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.

Sample letter that might be sent to the Planning Inspector

Please write by 23 September 2011 and send 3 paper copies or use the facility on 
the Planning Inspectorate's web site:

Developer's Grounds for Appeal

Pasted in below are the grounds for appeal cited by Redrow Homes and Persimmon Homes to take their case to planning appeal. The four reasons mentioned relate to those given by Swindon Borough Council for refusing planning permission. Please note that Swindon Borough Council will not be defending Reason 4 at the planning inquiry – the loss of Richard Jefferies literary heritage land – and have dropped this reason for refusal.

Please note that when you write to the planning inspector, you can raise other issues – e.g. the negative impact on archaeology and Day House Copse Nature Reserve (and other wildlife) whose value won’t be improved by setting them in a modern estate, flooding, recreational value of Dayhouse Lane etc. 

Planning Inquiry to start on 15 November 2011

The planning inquiry appeal (related to Swindon Borough Council's decision to refuse planning permission for the Swindon Gateway application) will start on 15 November  at 10am at STEAM, Swindon. It will run for at least 6 days.

The timetable to submit comments to the planning inspector (see later post) is 23rd September 2011.

For those who also want to submit further evidence at the Inquiry (either oral or written) the deadline is 18 October.

Go to the Planning Inspectorate web page to submit comments and proofs of evidence online.

How a 19th-century naturalist became a cause célèbre in Wiltshire

There is an excellent article (5 August 2011) in The Independent by Jack Watkins highlighting the lack of appreciation of the literary merits of Richard Jefferies homeland at Coate and the buildong pressures on it.

It can be viewed at: Battle for Jefferies' land

Coate not suitable for housing

Many of you who objected to the Swindon Gateway planning application will have received a letter from Forward planning inviting you to comment on the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment ‘Call for Sites’.

There is more information at:

http://www.swindon.gov.uk/shlaa

This includes the report that was prepared to identify proposed sites in 2008. The report, of course, includes Coate and you can read what was said about it at:

http://www.swindon.gov.uk/ep/ep-planning/ep-planning-localdev/Documents/old_town_and_lawn-2%5B1%5D.pdf

Vote for Coate Water as a favourite Green Flag Award venue

Please vote for Coate Water as a favourite in the Keep Britain Tidy Green Flag award scheme.

Just click on the link below and select "Vote for this site".

http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/GreenFlagAwardSites/SouthWest/Default.aspx?parkID=447

Developers appeal

It was announced today in the Swindon Advertiser that the developers (Redrow Homes & Persimmon Homes) have appealed against Swindon Borough Council's decision to refuse planning permission for their unwelcome application to build houses and industrial units at Coate and Badbury Wick.

The date of the local planning inquiry will be announced once the Secretary of State has appointed a planning inspector.

Planning decision - reasons for refusal

The reasons for refusing the Coate development planning application have gone up at
http://194.73.99.13:8080/WAM/doc/Decision-332027.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=332027&location=VOLUME5&contentType=&pageCount=1

Quote

1. The proposed development by reason of its substantial scale and location is considered to be so significant to the future growth of the Borough of Swindon when considered against other suitable locations that it will be premature inadvance of the examination and adoption of the Swindon Core Strategy Revised Proposed Submission Document. This document is still under review and neither public consultation nor examination of the issues has yet been completed. The
Council considers that if planning permission were to be granted it would prejudice the outcome of the plan process by predetermining decisions about the appropriateness of the location, the scale and phasing of new development that should properly to be taken in the development plan context. The proposal therefore does not comply with national planning policies PPS1 and PPS3; is contrary to policies DS1, H4 and ENV9 of the Swindon Local Plan 2011 (2006)
and policy DP3 of the Wiltshire and Swindon Structure Plan 2016 (2006).

2. The proposed development by virtue of the increased levels of traffic associated with this mixed use development will have an unacceptable impact on traffic flows on Marlborough Road and Day House Lane compromising highway safety. Furthermore the location of the employment land, its sole vehicular access via the spine road/boulevard and expected weight of traffic within the site will result in a car dominated development and unacceptable level of severance to the detriment of residential amenity. The proposal is therefore contrary to national guidance in Manual for Streets 1 and 2 and policies DS6 and DS7 of the Swindon Borough Local Plan 2011 (2006).

3. The proposed development by virtue of its scale and location will have an unacceptable impact on the setting and intrinsic qualities of part of the adjacent North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in that the proposed mixed use development, some of which may be up to four storeys in height will fail to maintain an attractive and sympathetic vista from the Downs and a foreground that softens the urban edge of Swindon, or demonstrate that the intrinsic qualities of the AONB can be sufficiently protected. The proposal is therefore contrary to Planning Policy Statement 7, and fails to comply with policies DS6 and ENV10 of the Swindon Borough Local Plan 2011(2006)

4. The proposal by virtue of its scale and setting fails to satisfactorily consider in any detail the importance of the surrounding landscape as a heritage asset. The literary work of Richard Jefferies as a nature writer is significant in understanding the landscape of the Coate and Badbury Wick areas together with their relationship with the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and conversely the appreciation of his own work. If approved, this development will have a detrimental effect on this intrinsic historic value and importance, and
would in this respect be harmful to the visual amenity of the area as a whole. The proposal fails to comply with policies HE6, HE7, HE9, HE10, and of PPS5 and policies DS6 and ENV10, of the Swindon Borough Local Plan 2011 (2006) .

The developers have still got 6 months to appeal and we still have an emerging policy in the Swindon Core Strategy for "Commonhead" to chuck out.

Will Persimmon Homes appeal after all?

In a quote from Paul Davis of Persimmon Homes, printed in the Swindon Advertiser on 10 June, a shadow of doubt has been cast as to whether the developers will appeal against the decision to refuse planning permission.
 http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/9077584.High_stakes_in_the_battle_for_Coate/

 

Paul Davis is reported as saying: 

“We’re considering our options. We’ve not made up our minds what we’re going to do yet. It’s not known when we’ll come to a decision. When we do we’ll let everyone know. But we’re not there yet.”
He said an appeal seemed ‘the obvious riposte’, but added: “We could put a new application and start again. I’m not saying that’s a possibility because honestly we haven’t decided yet.
“Or we could say we’ve spent so much money on this we’ll just throw in the towel.
“It’s a possibility; we have to work within our own financial guidelines. All things are being considered.”

Please urge Persimmon Homes to go for the option to “just throw in the towel.”

paul.davis@persimmonhomes.com