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NEWSLETTER No 2 (September 2008) |
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SWINDON AND |
From the Chairman
The past months have seen the Government launch a review of PPS6, Planning for Town Centres. This could result in significant effects on our market towns. Removing what is known as the “need” test, where planners try to integrate economic, social and environmental factors relating to applications, the emphasis will be moved onto developers and economic factors.
Following the publication of the Matthew Taylor MP report on Affordable Housing came a Review, (Killian Pretty review), commissioned by DCLG and BERR (Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) calling for comments on how to make the planning application process faster and more responsive. A number of the proposals were ones that CPRE would not support since they seek to reduce the process and ultimately make it less transparent.
The move towards a Unitary Authority is still a mysterious and complicated area. The draft versions of the interlinking Groups, Boards, Partnerships, all under the Wiltshire Assembly, do not appear to be leading towards a system that is clear and accessible by members of the public.
The Group have made comments on the Waste and Minerals Development Plan Documents. North Wiltshire not only contains the Cricklade/Cotswold Water Park sites but also Lower Compton at Calne (sand extraction and waste) Park Farm, Wootton Bassett (PurePower application for a pyrolysis plant) Purton and Studley Grange and also the Swindon sites. Our area deals with a disproportionate quantity of the waste generated within the County, as well as sourcing much sand and gravel for the construction industry. We look forward to the proposed Marlborough recycling facility which will take pressure off the Lower Compton site.
In closing may I extend a warm welcome to our six new group members; we are delighted that you have joined us and sincerely hope you will be every bit as active as many of our other members.
Anne Henshaw
(Ed. Judged by the large number of ‘out of county’ waste lorries that thunder along the B4069 every day en route from M4Jct 17 to the Compton Bassett waste site, we may also be accepting a significant amount of waste from other counties. Some of the lorries appear to originate in South Wales!)
Our focus in 2008
We have commented on a number of planning applications and supported NWDC in fighting two appeals against planning permission refusal.
After our AGM held 09 May we invited the public to join us in a debate on Climate Change and its impact on the countryside for which we had three very informative presentations and an excellent follow up discussion chaired superbly by Tom King. The topic was particularly pertinent now that DCLG has opened the consultation on the South West Development Vision, which has a Climate Change focus. We will comment on this Vision, but you can too through the DCLG website under Planning. (Type DCLG into your search engine or use our website for a link.)
We have attended the seminar on Prevention of future flooding (see report below) and have continued to support the battle raging over M4 Jct 16 changes to give access to the Wichelstowe developments
John Swainson
News from Swindon
Building work at many of the smaller (10 –50 houses and apartments) development sites In Swindon has either slowed down or halted. However, most of those on Brownfield sites of ex-businesses or social concerns such as the old Royal British Legion site of Walcot and Parks were fortunately completed and all properties sold before the downturn in the credit market.
The very large re-construction at Cavendish Square, which is between the Parks South & North, is nearing completion and features a large number of low-cost homes together with the rebuilt retail area occupied with the largest store being the new Mid-Counties Co-operative store. This new store has better parking facilities than the old one it replaced. In my view a well planned and executed development and my only reservation is that a green area with trees and native bulbs has been lost along with part of the school playing field which although not fully used by children was another green space in the area.
Work has started on development of the final section of the former GWR Locomotive Works known as ‘Smith’s Quarter’. Thomas Homes who acquired the 3.2-hectare (8 acre) site will build a mixed-use development including apartments, offices and an hotel. Two Grade II listed existing engineering sheds will be converted into office space.
Thames Water has revealed the site area for the large new reservoir to serve Oxford, Swindon and London. This is approx 30 mins drive from Swindon between Steventon, East Hanney and Drayton. Don Sharpes of Thames Waters has said that the new reservoir takes into account changes in population, water use patterns and the likely impact of climate change. It is said to be on less-productive arable land: see Thames Water Draft Water Resources Management Plan. (Ed. This 800(!) page Plan was posted on the internet at www.thameswaterconsult.co.uk, and made available on a CD application to Thames Water, for a public consultation that opened 07 May and closed 27 August. A summary of the responses to the consultation is due to be published in October. Thames Water is also running a Price Review consultation between 15 August and 06 November through the same website or by calling Thames Water on 0800 107 8001.)
Fred Soady
Coate Country Park
This is a large lake that was a reservoir and is a rural park next to an urban area. There is an attractive walk around this park and many other paths leading off from the lake including one leading to an attractive tree plantation. There is also a nature reserve owned by Swindon Borough that includes one of the best heron nesting sites in this country. There are many activities on the lake such as sailing and dragon boat racing, and once a year there is a festival of Lanterns on the Lake.
