Taylor Wimpey have in recent weeks written to residents across the area advising them the plans for the development have been uploaded onto their website. Naturally people have logged on to view these, and Taylor Wimpey stress the housing has been confined to the Southern end of the site. There is, however, a serious discrepancy between the plans on the website that residents have been notified of, and the plans logged at EHDC. Full marks to Kim for spotting it.

The drawing on the left is from Taylor Wimpey’s website and shows the site stopping well short of Francis Road. The drawing on the right is what has actually been submitted to EHDC and shows the site stopping North of Francis Road. Here they are side by side so you can spot the difference.

It may very well be the case that you received Taylor Wimpey’s letter, viewed their website and decided that you could live with the revised plans. If so, the revised plans may come as a shock.

Frankly this stinks. The quality and competency of the entire consultation process for this development has been the poorest and least worth while of any I have experienced. For clarity, Here is a copy of the masterplan issued to EHDC as part of the planning application. THIS is the version that will be decided on by the planners and should be commented on. You can click on the link to enlarge it.

The White Dirt Farm plans have now been submitted to EHDC and are now registered as a formal application.

To view the full application click on This Link Here and then click on the tab for ‘Documents’

To view the Masterplan (Main Drawing) click on This Link Here.

To view give comments to the case officer click on This Link Here.

You might want to scroll down to the 30th July article about White Dirt Farm.

To help with feedback on the application, here is a list of ‘Material Planning Considerations’ – these are the types of issues the case officer and planning committee can consider when pulling together the report.

Well, we knew it was coming and East Hants has received a planning application from Taylor Wimpey for White Dirt Farm. The application files are currently being checked to verify the application is valid and can be properly consulted on. When this is complete, it will be ‘accepted’ and posted online, and I will post a link to the application so you can see all of the details.

In the meantime Taylor Wimpey have posted some brief information on their website so I am re-posting them here with a link to their website below to assist with seeking community views and explain the next steps. The image below is their current masterplan. Clicking on the picture will enlarge it in a separate window.

Initial reactions are that Taylor Wimpey have tried to down size to address landscape and gap concerns. These remain the reasons to object, along with the community view that Land East Of Horndean is the preferred location for building as shown in the housing consultation (LIPS). The cynics (myself included) would suggest that if successful, it would be a matter of time before the land to the northern end of the field were applied for.

The text on the Taylor Wimpey website again states that the site is an ‘Included’ site. White Dirt Farm is a SHLAA site which means it is on a register of sites the Council have been informed the land owner is willing to have developed, and can not be crossed off by significant reasons like ‘flood plane’ and ‘SINC’ etc. Other than this the site has no merit or elevated status in planning than any other piece of land in Horndean, and must stand on its own merits. The suggestion that a site is ‘Included’ will be very misleading and should not be taken to infer any other status.

The next steps.

East Hants have not seen these plans prior to their arrival in the post yesterday. They will take a few days to check the detail is sufficient to commence the planning process and register online. Once this is processed the application will be given a reference number, planning case officer and distributed to other organisations for their comments. This includes the Parish Council, County Council, EA, and about a dozen other organisations. We can also give comments back in this period to the case officer.

Over the consultation period, the case officers views and the comments of the consultees will be assembled and a report prepared which weighs these up, and makes a recommendation for approval or refusal. This then goes to the planning committee for them to decide. (Smaller applications are dealt with by the planning officers under delegated powers). The timescale for this process will be about 3 months so will take us to the end of October / early November. No decision is made prior to this.

The right time to give comments is when the plans have been uploaded onto the EHDC website (I will post a link on this blog) and the case officer has been appointed (I will put details here). Please also copy in Cllr Schillemore who is the ward Councillor and myself so we can track views and assemble feedback. Please remember, Cllr Schillemore sits on the planning committee and can not form a view of the application prior to the planning committee meeting or it will prejudice her vote on the committee. I on the other hand am not constrained, and (after careful consideration) remain firmly of the view the harm to the landscape and inadequate infrastructure makes this a poor choice of places to build, and we have better options in Horndean to deliver our housing need.

I will be organising a public meeting for residents of Downs Ward to attend and discuss the plans. This will give some structure on how to give your comments to the case officer, and importantly explain what ‘Material Considerations’ are – the issues the planners can and can not consider. This will help to make sure comments have as much weight as possible. This public meeting will be advertised in a newsletter which will go to everyone in the next few weeks, and will be in time for comments to be given to the planning officer. This will be a meeting where the WDF Action Group and Parish Councillor Carolyne Jacobs have confirmed they will participate so our efforts are fully coordinated, and will be organised shortly.

