transparency in
Local Councils) since 2002 in attempting to avoid the problems
that will arise from Swindon Borough Council discharging Condition
99. There have been many press articles and public meetings as well as
questions to WCC Cabinet and Full Council meetings, and meetings
with SBC.
The main concerns of CPRE and TLC, shared and supported by the Parish Councils
of Lydiard Tregoz and Wroughton, Swindon Civic Society and the Front Garden
Action Group and many members of the public with the Jct 16 and Tunnel
proposals include:
a.
non-compliance with government policy for facilitating non-motorised traffic
and public transport; this is particularly important with the aim to
reduce carbon emissions.
b. lasting traffic problems over a wide area;
c. safety problems at the junction;
d. breaching the M4 and taking the Hay
Lane Croft Road via a tunnel into countryside to the south of the M4 and access
from there to M4 Jct16
when there is the feasible alternative of a railway crossing that would
integrate the Front Garden with
shorter local journeys.
Action you can take to help find a sustainable solution
Write to your Councillor;
write to the media; write to your MP; better still – write to all three to ask
Swindon not to discharge Condition 99 but to follow instead the alternative
rail-crossing route.
We are waiting to hear what action Swindon will take. We are determined
not to give up the fight when so much is at stake and public support has been
widespread, continuous and strong.
Charmian Spickernel
Waste
issues
We understand that Biffa Waste Services are preparing a planning application to extend tipping at their Studley Grange (Sth M4 Jct 16) landfill site.
The site is very close to Bincknoll Lane, a country lane leading to the Downs in the AONB on the eastern edge of Wootton Bassett.
If granted, the extension will be 100m rather than the current 350m from a lane used by dog-walkers, horse riders, joggers and ramblers who, with others, complain continually about the smell now. EU guidelines recommend a minimum of 250 metres between landfill sites and other public/private land.
The application is wholly inappropriate given the need to reduce landfill sites and Swindon’s existing facilities at other sites in and around the town. [The development on the Southern Development Area (Front Garden) is intended to have its own recycling facilities for the 4500 houses.]
There is more than just a whiff (!) of a suggestion that this proposal may have been provoked by Bristol planners’ refusal of an application for an incinerator. Junction 16 of the M4 is but a short drive from Bristol, and Studley Grange is just off Junction 16!
Anne Henshaw
SWINDON MATTERS
The land around Coate Water Country Park is under threat again. There are plans for 750 houses and 15 hectares of industrial and employment development at Commonhead. The Richard Jefferies Land Conservation Trust has vowed to buy up whatever land becomes available.
See http://jefferiesland.org.uk or call Jean Saunders 01793 783040 for information.
The proposed route for the canal in Swindon is giving rise to much comment and criticism from a referendum of residents. Set against those who believe that it will be costly to complete and maintain, and see resulting traffic problems that may be insoluble, are those who argue that it will bring visitors and economic benefit to the Town Centre, as is the case in other towns and cities with a canal.
Visit the Canal Shop in Swindon's Theatre Square
Front Garden Development- Progress Update
The road junction from Croft Road/Pipers Way has been laid into the site. Work is well under way on the road into the site from Wootton Bassett Road/Red Posts Drive going under the old railway line (now a cycle/footpath), via a new bridge. There are pools of water on much of the ground even in the driest periods. As a walk along the footpath will confirm, in reality the Front Garden development area is a flood plain.
Development on Brown Field Sites
There is a pleasing amount of house building on Brownfield sites all over the Swindon Area, including at Cavendish Square, Park South/Whitbourne Road, the Royal British Legion Site in Shaftsbury Avenue and on Marlborough Road/Signal Way where redevelopment of an old car showroom site is nearing completion.
Swindon Regeneration
Catch up on the New Swindon Company plans for Swindon’s redevelopment, download the newsletters … and have your say …here: http://www.newswindon.co.uk/ Or call: 01793 429 250 to ask for a copy to be sent to you.
Fred Soady
NEW: Website for North Wilts and Swindon CPRE.
