The Public Inquiry into proposals to build 175 houses on land between Little Horwood Road and Shipton resumed in Aylesbury on Tuesday. Llew took time out from the local election campaign to attend the opening session and formally deliver the submission that he’d prepared on behalf of the Town Council which is opposed to the development. The Inquiry is expected to conclude this evening (Wednesday) and the Inspector will then study the mountains of evidence which have been submitted and deliver his decsion sometime during the Summer.
Tory Tales
Tory Tales 1
One of the Tory Candidates is telling voters that the Town Council is going to build a noisy Skateboard Park on land at the Winslow Centre. This is quite untrue and causing undue concern to residents in Park Road and Avenue Road. The Town Council do hope to provide a new multi-use games area at the Winslow Centre but this will not include a Skateboard Park. We’d really like to be able to provide such a facility but can’t find a suitable piece if land where the noise levels wouldn’t cause annoyance to local residents.
Tory Tales 2.
The same Tory candidate is allegedly telling people that the Lib Dems stopped her from being co-opted to Winslow Town Council when there was a vacancy. Well, the fact is that the Town Council is non-political, she doen’t even live in Winslow and the interview panel felt there was a better local candidate with much wider experience. Hopefully that’s what voters will think on Thursday 5th too!
How should our town grow?
Here’s your chance to have your say about future housing development in Winslow.
The Coalition Government is changing the method of planning for future growth so that communities get to have a far greater say in the level of new housing development. Because of this Aylesbury Vale District Council is just starting to create a new long term development plan for the next twenty years which will reflect what local communities like Winslow say is reasonable. If we assume that there will be approriate improvements to infrastructure (roads, schools, local employment. leisure and health facilities) what do YOU think would be acceptable? Please complete my survey in the right hand panel of this page and if you want to give more detail write to me at llewmonger@btinternet.com .
SHIPTON PLANNING ENQUIRY ADJOURNED UNTIL FEBRUARY
After just one and a half days the planning enquiry into proposals to develop 175 houses off Little Horwood Road has been adjourned. The Inquiry has been adjourned to await the outcome of legal action being taken by a national housebuilder, Cala Homes, against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government regarding the approach to be taken nationally to the interpretation of regional planning policies. This case relates to another part of the country but the judgement will have national significance. The outcome of this action is expected in mid January and the Shipton enquiry is scheduled to reconvene on 14th February next year.
The Inspector was able to hear evidence from two expert witnesses called on behalf of Gladman Developments as the areas on which they were commenting are not covered by the legal action. Gladman called a landscape expert who presented his views on the suitability of the site and an urban design expert who discussed the possible layout of the site. Two of the key issues for the enquiry are the suitability of the site and the question of whether Little Horwood Road forms a clear boundary to the eastern edge of Winslow such that any development beyond this would be development in the open countryside.
I have submitted a statement to the Enquiry on behalf of the Town Council and will get to speak to this when we resume on 14th February. You can see this statement at Submission by Winslow Town Council to Shipton Enquiry
Developers offer £3million community benefits package
The planning enquiry into the proposed development of 175 dwellings between Little Horwood Road and Shipton will start at 10.00am on 7th December at, The Oculus, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF. The previous application for this site was refused and the Town Council and AVDC continue to oppose the proposals despite some amendments by the developer.
Before the enquiry concludes the Planning Inspector must receive details of what conditions AVDC would apply and what community benefits the applicant would provide IF he were to grant permission. We understand that Gladman Developments are proposing a package which has an estimated value of around £3,000.000 and includes the following.
£1 million (est) contribution for Secondary Education (This goes to the County Council – not Winslow)
£100k contribution to the Primary Care Trust for improvements to Winslow’s health centre and Norden House surgery£500k towards a new Community Centre (This would add to the £600+k that the Banner Homes development will deliver)
£100k for traffic calming in Elmfields Gate, Magpie Way and at Shipton hamlet. (subject to a residents survey) £100k in contributions for Library and Adult Education provision (again this would go to Bucks County Council – not Winslow)There would also be a play area and youth shelter on the development, and a contribution to future on-site landscape maintenance.This is an attractive package of potential benefits for the town and would go some way to off-set the impact of the development if permission is given. However, residents have made it clear that they do not wish to see more major development and in any event this is not a suitable site. Little Horwood Road forms a clear boundary to the East of Winslow and we are concerned that if permission were granted here then we could be faced with more applications for development right up to the railway line.
The Town Council have over £600,000 to come in ‘off-site leisure contribution’ from Banner Homes in respect of the Verney Road Development and this, together with a possible £500,000 if the Shipton development were given permission would cover the basic cost of a new, purpose built community centre. With a potential 20% increase in the size of the town there is no doubt that a new purpose built facility would be a real benefit to the community. However, even if the offer was for twice as much it still wouldn’t; change the basic planning issue and that is that development beyond Little Horwood road would constitute ‘development in the open countryside’.
If the Planning Inspector decides to approve the application we will have to ensure that all of the proposed community benefits are actually delivered.
