Lightwood, represented by Christopher Boyle QC, attended the Examination of the Braintree, Colchester and Tendring Local Plans to challenge the soundness of the proposed shared spatial strategy for North Essex and its evidence base.
Whilst already subject to a number of soundness and legal compliance issues, the local authorities failed in their duty to submit the representations made by Lightwood to the Regulation 19 Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate. As a result Lightwood was not invited to the Examination and was only able to attend the second week.
Consequently there will be a re-running of the Matter 1 hearing session to enable the Inspector to hear Lightwood’s evidence. However the question as to whether this ‘cures’ the failings of Braintree District Council to comply with the Duty to Co-operate, the requirements of the Sustainability Appraisal and the legislative requirements in the preparation and submission of the Section 1 Plan remains.
Lightwood’s entire land interest at Murrell Green has been included in the ‘area of search’ for a new settlement in Hart’s Submission Local Plan which goes out to publication consultation on 9th February 2018 for a six week period.
Hart DC recognise that the risk of not planning now for a longer term approach is there will be a gap in housing supply making the Council vulnerable to future planning applications as well as limiting the ability to plan for longer term larger infrastructure needs.
Whilst a change from that presented in the draft Local Plan, the amended strategy will allow Hart DC time to undertake further work in respect of a longer-term strategy for meeting future housing needs, including full and proper consideration of the location of a new settlement and its broader implications.
The new settlement proposal will then be taken forward through a stand-alone Development Plan Document (DPD) which would be started on adoption of the Local Plan: Strategy and Sites.
Despite being located in a Conservation Area, the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and within the Green Belt, Lightwood has secured an officer delegated planning permission for a large detached family home in Compton, Guildford.
The enviable position in the centre of this charming village, is well positioned for Guildford and Godalming, is close to the A3 to London and the south coast and is only 45 minutes to London on the train from Farncombe.
The Planning Inspectorate has allowed the appeal by Lightwood against the decision of Elmbridge Borough Council Planning Committee to refuse an application for a two storey office building on an underutilised brownfield site in Thames Ditton.
Despite gaining the support of the planning officer and going to committee with a recommendation to approve, it was unanimously refused on the basis that it would fail to enhance the street scene and would result in a form of development out of keeping with and detrimental to the character and appearance of the area.
The subservient and considered proposal was recognised by the Inspector as being “sympathetic to the local area… and would add positive visual interest”.
Lightwood has now secured a resolution to grant outline planning permission on land at Staplegrove Farm in Taunton. Whilst the land was not originally included in the urban extension North of Taunton, through working with Taunton Deane officers and informing the masterplan process, it was allocated as part of the wider North Taunton Urban Extension (NTUE) through Taunton Deane Site Allocations and Development Management Plan.
The NTUE consists of 1628 houses of which 15% are affordable homes and includes a primary school, 2 hectares of employment land, a local centre and the delivery of a spine road all set in a scheme that has been landscape and ecologically led from the outset. The scheme will not only deliver much needed housing among vast green open spaces but also improve the habitats for the European Protected Species that are on site which include the Lesser Horseshoe Bat, Dormice and Great Crested Newts.
Lightwood has submitted applications for 158 units across 2 sites on the edge of settlement at Stalbridge. The sites comprise a total of approximately 22.4 acres and the application seek to enhance and integrate with the existing pattern of development and make provision for a generous amount of open space (11.2 acres) for use by the public and local community.
Lightwood had until recently been promoting both sites under the local plan review, liaising with the District and Town Councils. However, the progression of a speculative large-scale residential scheme to application stage in Stalbridge has required the progression to application to be advanced.
Today Hart Draft Local Plan 2011 – 2032 has been released for consultation between 26 April until 5pm on June 9th.
We are pleased that Murrell Green has been chosen as the location for a New Settlement in Hart.
Lightwood were aware that a New Settlement had been promoted in a village known as Winchfield by a housebuilder for a number of years. The proposed scheme had received considerable local opposition due to the effect it would have on landscape , listed buildings and a Special Site of Scientific Interest.
