Great white egret at Coate Water

Great White Egret by Tony Martin on 15 December 2012

 

 

A Great White Egret has been spotted at Coate Water Site of Special Scientific Interest over the last few days. It is a very rare visitor to Wiltshire and a very exciting spot.

English Nature will add the bird to its list for Coate Water SSSI.

How sad that Redrow Homes and Persimmon Homes have planning permission to build nearly 900 houses and a massive business park very close to the nature reserve.  Indeed it is a tragedy.

Draft Swindon Local Plan now out for public consultation.

Nice timing!

Read on...

latest draft planning policy proposed for Coate & Badbury Wick

A draft Swindon Borough Local Plan 2026 is likely to go out for public consultation in December 2012 for an 8 week period. The Local Plan is the bible for developers and the blue-print of how Swindon will be expected to develop from 2011-2026 albeit that Swidon Council has already overestimated how may new houses will be built.

This is the policy relating to the Coate area and please note that there is no proposed protected buffer of land next to the south of Coate Water Site of Special Scientific Interest.

proposed design of development

We may not have the most up-to-date drawings of what Redrow Homes and Persimmon Homes propose to build, but these were the illustrations that accompanied their original 2010 planning application:

Coate style houses

Offices

Badbury Wick style

Developers win the appeal

The Secretary of State has issued his decision about the Coate Appeal and the bad news is that we have lost. Planning permission has been granted and you can read the full report here:

http://jefferieslandtrust.org.uk//CoateAppealdecision.pdf

The blame lies totally with Swindon Council who have pushed the Coate area forward for housing development and business/industrial use through the Local Plan and the emerging Core Strategy.  We have been stuffed by them and don't you forget it.

Mike Bawden _ candidate to represent Coate

With the May Borough Council elections looming in Swindon, you may not be aware that Coate is now included in the new Chiseldon & Lawn ward. To add insult to injury, Mike Bawden will be standing as one of the Conservative candidates for the ward. The man who promoted Coate for development and boasted about brokering a deal between the developers and the University of Bath in 2003 is now more than likely to represent the Ward. Here’s the article in the Guardian to refresh your memory.

 

Let us hope that he is blown up by his own bomb.

 

Please write to Eric Pickles MP

The Secretary of State will be making his decision known about the Coate planning appeal on of before 3 April 2012. Please write to him now. Email: eric.pickles@communities.gsi.gov.uk Sample letter:

Rt Hon Eric Pickles

Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government

Eland House

Bressenden Place

London SW1E 5DU

Dear Mr Pickles

Re: Planning Appeal No: APP/U3935/A/11/2155834      

Land at Dayhouse Lane, Coate, Swindon.

Your planning inspector, Geoffrey Hill, will be completing his report of the Planning Inquiry held in November 2011. I support Swindon Borough Council's reasons to refuse planning permission for building on the appeal site and hope that you will too. The countryside at Coate and Badbury Wick is greatly valued and significant for many reasons that include the following:

- the landscape setting of Coate Water Country Park and Site of Special Scientific Interest

- the views from Liddington Hill and the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

- the recreational value of Dayhouse Lane (a peaceful country lane) for walkers, cyclists, horse-riders and joggers who use it as a gateway to the downs

- the inherent wildlife importance of Dayhouse Copse, ancient trees, hedges, bat roosts, badger setts and otter streams

- the literary associations of internationally renowned Richard Jefferies

- the archaeological quality of the area that dates back to pre-history

- the agricultural quality of the land - 22% is grade 2/3a, best and most versatile farmland

- the views from the Great Western Hospital that help aid recovery.

Over 52,000 people signed  a petition asking Swindon Council to protect this prized

corner of Swindon. The environmental, historic and literary value of the appeal site far outweighs any benefits that more housing, offices and industrial units can offer. The planning application provides nothing special. It is not a sustainable development, it is premature and will set a precedent for infill development around Coate Water Country Park.

Please dismiss the appeal lodged by Swindon Gateway Partnership.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely

Times Literary Supplement

Adam Thorpe had he following letter published in the Times Literary Supplement dated 9 December 2011

Dear Sir,

I thank all those readers who, following my request (Letters, 15 April), wrote to Swindon Borough Council, objecting to the proposed development of the 75-hectare stretch of fields and woodland abutting the Richard Jefferies Museum, the writer's birthplace and home. This area was one that Jefferies cherished and wrote about in books like Bevis, Amaryllis at the Fair or The Story of My Heart. To everyone's surprise, the proposal for some 900 houses and a business park was turned down in June by the Council's own planning committee on environmental as well as heritage grounds, after some stirring speeches by local people.

Decision expected by 3 April 2012

The inquiry is closed. Mr Geoffrey Hill (not Mr E Grace, as anticipated)  has listened to the evidence.

The Secretary of State will make his decision known on or before 3 April 2012.

Planning appeal inquiry information

The Planning Inquiry commences on Tuesday 15 November at 10am at the STEAM Museum, Swindon. Anyone who wishes to speak should attend that day to register their interest to speak. The Inquiry is set to last 6 days.