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.

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