Lightwood decided to carry out an area wide Landscape Visual Impact Appraisal to find out if any locations in the area would have less visual impact with better local transport connections. Murrell Green was the result.
The New Settlement at Murrell Green is located between Hook and Hartley Wintney with access provided South of the A30. There will be green open spaces either side of the new settlement to stop coalescence, linking in with Bassett’s Mead Country Park to the West. There is already a number of public paths throughout the location linking the green areas and on to Winchfield train station.
Over the last few years secondary school provision in Hart has been under pressure. Secondary schools have been extended with further extensions planned in the near future. There is now limited areas for secondary school growth. As part of the criteria for the New Settlement we looked at the provision of a site for a new secondary school. Due to the central location and local accessibility Murrell Green is the right location. A primary school and early years provision will also be included.
Lightwood look forward to working with the community in the future moulding the New Settlement.
Earlier today the government announced new plans to develop a garden village on land to the east of Cullompton in Devon. Culm Garden Village is being developed by Lightwood on behalf of the landowners and is the result of close consultation with Mid Devon District Council, the local council and the Cullompton community.
Lightwood Director, James Turner said, ‘Culm Garden Village presents a locally led, feasible and deliverable garden village. We have worked with all the key stakeholders to create an opportunity to deliver much needed road infrastructure along with homes and jobs. Lightwood will continue to work with Mid Devon District Council and the local community to design a place that reflects the location and needs of the people of Cullompton and wider communities’
Culm Garden Village will be located to the east of Junction 28 off the M5 which offers excellent transport links and is within commuting distance of Taunton and Exeter.With support from local Cullompton residents, the proposal includes the reopening of Cullompton railway station just 1 mile away and assists in the delivery of the new Devon Metro service running from Wellington to Exeter.
The location in Mid Devon is a prime growth area and will deliver 2,100 homes by 2033, rising to 2,600 as the village matures. The village will include starter homes, affordable housing, schools, shops, commercial space and a significant area of open space along with a sports hub.
Councillor Richard Chesterton, Mid Devon Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration said ‘This is good news for Cullompton. Mid Devon District Council’s proposal for a garden village recognises the ambition within the community to improve the local environment and will allow comprehensive planning for quality new homes whilst also helping to address some of the most challenging environmental issues in the Cullompton area. The District Council looks forward to working with Lightwood and the local community over this exciting project’.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark, has decided to grant planning permission for 280 units in Haddenham Glebe, following the High Court’s landmark ruling to quash a neighbourhood housing plan.
Mr Clark’s predecessor Sir Eric Pickles called Lightwood’s application in shortly after Aylesbury Vale District Council’s (AVDC) decision to grant planning, citing that he wished to review the application’s consistency with the Council’s development plan and the Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan, which had only been submitted – in draft form – 24 hours before the planning application was approved by the local authority.
Very serious concerns about the viability of the Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan were brought to light at the Public Inquiry into Lightwood’s application in November 2015, which led to Lightwood seeking to challenge it in the High Court. In the week before the case was due to be considered, AVDC and Haddenham Parish Council withdrew their defence, leading to the landmark decision by the High Court to quash the Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan’s housing policies – the first decision of its kind in the country.
In addition to providing 280 new homes, and helping to meet the District’s requirement for 1,000 new homes in Haddenham over the next four years, Lightwood’s Haddenham Glebe application provides 35% affordable homes (in excess of the policy requirement of 30%), with priority given to local families, 35 retirement properties and a range of community benefits, including nearly 11 hectares of open space, funding for bus services and a much-needed new burial ground.
Philip Chichester MRTPI, of Lightwood Strategic, said:
“We believe that Neighbourhood Plans can be very successful as long as the checks and balances are properly adjudicated, otherwise poorly managed or manipulated neighbourhood plans will soon ruin the reputation and concept of Neighbourhood Planning in its entirety”.