As we announce at the top and bottom of this Newsletter - we have an embryonic Website. Its aim is to keep everyone up to date on the issues that concern us and to provide (hyper)-links to other websites that we think may be of help or interest to us all. We will also be posting the Calendar, Agendas and Minutes of our Committee meetings on the site. We have included a message forum so that you can talk back! Our aspiration is to produce a dynamic and informative site that will come to be valued by all members. This is a new venture so please let us know what you think about it and the improvements you would like to see via cpre@northwilts.wanadoo.co.uk
Pauline Lyons
Planning
CPRE is never far from planning because it affects all of us in one way or another. We are sure to return to this topic again and again in our Newsletters and on the website. But for now, as others have mentioned a few planning subjects in this issue, I want to cover how we can all keep up with the changes the Chairman mentioned in her opening summary. And here we have a dilemma. For those who have access to the Internet there are six Websites that are worth opening. Each can be accessed by typing the following into a search engine: Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for Green/White Papers & Policies – and your chance to comment on them; The Planning Portal – sign up (free) for their newsletter and access a whole world of planning data plus The Building Regulations on-line. Wiltshire County Council – Structure Plans and consultations; Swindon Borough Council - Swindon’s future and more; North Wiltshire District Council – Local Plans and framework consultations plus direct access to planning applications on-line. And of course – do not forget CPRE HQ where you can find policy papers on a wide range of topics that affect us all. (Hyperlinks are on our website and below).
For those without Internet access the local press is best for planning applications; often it is from these that we first become aware of issues that CPRE can take up .. and of course if you tell us about them … via 01249 817 003 ….so much the better.
[ Hyperlinks for the organisations mentioned above:
DCLG : http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/publications/consultations/
Planning Portal: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/genpub/en/
Wiltshire County Council:
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/environment-and-planning.htm
Swindon Borough Council: http://www.swindon.gov.uk/popularpages-planning
North Wiltshire District Council:
http://www.northwilts.gov.uk/index/env.htm
CPRE HQ: http://www.cpre.org.uk/home
These links can also be found on our website]
John Swainson
Money & Mail(E)!
We can only cut the cake so many ways. Even ignoring the Climate Change aspect – the more we spend on printing and posting the less we accumulate for fighting battles. Your Committee is working hard to drive down costs but you can help by accepting communications from us by e-mail. 20% of our income went on paper communication last year and over the past 3 years we have spent £977(!) on paper communications. . Please let us have an e-mail address if you can. ….
….Still need convincing? Read on:
Manufacturing paper requires water, wood, rags, bleach and energy; with the exception of the bleach, which is environmentally damaging, the others are resources that in use adversely impact on, or are adversely affected by, Climate Change. Using e-communications where we can demonstrates consistency with our policy for protecting the environment while saving money for employing the professional skills we need from time to time to help us achieve our aims.
Please, please give it some thought and, if you are prepared to accept e-mail, contact us through our website to give us your ‘e’ details (We have a privacy policy there.)
New Members
It is quite
likely that some aspects of the Government’s Planning Bill 2007-08 (for resume
see
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2007-08/planning.html)
now progressing through Parliament will place even greater demands on our
resources as we engage with the (un-elected) ‘Infrastructure Planning
Commission’ on matters pertaining to new major infrastructure projects, and
with WCC and SBC over the massive house building programmes that Central
Government is so far determined to force into the North Wiltshire area. If
nothing else is certain, our task will become and more challenging as we move
into the future. We will also have to learn to accept that younger voices need
to be heard and with that in mind we need both more members and younger
members. To force multiply we are also trying to join forces with other NGOs
whenever we have sufficient shared objectives to make it sensible to do so.
The AGM is a good time to introduce people to CPRE. We have chosen a subject for our speakers that we hope will have wide appeal; we hope that the speeches will be followed by some robust debate. Meeting the challenges of Climate Change while preserving the best about our country for the future needs new ideas and new approaches……and new members bringing in new intellectual and financial resources.
Who we are – your Committee
Anne Henshaw – Chairman; Pauline Lyons – vice Chairman; Elizabeth Money-Kyrle – Secretary;
Donald Shirreff – Treasurer; Jane King, Charmian Spickernell, Bridgett Tubb, Roy Guest, Peter Pennington-Leigh, Fred Soady and John Swainson.
Feedback
Don’t be afraid to tell us what you think we should be doing more of and what we should be doing less of. We encourage feedback so that we stay in touch with, and represent, the membership as best we can.
If we have missed, or look set to miss, a planning issue that you think we should look at – please tell us.
Contact us
Having read this far … you can contact Anne on 01249 817 003, Elizabeth on 01380 850 281 … and the Editor on 012409 890 424 (John Swainson) … or VIA THE WEBSITE!! (see footer)
PS! Fancy a look over your neighbour’s fence? Have you discovered Google Earth? www.earth.google.com - its free to download and the world becomes your oyster.
Ed.
[See this Newsletter in colour on our website and use the embedded hyperlinks from there.]