The site is threatened by development planned for an area west of the lake which is mostly farmland, but also rich in archaeology. It is known as Jefferies Land as Richard Jefferies was born on a farm at Coate; it featured in many of his writings. A very attractive rural lane known as Day House Lane runs beside the farmhouse, now the Jefferies museum.
The Richard Jefferies Land Conservation Trust has plans to build a small hamlet here with traditional thatched houses which would put Richard Jefferies on the map and help him become as well known as Thomas Hardy, The Brontes and many other authors with local connections.
This is the most popular park in Swindon and is widely used both by people from Swindon and from the surrounding area. In a competition organised by Swindon Civic Trust it was voted the most favourite place by a wide margin.
Despite widespread protests and demonstrations, the area is still at risk. Persimmon and Redrow Homes have submitted plans to build 1800 houses in the area.
So far over 40,000 signatures protesting about the destruction of this rural park have been collected. (You can add your signature at: http://www.swindonadvertsier.co.uk/
See also http://www.jefferiesland.org.uk, or call Jean Saunders 01793 783040 for information
View from the Bybrook Valley.
If you drive along the A4 from Bath towards Box, when you come to the beginning of the Parish, look to the left where right up on the ridge of the hill you will see a very large mansion being constructed. It is actually in the Parish of Colerne, but overlooks the Bybrook Valley and is visible for several miles.
This mansion house is a new build in the green belt and AONB on the site (but not the footprint) of the old Westwood Farm House. The old farmhouse was not visible from offsite.
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printed newsletter in monochrome. The other four are 'extra. (Click on the photo for larger image) |
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(Ed: I am afraid you can’t really appreciate the photograph in black and white – but you can see this in colour and other views of this ‘house’ on our website.)
The CPRE and a neighbour objected to the planning application on the grounds that it was against local and national planning policies, but only finding out about the proposal shortly before the Development Control Committee (DCC) meeting. Unfortunately, for reasons not known, Box Parish Council was not notified of this planning application by NWDC, as is usual procedure, so was unaware of the proposal, as were most people in Box, Ashley and Ditteridge.
The Planning Officer reviewing the planning application recommended refusal on the strong planning grounds of it being against policy, particularly the usually robust Green Belt policy. However two district Councillors, Cllr Richard Tonge (Cons. Corsham and Lacock) and Cllr Simon Meadowcroft (Lib Dem. Colerne)), asked for the application to be decided by the (DCC) even though most planning applications nowadays are decided under delegated powers by the Planning Officers. The DCC resolved to pass the planning application against the Planning Officer’s advice.
Local people in Ashley and Box were outraged when the mansion began to be built feeling that permitting it was not democracy at its best; they could not understand how such a large building could be permitted and vowed to investigate further.
Now, many months on, there are still many unanswered questions and the Residents Action Group has taken members’ concerns to the Local Government Ombudsman and members now await the outcome. While members accept the planning consent was given legally and nothing can change this, they hope to make people more aware so that similar new builds can be stopped.
So the message is check the applications in the Parishes around you that may impact on your environment. CPRE would like to see ‘named votes’ at Planning Meetings where decisions are taken against policy, so that it is clear how councillors have voted.
Pauline Lyons
Round the Branch
Country Life and Lifestyle Farmers
A surveyor friend observed that his main market was to sell “The Sixes” to City types; six bedrooms, six acres and six miles from a commuting station. These houses for the “Country Life” are the spiritual home of the windfall, the bonus, the legacy and the pension.
Lifestyle shifting includes those seekers after The Good Life with their dream of rural living and those who wish to make a living out of country living. Further up the scale are those who buy to engage in “real” farming.
It seems to me that a lifestyle farmer is just a modern term for what has always been a central part of England's rural heritage, and itself a species worth protecting.
It may be that the local agricultural supplier views their efforts with sardonic humour, but it is this very British love affair with the land, and country living, that helps keep the rolling hills framed by well-kept hedgerows, supports the village pub, the horse shows, annual fete and cricket on the green.
The lifestyle investor, particularly the active practitioner, contributes positively to the whole countryside by committing to whatever part of the industry they engage in. Special breeds, organic crops, farmers markets and local shops all benefit. They are enthusiasts and having the financial security derived from not depending on agriculture as their sole source of income, can view the distortions of fluctuating world markets with greater equanimity.
So save and treasure the lifestyle farmer who profits from 'bed and breakfasting' shares into a B&B or ploughs rewards from a hedge fund into a fund for hedges. He deserves protecting too!
Peter Pennington Legh.