In the meantime click HERE to visit Taylor Wimpey’s website.

Earlier this year Taylor Wimpey held a consultation for their proposals at White Dirt Farm which generated overwhelming public concern. Today I received a letter advising that they have reviewed the feedback, and have taken the comments into account and are now working on revised proposals. They advise this will be for 135 homes (the consultation proposed 200 to 220) with the houses focused on the Southern end of the site.

Taylor Wimpey advise the plans will be submitted to EHDC ‘shortly’. Taylor Wimpey advertise a website address for the scheme as http://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/horndean if you wish to follow new information as it is posted.

Sadly, it seems they do not intend to consult in the correct Parish (despite assurances they would) and will not be holding a second consultation which, given the changes they appear to be considering would be appropriate.

When the application is received I will post a blog here with the details and how you can comment to the planners with relevant information, so please consider subscribing to email notifications for information like this, and all of the other activities (good and bad) that affect the Parish of Horndean.

This is an important posting to inform you of a consultation on Housing in Horndean, and how you can give your view.

Housing is going to be built at an increased rate in our community to cope with increased demand. For Horndean this means 1190 new homes between 2011 and 2028 (79 new homes or a 1.5% increase a year). It is essential that we ensure we get the right houses in the right places with the right facilities.

To achieve this we (the 5 District Councillors in Horndean) have asked the District Council to organise a consultation to get your views on where the residents of Horndean would prefer housing to be built, the type of community facilities we might ask of developers, and the areas we should work to protect.

This is also being supported by Horndean Parish Council who view this as the quickest and most effective way to help establish some of the safeguards a neighbourhood plan might achieve against building in the wrong places.

This consultation be held at Merchistoun Hall, 106 Portsmouth Road, Horndean on Friday 21st March from 2pm to 6pm and Saturday 22nd March from 10am to 2pm.

This consultation will explain why we need to build these new homes and where land is available to be built on (SHLAA Sites)

There are many things to be considered and your views are being sought to provide evidence for consideration at planning meetings about what the community’s views are.

Some of the questions we would like you to consider at the consultation are:

• Is it important that the villages of Lovedean, Horndean, Blendworth and Catherington retain their own separate identities and do not merge in together even more, or with adjacent communities to the North and South?

• How important to you is the semi rural feel of Horndean and do you wish to retain this by keeping our strategic gaps and landscape views?

• Are there areas where you think housing could be accommodated that would do least harm to the nature and feel of the Parish and its residents?

• Are there areas where you think housing would damage our Parish, its nature, its environment and landscape and what matters most to you and your family, which you therefore consider to be completely unsuitable?

• What sort of housing would be most satisfactory and how should it look?

• Is minimising increases in traffic through Horndean centre a major consideration when siting new developments?

Along with larger housing developments comes the opportunity to obtain from the developers not only contributions to roads, schools etc when these are necessary but also other facilities designed to suit the needs of the particular neighbourhood and the community at large. The scale of these will match the scale of developments and could therefore be quite significant.

We are therefore also particularly interested to hear your thoughts on the desirability of such things as Allotments, A Gym, Ball Games Courts, Football pitches, A cricket pitch, A sports pavilion, A community building, Children’s play areas and so on.

The consultation will be run by officers from East Hants District Council but District Councillors also will be on hand to explain and answer any questions you may have.

We very much hope you will be able to come along to this consultation and contribute to the ideas about how our community should develop over the next fifteen years and beyond.

So you can give this some thought in the mean time, please find below a copy of the current SHLAA Sites in Horndean.

Please let your friends and neighbours know.

Yours Sincerely,

Cllr Sara Schillemore Catherington and Lovedean Ward
Cllr Dorothy Denston Hazleton and Blendworth Ward
Cllr Lynn Evans Murray Ward
Cllr David Evans Kings Ward
Cllr Guy Shepherd Downs Ward

Taylor Wimpey held their consultation into the White Dirt Farm proposal today at Clanfield Memorial Hall. Please find below some notes on the consultation, and the next steps.

