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A Neighbourhood Plan for Botley; guest post

Guest post by Mr Tony Wood.

A Parish Council meeting on 27 Mar will discuss again the Neighbourhood Plan. It’s open to the public, and starts at 8pm at Seacourt Hall.

Legislation requires local planning authorities (in our case, the Vale) to pass on 25% of all Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments collected as a result of development in the area back to the community, provided there is a Neighbourhood Plan in place. It’s likely that most developments will be required to make CIL contributions. This could be significant if we have some large developments in the area.

If we don’t have a Neighbourhood Plan, then the maximum we can earn is 15% of CIL money collected. The planning authority can cap that payment based on a formula that they control. Money not given back to the community is retained by the Vale for them to spend on facilities anywhere in the Vale. In truth, it’s unlikely we would get 15% of CIL. The community could lose the right to spend considerable sums of money on local community facilities.

If you saw the Oxford Mail report about neighbourhood planning, you heard that Thame calculated that their Neighbourhood Plan could be worth £3m over the next 15 years. Whilst we are smaller than Thame, if we have a Neighbourhood Plan in place, we will certainly earn considerably more than we have done under the old section 106 process.

If we implement a Neighbourhood Plan, then we can change the profile of developers who work in the parish. Speculative developers want areas with limited planning policy; it’s easier to propose an outrageous development and get away with it. All they need is one success out of several attempts to make a profit. The policies in the other documents that make up the local development framework are more strategic and general. Neighbourhood planning is much more specific whilst being complementary to the other documents. In neighbourhood plan areas, developers typically pursue lower risk strategies. In neighbourhood plan areas, there is extra planning certainty and clarity and it makes it easier to design development projects that will be supported by the community. It is lower planning risk, but everyone understands the possibilities and value of sites. It can be that the developer makes less money. But their motivation is that they increase their chances of steady work and ensure that they and their employees are employed into the future. Drayton saw this happen even before their plan was fully adopted. Given that renewal development is fundamental to a healthy vibrant community, I for one prefer the later type of developer!

The Government is very keen for us to write a plan. There are the grants available that should cover most if not all the costs involved in producing it. The right to produce a Neighbourhood Plan is guaranteed, and the resulting document has real legal weight. If we have any pretension to have any influence on future planning decision making we have to have a Neighbourhood Plan. The Vale have a team dedicated to supporting our needs. However, we are still in a period of austerity and the funding is only guaranteed until this time next year. Government has application deadlines every quarter and the Vale needs 3 months to complete their preparation work in advance of applying for funding. The next deadline for us is the end of the month – maybe the first week of next. So this is urgent.

So what to do? All that is required to get started is a standard letter (that has already been written) and a map with our parish boundary marked on it to be sent to the Vale planning department. The trouble is, we need the Parish Council to write the letter. Those that came to the Parish AGM will have heard some councillors and the parish clerk opposing the idea of a plan. One gentleman stood up and tabled a motion from the floor which was overwhelmingly supported by the other members of the public. Unfortunately the Parish Chairman and clerk continued to show resistance. However, some of the other councillors are changing their view and are beginning to side with Cllr Sellers and Cllr MacKeith who have supported this from the start. So if we can keep up the pressure and continue to ask the council to write the Neighbourhood Plan designation letter than we will eventually get there.

You can write or e-mail the parish clerk and councillors directly.

If you please copy the Botley Neighbourhood plan steering group  botleyneighbourhoodplan@yahoo.co.uk, we can keep you informed about what happens.

Parish councillor contact details: http://www.northhinksey-pc.gov.uk/Core/North-Hinksey-PC/Pages/Contact_UsCouncillors_2.aspx

Fingers crossed common sense prevails!

 

 

 

Vale Cabinet disagrees with its own Green Belt Review

The Vale Tory Cabinet commissions a review to find the bits of land next to settlements they can remove from the green belt. (Remember, development on green belt land is v difficult).

The review recommends several plots of land (all in Lib Dem councilllors’ patches, but I’m sure that’s coincidence) including Fogwell Road playing fields and Louie Memorial playing fields, both in Botley. (Actually, one in Cumnor parish and one in North Hinksey parish).

Same Tory Cabinet (on 20 Feb) writes a report and calls it ‘Council’s Response’). No author is listed, but the council never saw this, that’s for sure! I wonder if even the whole Cabinet saw and approved it. There’s no easy way to tell. Anyway, it’s more accurately, ‘Cabinet’s Response’.

‘Council’s response’ agrees with the removal of Fogwell Road playing fields from green belt protection. It disagrees with the recommendation to remove Louie Memorial Fields.

So, the Cabinet’s report (called ‘Council Response’) disagrees with the recommendation of the report commissioned by Cabinet.

It sounds like a comedy script.
You can see all these Green Belt Reports at this link (scroll down to Green Belt Review)

This is a consultation open until the 4th of April. Let them know what you think! Email planning.policy@whitehorsedc.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

Tory Green Belt Grab in Botley

Green Belt Phase 3 Report Feb 2014 Botley map-page-004The Vale Tories want to remove the Louie Memorial Upper Playing Field, and the Fogwell Road Playing Fields (plus two other plots) from the Oxford Green Belt, to free those sites up for potential housing development.

