Planning Applications

ASHRA's Response - General

General

According to the NPPF applicants will be expected to work closely with those direct affected by their proposals to evolve designs that take account of the views of the community. Bewley Homes have continued to ignore local objections

Point 69 in the NPPF says: The planning system can play an important role in facilitating social interaction and creating healthy, inclusive communities. Local planning authorities should create a shared vision with communities of the residential environment and facilities they wish to see. To support this, local planning authorities should aim to involve all sections of the community in the development of Local Plans and in planning decisions, and should facilitate neighbourhood planning. None of the Residents Associations or local communities feel they have had enough contact with the Borough Planners and feel excluded from all planning and decision making. We hope that when the new Local Plan is prepared in 2013, local people are consulted, and their input listened to.

The plans produced by Bewley Homes include land that is owned by the residents of No’s. 2 to 16 Loddon Way and 53 to 71 Ash Lodge Drive. They own 7 feet (2.15 mtrs) of the field at the rear of their properties. This was purchased in early 1987 from Day & Company, who was the original builder of the Ashley Park Estate. This land was a "ransom strip" along the edge of the overall development site. All of the owners of these houses hold their deeds for this land.

When reviewing this Planning Application we find it amazing how, in every document, whether it concerns the environment, wildlife, transport, traffic, doctors, schools, flooding, road safety, demolition, construction, or anything else, every single "receptor" in every graph shows the effects of this proposed development as being minimal or negligible. An example of this is in the Barton Willmore, Environmental Statement, where they state that up to a 30% increase in traffic flow is "negligible".

The first round consultation to determine the new Guildford Local Plan (formally the Local Development Framework), take place in February-April 2013. It will set out potential development options right across the Borough for public comment, starting with a long list of everything external consultants have considered possible. Until this process is completed, it is premature to assume that this land will be part of the Framework and available for development. The strategy highlights are to "maintain the open rural character, the identities of and green separation between settlements. Also, to respect the settings of, and relationship between, settlements and buildings in the landscape. Nothing should be decided regarding this land until the Local Plan has been completed. These documents need to take in all of the facts, and decided whether anything should ever be built on this essential flood plain.