Prevention of Future Flooding
With 45 other delegates, including Mr James Gray MP and Howard Greenman (NWDC councillor), I attended seminar on Prevention of Future Flooding organised by the Centre for Policy Studies held in London in July. Seminar speakers covered a number of topics related to the 2007/2008 flooding, including first hand accounts of the response to floods in Hull by the Leader of the City Council and to the floods in Tewksbury by the Severn and Trent Water company director who was at that coal face. I think that most delegates felt that the public had been let down particularly as little appeared to have been done since the Office of Science and Technology Foresight Report ‘Future Flooding’ highlighted the risks in April 2004. While it can only be helpful that Mr Gray admitted that sight of the Crudwell flooding had finally convinced him of the reality of global warming, there was widespread criticism, including from the Parliamentary Select Committee, of the lack of joined-up management and clear lines of responsibility and accountability for flood prevention and response; Severn and Trent acknowledged the tour de force the military had been in dealing with the Tewksbury floods. Delegates also felt that there was a dire shortage of qualified drainage experts amongst local authorities as these had been shed over the years. The Pitt Review, while providing a good account of what had had happened and when, offered no real hope of change and perhaps the most telling contribution came from an academic who pointed out that with government resources in short supply greater community spirit and a large dose of self help might be a good way forward. Perhaps, in view of the most recent floods, we had best make a start at that self help sooner rather than later (as I know some have already).
John Swainson
Website for North Wilts and Swindon CPRE.
Don’t forget to look at your Swindon and NW CPRE website - its where we post Topical News as and when it happens and tell you what we are doing – and where you can express your views, let us know of issues in your area and give us feedback (via cpre@northwilts.wanadoo.co.uk). Why not add it to your favourites?
Pauline Lyons
Farming in the Villages
One of the most striking changes in the countryside has been the steady disappearance of small farms and the conversion of their various buildings into residential. Most villages used to have 3 or 4 active farms with their accompanying array of farm buildings. As they gradually closed down, their land was taken on by their neighbours eager to increase their own holdings and thus hopefully to make them more viable. To the surprise of many of the failing farms with steadily falling income, they then found that they could be substantially better off than they ever had been from farming by selling their farms for development. This process gathered pace, and now almost every village has its clusters of new conversions where the farms used to be.
At the same time, many of the incomers to these and other
developments found that the attraction of rural life did not include for them
the smells, and noise, and mud on roads that agriculture entails. This change
in village character and the lack of sympathy
from their neighbours encouraged surviving farmers increasingly to move their
main activities outside the village. Under the planning exemption enjoyed by
agriculture they could put their stock
sheds and barns out in their fields and well clear of complaining neighbours. The next logical step was a desire to live close to
their animals, and so as well as the sheds and barns, houses were built outside the normal planning zones. As the
houses were built, so it released the existing farmhouse and buildings for sale
at substantial prices.
This simple explanation of this major development for the countryside reveals a perfectly understandable process that has occurred as agriculture has changed and small farms have ceased to be viable. However, what is equally understandable is that the financial opportunities of that process were not lost on many other more successful farmers. Some of these have used the advantageous position that farming activities can enjoy under planning law for substantial financial gain, and to significant damage to the countryside.
The question now is, do these activities amount too a serious abuse of sensible planning, and should the planning rules be changed, or should it be accepted as an inevitable outcome of the progressive development of agriculture.
Jane King
Editor’s Odds and ends
Membership and e-mail addresses
Anne has welcomed our new members but our Group numbers have stayed constant, as sadly we have lost six members for one reason or another – so please keep encouraging new members to join. Without a strong membership base we lose clout and with many planning, climate change, flooding and energy challenges ahead of us we need all the clout we can get. And again may I make a plea here for your e-mail address if you have one so that we can save the time and money it takes to use the post.
Planning
As ever, there is plenty going on and those of you who have access to the internet might want to look at the DCLG, BERR, WCC and NWDC websites to make your contribution to the various ongoing consultations. You might also want to keep an eye out for the eight part series on planning on BBCOne at 8pm on Thursdays from 11 September. The BBC claim that it is “full of character and of course conflict.” Surely unmissible?
Who we are – your Committee
Anne Henshaw – Chairman; Pauline Lyons – vice Chairman; Elizabeth Money-Kyrle – Secretary;
Donald Shirreff – Treasurer; Brian Burrows, Jane King, Charmian Spickernell, Bridgett Tubb, Roy Guest, Peter Pennington-Leigh, Fred Soady and John Swainson.
Feedback
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
Anne on 01249 817 003, Elizabeth (membership and programme) on 01380 850 281, and the Editor on 012409 890 424 (John Swainson) … Or Via The Website!! (See Footer)
Ed.
[See this Newsletter in colour on our website and use the embedded hyperlinks from there.]