I’m grateful to an astute local resident for pointing this out to me. If I hadn’t run into him, I’d never have seen it, because it’s buried deep.

The Vale is in need of sites for housing development. One constraint they’ve hit is the Oxford Green Belt, which is protected against development in all but the most exceptional crcumstances.

The Tory Cabinet commissioned a study to identify all the bits of land in the Green Belt on the outer edges of settlements. They want to change the Green Belt boundaries to exclude these areas, so that they can be used for housing development.

See the reports here: http://bit.ly/1dmMMHB (scroll down to Green Belt Review). If you look at the Phase 3 report, see page 4. (I’ve reproduced it as a photo here; click on it to make it bigger.) These are part of the so-called ‘evidence’ supporting their Local Plan, currently out for consultation. There was no consultation briefing held in Botley, despite requests fron the parish council, ostensibly because there are no strategic housing sites proposed for Botley. But this Green Belt grab is serious business.

The Lib Dem group has fomally objected to this piecemeal tinkering with the Green Belt. But Local people may want to make their views more clear!

Consultation ends at noon on the 4th of April. Click here for how to comment: http://bit.ly/1gWSjDJ

North Hinksey Parish Council By-election 24 Apr 14

North Hinksey Parish Council is holding a by-election to fill 3 vacancies.

The deadline for nominations is noon Weds 26 March. If there are more than 3 nominations, an election will be held on 24 Apr 14.

You can see all the rules on the PC website, here: http://bit.ly/Q3IqL3

May I draw your attention to how to apply for a new postal vote, on that page. (If you are already registered for a postal vote, there’s no noeed to do anything else.)

In my opinion, what we’ve learned over the past 3 years is that the most important quality in a local councillor is how well they represent the community’s views. When you are elected to represent the community, your personal view doesn’t matter any more than anyone else’s view. You are elected to represent the view of the community and work for what the community wants. The trick is in being able to find out from the community what they think about issues, and then taking appropriate action.

I think this is a great chance to move forward into a parish council that works hard in support of community aspirations.

 

 

Lime Road – as of 22 Mar 14

Progress 22 Mar 14 for web I’m told by the Bovis Homes Construction Director that the wheel washing facility is now up and running. Lorries stop there on their way out of the site to get the mud washed off the wheels. Hopefully, this will bring an improvement to the condition of local streets. I noted that the street sweeper is still doing his work too.

I have reported to Bovis the poor road and pavement repair after their recent sewer works. I haven’t heard back yet but will continue to chase. My understanding is that they are obliged to leave everything in the condition they found it. Of course, they still have a year and a half of work remaining, so much is still to be done.

The verge on Lime Road at the corner of Laburnum Road has been tarmacked over. This is a temporary measure to ease the access of lorries into the site, and also ease the bus turning into Lime Road. The verge and pavement will be restored once work is done. This was agreed between OCC Highways and Bovis as a solution to the lorries and buses destroying the verge there. (That corner looks to soon become yet another building site. Check out my Planning Applications page (link at top of this page).)

This photo is the view from the south eastern corner of the devlopment, taken from the bend in the road of upper Yarnells Hill.

Three important things

I’ve been ill, and I’m sorry for radio silence recently.

Two important things for people who check out my blog. OK, three important things.

First, the deadline for submitting your objections or reasons for support to the Vale about Doric’s plans is the 27th of March. You can see what others have said on the Vale planning website here.

Second, there are two recent planning applications to demolish single family homes in order to erect a block of flats. Little Dene in Yarnells Hill, and 2 Lime Road + 50 Laburnum Road.

We are vulnerable here in North Hinksey because of the lack of a Local Plan (due to Vale delays) and also a lack of a Neighbourhood Plan (due to Parish Council delays).

Want things to change? There is to be a by-election for three vacant seats on the North Hinksey Parish Council. Deadline to get your name on the ballot is 26 Mar. Contact me for more info. Or contact the parish clerk.

NPPF and Saved Policies inform planning decisions

When the planning officer considers the Doric planning application for West Way, he will use two policy documents in his considerations.

The National Planning Policy Framework (commonly called ‘NPPF‘) is considered in its entirety. (It’s only 47 pages long, so not too onerous.)

The policies that have been saved from the old Local Plan 2011 (commonly called ‘Saved Policies‘) carry weight too.

And that’s all. We currently have no Local Plan in the Vale. And we have no Neighbourhood Plan in North Hinksey Parish either. Only the two documents above  inform planning decision-making in Botley.

You can read or download the NPPF from the Communities and Local Government site here.

You can read or download the old Local Plan 2011 from the Vale website here.

You can read or download a list of Saved Policies from the Vale website here. (See the list of policies that begins on page 4.) You’ll have to cross reference them yourself to the Local Plan 2011.)