At a special meeting held on 1st June 2013, members of the Jefferies Land Conservation Trust unanimously voted in favour of dissolving the organisation.
The Trust will represent its aim to safeguard the special landscape of the fields east and south of Coate Water from development at a planning inquiry for the emerging Swindon Local Plan that will be held later this year.
Jefferies Land Conservation Trust News
The Trust was estabished on 13 September 2005 with the aim to protect and enhance the special landscape of high wildlife, archaeological and literary importance between Coate Water Site of Special Scientific Interest and the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Swindon planners propose to adopt developers' design code
The papers relating to Swindon Council’s Planning Committee for Tuesday,
9th April, 2013 6.00 p.m. are up on the Council’s website.
Agenda Item 6 relates to the design code for the Coate development that the
planning Officer recommends for approval as presented by the developers.
The Planning officer has not addressed many of the points raised and has misrepresented what was said by the
Jefferies Land Conservation Trust and, we suspect, by others. When outline
planning permission was granted, we were told that detail would be sorted out at
a later stage. Evidently, now we are at the later stage, we are informed that
certain details were approved with planning permission (such as the height of
buildings). One of our main concerns was that the tallest buildings were proposed
to be placed on the highest contours of the land. Evidently, this matter cannot
be changed. However Swindon Council has agreed that there should be more
variation in the building materials used.
The officer’s report says:
An additional public meeting is to be held on 4th April at the
request of
the Commonhead Parish Liaison Group. Any outcomes from this
meeting will
be reported verbally at Planning Committee. As a result of the
consultation, 25
comments were received from consultees, organisations and
members of the
public. A summary of the comments made and a brief officer
response can be
found at Appendix 1
10. Comments made as a result of the consultation exercise
have been
reported back to the developer and a revised code document has
been
received having been amended to incorporate relevant and
justified
comments.
and her conclusion:
21. The submitted Design Code fulfils the requirements of the
condition
and indicates a style of design that would be appropriate for
an extension to
Swindon’s urban area in this location. This Design Code will
secure high
quality designed housing and other facilities and it is hoped
that this will result
in a development that people will want to live
in.
So some changes to the design are supposed to have been made but we don’t
know what. Having seen the plans for the building approved at the Sun Inn by
Swindon Council a few days ago (which are absolutely ghastly and totally out of
keeping with the Richard Jefferies Museum (a Grade II listed building), we can’t
say that we are surprised now at anything that Swindon Council approves.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Developer's design for Coate area for comment
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Wat Tyler House
SN1 2JH
Tel:-
01793 463000
DX:-
133055
Mincom:- 01793
436659
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Please ask for:
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Nicola Smith
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Direct Dial No:
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01793 466517
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Email:
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Our Ref:
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S/COND/13/0195
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Date:
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13th
February 2013
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Re: Commonhead Phase 1 Design
Codes - Discharge of condition
5 from Outline Planning Permission S/10/0842
I write to notify you that the
Commonhead Phase 1 Design Code has been submitted by Barton Wilmore on behalf
of the developers Persimmon and Redrow. This submission is in accordance with
Condition 5 of the Outline Planning Permission for Commonhead. The remaining
residential areas, hospital expansion site and business park will be separately
design coded and submitted for consideration at a later date.
Condition 5 of
the Outline Planning Permission (ref: S/10/0842) for Commonhead, requires the
formal submission and approval of Design Codes to develop and interpret the
approved Land Use Master Plan before more detailed applications may be
considered.
The submitted Design Code is also
available to view at Wat Tyler
West Reception, Beckhampton Street, Swindon, SN1 2JH and The Village Inn, Liddington I also
direct you to view the submitted Design Code online by clicking on the
following link:
Please note these are large files and may take some time to download.
Any comments you may have regarding the submitted
District Centre Design Code must be submitted in writing to the contact details
noted below before 4.30pm on 8 March 2013 and quote reference number S/COND/13/0195.
Send your written comments to the following address:
5th Floor,
Wat Tyler House,
Beckhampton Street,
Swindon
SN1 2JH
Or by email to: design&masterplanning@swindon.gov.uk
We would take this opportunity to
advise that the principle of the Commonhead development has been established
and comments relating to the strategic allocation of this site for development
are no longer applicable.
Yours sincerely,
N Smith
Masterplanning and Design TeamSwindon Borough Council
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Open letter to the Prime Minister
Dear David Cameron
You
were interviewed on Countryfile by John Craven and you gave an assurance that no greenfield land would be built on where the
following applied:
We are now faced with a draft Swindon Borough Local
Plan 2026 that has a policy in place that permits the planned development at
Coate whilst providing a non-development buffer for some of the countryside of
landscape, ecological, archaeological and cultural importance. However the
building plans will set a precedent for more infill and the plan only runs to
2026 – just time for Redrow Homes and Persimmon Homes to lobby for infill
development on the grounds that it will be more sustainable to build next to
their existing estate.
There are many thousands of people who will never
forgive this government for what has happened at Coate.
I
write as the Honorary Secretary of two charities: the Richard Jefferies Society
and the Jefferies Land Conservation Trust.
1.
Special interest – historic, landscape, cultural
2. Local
people opposed
3. Local
authority opposed
4. Other
sites available
You are obviously not aware of building proposals that
were granted permission earlier this year by your Secretary of State for a
development that ticked all these requirements. These apply to a planned housing
estate and industrial site at Coate and Badbury Wick that lies in the foothills
of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the south east
of Swindon and very close to Coate Water Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The area is rich in ecology, archaeology, and was immortalised and made famous
by the Victorian nature writer, Richard Jefferies whose birthplace abuts the
development site and is now a museum. The planning application was opposed by
over 52,000 people who signed a petition, Robert Buckland MP and the
conservative led planning committee. Other sites are available to meet
Swindon’s 5 year land supply of housing depending on what targets are agreed.
On page 32 of the Church Times (14 December 2012) there is an interview with Candida
Lycett Green – author, broadcaster, journalist and Sir John Betjeman’s
daughter. The questions asked of her cover a considerable amount of ground but
her clear passion for the Downs near to where she lives at Uffington,
Oxfordshire and her love of old buildings and England’s countryside reveal how
she follows in her father’s footsteps. In response to changing one thing in
England, Ms Lycett Green said that she would “stop the present Government
making a balls-up of the planning system ... They will be the Government to go
down in history as wrecking England”. And her anger is directed at “greedy
developers’ building on Richard Jefferies’s sacred Greenfield landscape outside
Swindon”. There is also an article by
Candida Lycett Green in the January 2013 edition of the Countryfile magazine. She writes a heartfelt plea about what has
happened to Swindon, and in particular how no one has taken any notice of the
Richard Jefferies Society regarding development on Jefferies Land at Coate. She
states that David Cameron says that he will defend his beautiful part of
Oxfordshire against the builders, and then she compares this to the fate of
Swindon (her nearest big town), where countless developments have covered the
town, and in spite of many in-fill sites available how Redrow Homes are set to
build on the only decent historical/literary area of land in the town at Coate.
I realise that you are powerless to reverse a
planning decision and your Secretary of State has not made an unlawful
decision. However, the decision is wrong and has created bitter resentment in
Swindon, not to say total disillusionment with your government’s commitment to
protect important greenfield sites whilst bringing in a National Planning Policy
Framework that makes it easier to build anywhere.
Yours sincerely
Jean Saunders
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Great white egret at Coate Water
Great White Egret by Tony Martin on 15 December 2012 |
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.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, March 23, 2012
proposed design of development
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
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.
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.
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