Consultation:
A total of 627 visitors (Taylor Wimpey count at the door) came to the consultation and the feedback is that the community view is overwhelmingly against the development of the land. The community turnout was very high, so thank you for getting there if you could, and read on to find out how to comment if you could not. It is important to get as many views as possible so that the level of opposition is clear.

Horndean or Clanfield:
Taylor Wimpey have been approached by several people and Councillors and advised that the land is in Horndean, not Clanfield. It is important that the correct Parish is engaged as the Councillors there will have views on the community need, local issues and be able to engage properly. Taylor Wimpey are going to hold a Horndean consultation to make sure the consultations reflect this. Please keep an eye here to see when this will be. At this point I believe it will be the same information presented in a different area, but if Taylor Wimpey advise me otherwise I will let you know.

“It’s a Done Deal”:
A number of people said they left the consultation getting the impression that there has already been a level of discussion with East Hants District Council. Visitors attending advised fellow Councillors and members of the WDF Action Group that they had understood the plans had been agreed, and as a result felt that there might be little point consulting on something that was already discussed and approved. This has been fed back to the planning team at East Hants who, along with the Councillors are very unhappy with this perception as it is totally incorrect. Taylor Wimpey’s consultation letter described “advanced plans” and “Through discussions with EHDC”. I can categorically confirm the following:

* There have been no meetings between Taylor Wimpey and East Hants District Council about this development. Taylor Wimpey have written to ask for a pre application meeting and this will be held on the 19th or 21st March, date still TBA.
* The plans we have seen would not be described as “At an advanced stage”. Indeed, anything but.
* For those who had understood the land was already in the ownership of the council and development was going to go ahead, nothing could be further from the truth. The land remains firmly in the ownership of the farm, and Taylor Wimpey have an ‘option’ to buy this depending on the outcome of planning.
* “The Town Planner on the next stand will tell you…” A number of people were directed towards a member of the presentation team described as The Town Planner, and asked us why a representative of East Hants planning team was supporting the scheme. What was the point in commenting if East Hants were participating in the presentation? There was no-one from East Hants presenting for Taylor Wimpey at the consultation, and this was the first time representatives from East Hants had been given the chance to view the consultation information. The ‘Town Planner’ is a job title and a representative of Taylor Wimpey at the presentation.

If you had any discussions at the consultation with the presenters that left you feeling the plans had already been agreed, that it was a done deal, or that there was little point giving your views as the development was simply going to go ahead then please email me on guy.shepherd@easthants.gov.uk providing as much detail as possible and this will be taken up with Taylor Wimpey.

In the meantime there is every reason to give your feedback and please email this to them on the contact addresses at the end of this posting.

Next Steps:

At the consultation I met with Lynn McIver and raised the issues above. I also discussed the Gap Land, Landscape Value, East Hants’ very clearly stated position on the land. I also informed Lynn we were looking to hold a consultation to form an allocation plan, and East Hants were only interested in building ‘The Right Houses in The Right Place with The Right Facilities’. White Dirt Farm was most definitely the last SHLAA site on the list we felt was suitable to build on, and there was extensive detail stating this in formal EHDC Landscape assessments. Expect the consultation to show that this land will not be supported. I also explained that we were due to see emerging plans for a large scheme that could provide our aspirations on a site which does not damage our landscape and join our villages. Taylor Wimpey have spent a relatively small sum taking the plans to this point and they should stop now before taking plans to a point where they spend a lot of money on a site which is most unlikely to be approved. Essentially, as a business they should invest their money elsewhere.

March – Taylor Wimpey will be looking to hold a further consultation in Horndean.

March – Not Taylor Wimpey related, but significant to opposing this consultation and important that everyone in Horndean participates. EHDC are holding a public consultation on the available site to build on, and your views are essential. The developer looking at Hazleton Farm is also hoping to apply for their EIA Screening application, and hold the first consultations with the Parish Council. Wider public consultations will follow in April.

April – There will probably be a ‘Interested Parties Meeting’ at a local hall which will be organised jointly by myself and the WDF Development Action Group. This will aim to raise the understanding of the planning process, what Material Considerations are, and how to give high quality objections to an application.

May – Taylor Wimpey anticipate a planning application late in May, although this may slip back based on feedback from the consultation.

August – A May application would be decided at a planning committee 13 weeks later at the end of August.

