Click to return to Meetings
page
Click to return to Meetings
page
Public Forum on Local Development
Thursday 8th May 2008 at 7:00p.m.
The Chairman, Cllr Charles Hawley, welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave an overview of the planning process.
John Carter
Stafford Borough has got to build houses to equivalent size of Stone. An infrastructure of amenities will have to be put in. Colton has no amenities so that puts us in a good position. £578m is to be spent on building in the middle of Stafford. Concerned that being on the edge of the borough we may be ‘sacrificed’.
Alan Lloyd
Lichfield Mercury published a set of 4 options from LDC that we should be aware of. 1, 2 and 4 are innocuous, but Option 3 predicts village development, which would have a profound impact for Colton. We can’t expect to stay absolutely still, but barn conversions are different from large development. It is predicted that by Spring 2008 the council will publish its preferred options.
Draft Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment is in circulation and available online. Consultation period ends in September, we think. LDC can build 8,000 but can’t find anywhere to build the other 5,000 it is required to.
Andy Chapel
West Midlands Regional Housing Strategy 2008-2011 earmarks 2 sites near Colton affecting 2 Parishes: First is the Rugeley ERZ (Eastern Regeneration Zone), on truly brownfields sites. This is acceptable, but the trouble is there are so many papers going round and they’re difficult to navigate and it is hard to provide feedback or consultation; the deadlines are obscure. Secondly, though not with direct implication for Colton, but tremendous implication for Lichfield, is the proposed ‘Ecotown’ at Fradley. The answer that Michael Fabricant got is that an ecotown must be separate from adjacent townships but have good links with them. The proposed ecotown is not separate from Fradley! A38 already overloaded. It is easy to pluck 5000 from air and call it eco, but the whole thing is a mess, because the existing infrastructure won’t be able to manage. In summary: the local aspect at the former colliery is acceptable, but the proposed ecotown is not, because not enough thought has gone into infrastructure. We need to get our act together.
Anna Sadowski
New houses do have to be built but the danger is sprawl – Lichfield is now sprawling and Colton is in danger of becoming part of Rugeley’s sprawl. There is concern that the site along from Trent Valley Station to Bellamour Way will be proposed, which would link Colton with Rugeley. Transport links are too good. We’re in a good position for commuting to Birmingham. There are not enough facilities for the new builds. How do we want to retain Colton as a community but make provision for new families and retirees, and to keep the village school open? Don’t mind the village growing, as long as we stay true to the community.
David Bradbury
Agrees that transport links are good: there is a wonderful train service sanctioned for electrification trains to Walsall half and quarter hourly on WMRailway.
Julie Thorn
Agrees with concerned about Colton and Rugeley ending up linked. How much of the land between is part of the flood plain? This should be emphasised – it’s a bad idea to build on a flood plain.
Elaine Williscroft
Agrees that building on flood plain is to be avoided. Knows someone who can’t get insurance because her house is built on floodplain at Millington Road.
Andy Chapel
The Leader of LDC is against the ecotown proposal and is also Chairman of the West Midlands Regional Assembly.
Ken Ryder
Is this proposal a resurrection of the last one that got slung out?
Lichfield and Stafford were first to answer the demand from central government to create a Local Development Framework, so they were the ‘guinea pigs’ and hadn’t been given enough guidance. But, yes, it is similar to the previous one, but having taken into consideration the consultation.
Last time Lichfield only contacted people in the village directly whose land was affected by the village boundary, not anyone else. Anyone could have a say, but not everyone was contacted directly. Within the village boundary it is much easier to get planning permission for new build because it is in the settlement area. Last time when they were deciding on where to draw the village boundary the procedure was a woman walking around with a map and drawing vague lines on it. Boundaries were tightened slightly in 2005. Need to keep a watch on the boundaries because it is not widely publicised and it is easy to lose the consultation opportunity. Notification needs to be public-friendly.
Diana Booth
Is the 4-options consultation still open? A lady planning officer at LDC has offered to come and talk to us about it.
The article refers to a timescale of Spring 2008, following which, after considering feedback, the proposal will be send to the government and there will be public consultation again. We mustn’t leave it too long to get our act together.
Andy Chapel
We must have a strategy. We need to get a feeling of what the people here feel and to get our feelings across to the people in power. How do we organise ourselves to do something about it?
v Take up the offer of someone coming out to talk to us.
Ian Jones
The Parish Council should make a request to LDC to have meeting with Planning Department so we’re on record as having an interest in the future development of the area and to have a forum to make our feelings felt. We don’t want to be presented with a fait accomplit. Tony Hill offered to arrange this.
To sum up the consensus of the meeting so far Alan Lloyd laid out some Broad Principles:
v LDC Four options suggested in Lichfield Mercury – strong view that option 3 that disperses significant development around rural villages be rejected – it will destroy our heritage
v There is strong opposition to becoming a suburb of Rugeley
v There is no opposition to some development but only in proportion and in character, with different sorts of dwellings to maintain eclectic mix
v Development on brownfields in Rugeley should be promoted, reducing the chance of greenfields sites being encroached upon unnecessarily.
Shirley Barnett
It is important to be precise in the understanding of the definition of ‘brownfields’ sites because they now include anybody’s garden who is within the boundary of the settlement area.
Ben Williscroft
A meeting should be convened with LDC – they’re good at allocating time with Parish Councils – any minutes can be submitted as evidence. The process for the Development Plan is different from how it used to be – it now consists of several different documents assessed at different times, complicating things. The Core Strategy starts off the process then is followed through by other development plan documents: village boundaries, etc. We must keep our eye on all these documents.
Charles Hawley
The Parish Council is only one voice. Lots of letters are needed from individuals; it is better to write letters than do nothing. Volunteers to coordinate a response to each authority are needed - LDC, SCC, WMRA, CCC.
Andy Chapel is experienced in campaigning.
Letters could be composed by Alan Lloyd or Andy Chapel, but they must make sense, and they can only make sense if we know what’s going on. We need Tony Hill to point us in the right direction so we can formulate a plan.
Anna Sadowski
Can the government buy farmers’ land to build on? Can they compulsory purchase? There is concern that small developments could pop up where existing landowners sell their land.
LDC won’t buy land to build houses, but developers may.
Ken Ryder – need to start thinking about affordable housing – define it. Need it to keep the school going and bring youth into the village. Where are we going to put it?
Andy Chapel
£2m of affordable housing is in the plan.
Charles Hawley
Stress that Parish Council is not powerful and is only one voice, but if LDC gets 60 letters, one from each person here, they will be compelled to listen.
An LDC Freepost Address accompanied the Lichfield Mercury article – Alan Lloyd to put it on the Notice Board. Duncan Thornton to put information on the Village Hall Website, and will put any sample letter supplied on the website.
Andy Chapel
Suggested that rather than have a whole meeting where everyone’s talking, have a focused group.
Shirley – keep Charlotte informed.
The Chairman thanked everyone for coming.