GLADMAN DEFEATED AGAIN! Planning appeal for 200 houses rejected.
The Planning Inspector has rejected an appeal by Gladman Developments against the earlier refusal by AVDC to grant consent for the building of 200 homes on land between Little Horwood Road and Shipton hamlet. In her summing up at the end of a ten page report the Inspector, Mrs Jennifer Vyse, that the proposals amounted to an ”unjustified development that would constitute an unnecessary intrusion into open countryside”. The developers now have a six week window in which they can , if they wish, challenge the decision in the High Court on legal grounds relating to any alleged impropriety or error in the conduct of the appeal hearing.
Commenting after the decision was announced, Llew Monger, who had represented the Town Council throughout the four day hearing and site visit, said he was delighted by the outcome and particularly pleased for those residents at Shipton and in the Elmfields area who would have suffered from the development.
You can’t vote for us in Buckingham but you can join us!
The Liberal Democrats in Buckingham don’t have a candidate in the General Election but we’ve not gone away. We still have active councillors and campaigners working on a wide range of local issues who need your help and support. The Liberal Democrats also have a very strong General Election election campaign in Aylesbury where our candidate is Steven Lambert. So, if you feel that the ‘system’ has let you down why not make up for it by offering to help in Aylesbury for the General Election or by helping Llew with his local efforts in Winslow. Call Llew on 07808 096513 to offer your help.
Shipton housing enquiry – decision delayed
At the end of the Public Enquiry into Gladman Developments application to build 200 houses at Shipton the Planning Inspector promised that she would give her decision by week commencing 29th March. We heard nothing so chased the Planning Inspectorate at Bristol and were advised that 12th April was the new date. Within an hour we had another call to say that 12th April would not be met but no revised date was given. Let’s hope that we will hear by the end of April.
HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH GLADMAN DEVELOPMENTS
Gladman Developments, who’s application to develop Winslow Green was roundly rejected by local residents and planners alike is at it again. This time it’s a proposal to develop 200 dwellings on land between Little Horwood Road and Shipton hamlet. So far as we know this is one of the few pieces of land that they actually own, rather than just have options on, and it may be that they think a development here will help recover some of the vast sums they spent on the Winslow Green application. At the time of writing we are aware that the application has been submitted to AVDC but details have not been received by Winslow Town Council. A public meeting will have to be held in September to allow residents to see the plans and comment on them so we’ll publish details as soon as possible.
It would be wrong to comment on the application at this stage but if you want to see what Winslow Town Council thinks about possible future development in general then go to www.winslowtowncouncil.gov.uk and look at the TC’s response to the AVDC Local Development Framework – Core Strategy consultation. No doubt we will be bearing this in mind when responding to the Gladman application.
Possible Housing sites revealed
Aylesbury Vale District Council have posted a report on their website which lists all sites being considered for possible housing development in the coming years. They didn’t bother to tell the Town Council or indeed any of the Parish Councils involved that the report was there so how are people supposed to know about it?
The real shocks are the possibility of 1,000 houses on land between Little Horwood Road and Shipton hamlet and the potential sale of the Sports fields at the Winslow Centre for even more housing. Commenting on the report Llew says, ”Just when we thought we’d seen off Winslow Green and its 3,300 houses we now find we have another massive potential development on our doorstep. As to the Winslow Centre land it’s disgraceful that anyone should even think about selling off sports fields for housing. I would be strongly opposed to any development here and I imagine most residents would feel the same”
The 120 page report covers the whole of the Vale and asseses sites as to how suitable they are for potential development. In our area sites are considered in Padbury, Great Horwood and Winslow but only the latter are included in the detail of the sites listed as ‘suitable for residential development’. It is important to note that no applications have been submitted for these sites as yet but the detail is as follows
|
Reference |
Location | No. of dwellings | Comment |
| 125/002 | South of railway / east of Furze Lane | 240 | Subject to Transport Assessment andprovision of facilities and suitable linksrequired to overcome distance fromtown centre |
| 125/006 | Former Gas board Site Station Road | 5 | Ground conditions require investigation. |
| 125/008 | Land East of Little Horwood Road | 1,000 | Subject to Transport Assessment andprovision of facilities and suitable linksrequired to overcome distance fromtown centre and transport |
| 125/009 |
Glebe Farm, Verney Rd West of Langley Close |
38 | Suitable if facilities provided indevelopment of site 125/001 toovercome distance from town centre |
| 125/011 | Former School playing field west of Winslow Centre | 70 | Suitable if developed in association with Site 125/002. Subject to TransportAssessment |
TO VIEW THE FULL 120 PAGE REPORT FOLLOW THIS LINK.
http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/GetAsset.aspx?id=fAAzADkANgAxAHwAfABGAGEAbABzAGUAfAB8ADAAfAA1
Llew will be raising this issue with the Town Council at the earliest opportunity and will ensure that the residents of Winslow have a proper opportunity to comment.