Viewing the consultation and giving comments online:
Taylor Wimpey have kindly given permission for me to repost the consultation document here. to view the plans please click on this link: White Dirt Farm TW Consultation 2014-03-07

To give your feedback please email Taylor Wimpey on clanfieldconsultation@webbpr.net but please also copy in Cllr Schillemore and myself and we will pass all feedback to the case officer too. sara.schillemore@easthants.gov.uk and guy.shepherd@easthants.gov.uk

Please note that Cllr Schillemore sits on the planning committee and can not speak publicly about the application and give her views. It would be like a magistrate deciding a case before hearing the evidence, and this would prejudice her seat on the planning committee. She can however listen to any views given to her so please keep emailing these in.

It is also important to credit the invaluable input of Cllr Carolyne Jacobs, Andy Stevens and the 22 volunteer deliverers who have worked hard to keep the local community informed and I am sure there will be more leaflets to be delivered with updates.

Click here for the report in The News http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/business/local-business/anger-as-plans-for-220-homes-are-revealed-1-5922920

Taylor Wimpey have announced a public consultation for their White Dirt Farm proposals. It is important that you visit this to see their proposals and comment on them.

What to do next:
• Taylor Wimpey are holding a public consultation at Clanfield Memorial Hall on Friday 7th March from 2pm to 7:30pm. Please visit this consultation to see their proposals, and to comment. Please can you also return to this article and comment on the plans you are shown so that your comments are publicly visible and not just seen by Taylor Wimpey.
• Please consider subscribing to email alerts on this website (right hand side in the bottom boxes). You will get updates whenever they are posted (as well as information on all the other great things going on in and around Horndean.)
• Please be ready to comment to the planners when an application is presented. This may take 6 months for Taylor Wimpey to gather all the supporting information and reports they need to make an application, and you can keep on top of any further consultations here.

As a reminder, the land is in important gap land as identified in the local plan and the Joint Core Strategy (the current and newly emerging framework for how development is to be planned in). The farm is an important landscape in our community and to build on any part of it will cause irreversible and permanent damage to the semi rural feel the villages have. There are better places to build, and this is not considered to be remotely suitable.

Photo by kind courtesy of Andy Stevens who overlooks White Dirt Farm from hos Facebook page which has been set up to express his views on development of the site: https://www.facebook.com/groups/828674133826132/

Thank you to everyone who has visited the website in the last 7 days, this has generated over 9,000 hits from 98 countries and a poll with over 750 votes. If you have not yet voted please scroll down to the article below.

It was only a matter of time before the owners of White Dirt Farm were approached by a developer, and this has now happened. The sightings prior to Christmas of surveyors on the land were an early warning and Taylor Wimpey UK has broken cover as the interested developer.

Needless to say I am totally opposed to any development on White Dirt Farm as it is important gap land, and to do so would be of serious detriment to the landscape and area. There are far better areas to build on such as Hazleton Farm where a large scheme with structured facilities could make a significant contribution to Horndean. This is not the right location for any housing or development at all, and I will work hard to oppose this.

The land is in the Catherington & Lovedean ward and Councillor Sara Schillemore is the Ward Councillor. Sara is a long established District Councillor and her views on the use of this land are very well known, but as a sitting member of the Planning Committee Cllr Schillemore will not now be able to express any views about the possibility of development as it may prejudice her position. She is however very interested to hear your written views to make sure they are taken into consideration. Please email Sara on Sara.Schillemore@easthants.gov.uk

This posting covers a number of items as follows:

What are Taylor Wimpey proposing?

The scheme they are considering is for 185 to 220 homes and the planning details can be found on the EHDC Planning Portal on this link HERE. There are currently 4 documents filed and the most important one is this site plan:

The plans are at a very early stage, and Taylor Wimpey have submitted an application to establish if an EIA is required. (Environmental Impact Assessment)

What is an EIA?

The aim of Environmental Impact Assessment is to protect the environment by ensuring that a local planning authority when deciding whether to grant planning permission for a project, which is likely to have significant effects on the environment, does so in the full knowledge of the likely significant effects, and takes this into account in the decision making process. The planning application is a request for a screening opinion and the outcome of the application will be to determine whether an EIA is required or not. There are criteria to establish if this is necessary, but this process if required does not give the opportunity to reject any application at an early stage.

What are the next steps?

There will be some ‘pre application’ meetings and the aim will be to persuade the developer that there are other more suitable places to build that will even get community support, and that this is not one of them.

