At a recent meeting, the Parish Council have approved the New Forest District Council Local Plan (Part 2) objective to place 30 homes on the Green Belt site at School Lane (MoS1).
Some time ago a number of objections had been raised against the MoS1 Plan, and a Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group had been formed. We understand that their recommendations were not satisactory for a number of reasons, and therefore not accepted at the meeting.
The Parish Council have provided a full statement to explain the situation and their resulting decision as below:
STATEMENT
SITE SELECTION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND
FORMAL PUBLIC OPEN SPACE
17th June 2013
“This was a very difficult decision. Our original and long standing preference was for small clusters of units. However despite our best efforts only a limited number of sites were offered by landowners.
The Parish Council decided that none of the options for allocating the units between the sites available was satisfactory. The Parish Council therefore instead decided to accept the proposal from NFDC to develop the site at School Lane. We recognise that some residents are disappointed, but decisions of this kind are inevitably controversial.
The Inspector at the current Public Inquiry has now made it clear in the following statement that any development at School Lane must deliver important new public facilities:-
MOS1: Land north of School Lane
Land north of School Lane is allocated for residential development specifically to provide for local housing needs in accordance with Policies CS12 and CS15(b) of the Core Strategy, and for public open space. 70% of the dwellings provided will be affordable housing. The site will be developed in accordance with the following site-specific criteria:
- provision of a maximum of 30 dwellings on the southern part of the site (on the land within the defined built-up area)
- on site provision of public open space in accordance with Policy CS7, including the provision of play space for children within the residential development
- a minimum of 2 hectares of formal public open space (playing fields) in the northern part of the site (east of the Milford Primary School)
- provision of suitable land for a minimum of 5 full size allotment plots within the site
- provision of vehicular access from Lymington Road at the southern end of the site (diverting School Lane at its western end through the site, with the existing route of School Lane being retained as a pedestrian and cycle route and for access only to existing properties in School Lane and Lymefields)
- provision of off-road cycleway along the site frontage with Lymington Road with links through to public open space provided on the site
- pedestrian access to the site from Lymington Road and School Lane
- provision of a safe pick-up and drop-off area for Milford Primary School
- provision of car parking sufficient to serve the playing fields and available for dual use with the school
- significant landscaping to integrate the different elements within the site and with adjoining features and to create an appropriate transition from built development across the playing fields to the wider countryside beyond.
Planning permission will not be granted for any built development until a comprehensive plan has been prepared showing how all the required elements can be satisfactorily accommodated and integrated within the site and any phasing for the provision of the different elements.
Built development shall not commence until arrangements are in place to ensure that the land for playing fields would be made available for that use in accordance with the planned phasing of the development or other clear timetable.
The Parish Council will be fully involved in the proposed development to ensure we win the best possible result for Milford-on-Sea”.
Cllr Julian Davis
Chairman
Milford-on-Sea Parish Council
The decision by Milford Parish Council to abandon the Neighbourhood Plan, a piece of work that has been supported by the New Forest District Council, is appalling. Those of us who made our many considered objections against the plans for MoS1 to the inspector are devastated that the Parish Council has not taken into account those hundreds of objections made by local residents to the development of 30 houses on the school site and has negated all of the work done by the steering group which was formed at the request of the Parish Council, and followed a suggestion by the District Council, to produce a Neighbourhood Plan. This work was carried out totally in line with the remit that the Parish Council had asked the group to work with - ie to suggest sites for clusters of affordable homes situated around the village.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to have been, at the Parish Council meeting, no effort made to save the Council’s Neighbourhood Plan by making amendments to or varying the recommended sites before dismissing it entirely and accepting 30 houses on MOS1.
The Parish Council had also promised residents an opportunity on 21st and 22nd June to give their opinion on the sites selected by the steering group of the Neighbourhood Plan or to opt for MOS1 but this chance has been taken away from the residents. The opportunity to vote properly on the Neighbourhood Plan at a village referendum has also been denied to Milford residents.
The Parish Vision Action Plan showed the Parish Council would only fully support the development of small clusters of housing on green belt land which was presented and agreed by the residents. The Village Design Statement 2002 which was adopted by New Forest District Council clearly states that their aim is ‘conserving and enhancing the environment’ and ‘to protect the character and appearance of the countryside for its own sake’. This is a second publication that appears to be fit for the bin.
The decision made by the Parish Council means that Milford residents have lost the opportunity to be influential in a major development for the village. The enormous amount of work undertaken by the steering group to put together the neighbourhood plan has been dismissed by the very body that set it up in the first place with, we suggest, very little consideration for the expertise and knowledge that has gone into its production. Our faith in the parish council’s effectiveness has been totally crushed.
My faith in the parish council has been repeatedly crushed as they have refused every planning application I have made in the last 10 years.
ReplyDeleteI was born in Milford and have lived here all my life, yet outsiders get themselves elected and then dismiss plans on a whim - or to protect their views (and the law states cleraly that nobody has the right to a personal view). Some even "forget" to state an interest when they stand up in a meeting and slate a planning application.
When they are caught out and held to account, they donate a derisory amount to a local charity as compensation!
Such people should be ousted from their positions - especially as taxpayers such as myself pay their often outrageous expenses and fees.
Is there one rule for some councillors and one for the rest of the population?