If the developer decides to proceed to a full application then this will take several months, and this is just the start of a long process. It will involve consultation meetings and opportunities to give clear opinions to the developer. My role in this will be to:

How to be kept informed

I will post any updates on this blog and if you click on the link to receive notifications then every time I post an article you will be sent an email when a post is uploaded. This will also copy you into the other exciting articles this blog reports on! Please email this web page to neighbours in the area so they can also be kept up to date with this too.

I have added “WDF Development” in the categories tab so that you can filter out any articles relevant to this alone.

It is likely that there will be some additional newsletters dedicated to this, and some leaflet dropping to make sure people know about the consultations the Developer is holding. These are not always very well promoted and it is important that as many people comment and give their views as possible. There are 1,050 homes in Downs Ward and currently there are 4 very kind people who help to deliver leaflets. If 5 or 6 people could offer to help deliver too then this would make keeping people who are not online informed a much easier task. If you would be happy to deliver 100 to 140 leaflets or newsletters at the right time then please can you let me know on guy.shepherd@easthants.gov.uk

What If…

If Taylor Wimpey are successful with their application then this would bring in Developers Contributions worth £11,000 per home, or about £2,000,000 in total to be spent on improvements in our community. This would include money for schools, healthcare, roads, and better facilities generally. Some of this would be spent by Horndean Parish Council. It is important to consider what we might at least get in return for the housing, and as an example the green lane development will bring in a leisure facility which we will also be entitled to use. It would also bring in 40% affordable housing which is actually a need that we do have for our young people who are looking to buy first time homes. If the application turns out to be successful then we must make sure we get the best facilities we can out of it.

Hopefully this gives a useful briefing on the application, and what the next steps will be. Please can you participate in the poll below and please feel free to comment on this post to give your views on the application, if it should proceed, and maybe what community facilities we should ask for if it must go ahead.

Guy.

Over the last few days surveyors have been seen on and around White Dirt farm. I have had several calls and emails to let me know, and asking questions, so I have put some of these here:

“Why would surveyors be out on the farm land?” There are very few reasons why this might occur and the concern is that it could be in preparation for a planning application.

“Has a planning application been put in for White Dirt Farm?” – No. no application has been received.

“Do East Hants know of any proposals to submit one?” Neither I, nor the Ward Councillor (Councillor Sara Schillemore whose ward it is in) know of any plans, and we are both following this up with the planning team at EHDC so see if they have heard of anything.

“Planning has already been approved and it is a done deal” Absolutely not. It is just not possible for any planning application to be considered and approved without bring notified and consulted on.

“The site can not be built on”. The land is in a “Designated Local Gap” which means that the current and past District Councillors and planning staff at EHDC have decided that it should not be built on to make sure that adjacent villages do not merge together. White Dirt Farm is important gap land between Horndean, Clanfield and Cowplain. The Local Plan and Joint Core Strategy (which will be adopted in March 2014) contain local policies to protect designated local gaps. These prevent the land from being developed provided 1) there are other better locations to build on, and 2) the rate of new house building is meeting the current requirements (known as the 5 year plan) We absolutely have better places to build on (see earlier articles on housing to read more about Hazleton Farm) but our new build progress which varies may not currently be fast enough with the new and significantly larger housing numbers we are required to deliver.

“Was Green Lane in gap land?” Green Lane was not a designated gap so we have more protection and environmental reasons to oppose development here.

“What is your view?” I am on record as being totally against any development on White Dirt Farm and will strongly oppose any application.

“Can an application be stopped before it is submitted?” No. Anyone is free to submit a planning application at any time for any land. There are however much better sites to develop with a far better prospect of success than this site which will receive fierce resistance if an application turns up. It does, however, create concern and anxiety in the meantime.

“Could bulldozers turn up tomorrow?” No. The planning process for a large site is lengthy and involves consultation and extensive survey. Any serious application for a site this large will cost between £50,000 and £100,000 to prepare for and to submit.

“Is there a risk the farm could be developed?” We have done everything we can to protect the land but yes, there is unless we can demonstrate we are building enough housing elsewhere, or the proposals are not Sustainable as defined by the NPPF (See Below). Again, there are much better and lower risk sites for the developers to select.

Further Reading: Planning is governed by The NPPF – National Planning Policy Framework and the link for this policy is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdf

I will put updates on here when I receive any hard facts.

Guy.