30/10/2011 Pro Vision & Persimmon - north of Brislands Lane application update

Two amendment plans and one covering letter were added to the EHDC application on 18th October 2011, showing the total's reduction of one unit to 110, affordable units up to 40%, and the move of proposed footpaths to avoid damage to the community soccer pitch. Also we noted the removal of some car ports, additional trees & landscaping, plus a 3m buffer for Wisteria and re-siting of units adjacent to #5 Timbercroft.

F4FM regard the above revisions as only minor & cosmetic. More important issues are being discussed with statutory consultees still - highways, environment, etc. F4FM feels that none of the major objections have as yet been satisfactorily addressed, and we continue to object to this badly timed and inappropriate application, urging for it to be refused.

There has been significant community anger & annoyance at the Brislands Lane construction traffic proposal, but we note this is not been included as part of the current application. Apparently it was only provided as information a the community exhibition. Local residents should contact both Tony Whitty at EHDC and Sophie Champion at HCC Highways who are involved in a pre-application consultation with Pro Vision / Persimmon about Brislands Lane. As & when it is included in a revised or new application, we will encourage formal objections too at that stage. We regard this as a totally impractical, dangerous, diversionary and cynical access suggestion.

F4FM will continue to monitor Pro Vision / Persimmons progress with EHDC / HCC and the lobbying activities of their agents Nex Communications with interest.

New EHDC Planning software - click here for this application

ANY NEW OR UPDATED OBJECTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO EHDC BY 4th NOVEMBER 2011

Pro Vision & Persimmon - north of Brislands Lane site Consultation Meeting

New EHDC Planning software - click here for this application

NEW OBJECTIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO EHDC BY 4th NOVEMBER AFTER THE EXHIBITION ON WEDNESDAY 5th OCTOBER

Jeremy Higgins of Pro Vision has kindly sent digital copies of the boards used at the Community Consultation.

Introduction Issues Raised & Responses Local Facilities & Services

Construction Access Proposals Plan Construction Access Proposals

2011 consultation Plan 110 units 110 units Affordable Homes

Submitted Plan 111 units 111 units Affordable Homes

2010 consultation Plan 2010 130 units 130 units Affordable Homes

We are preparing a F4FM statement regarding the Consultation meeting, which we found disappointing, and highly concerning regarding the new proposal to use Brislands Lane for construction traffic.

Fight4FourMarks, based on our exit poll feedback from the attendees, reflects unanimous village community views, and remains totally opposed to this current application in its timing and much of its content.

Pro Vision & Persimmon - north of Brislands Lane site Consultation

A room at the Village Hall has been booked for 14:00 to 20:00 Wednesday 5th October 2011 for a community consultation exercise by the applicant, their planning advisers Pro Vision and their 'community consultation' experts Nex Communications. Hopefully this will result in more than the "tick box" PR exercise produced after the July 2010 exhibition and called the Statement of Community Involvement in their application.

Pro Vision's letter says the exhibition will cover their application 52501/001 for 111 dwellings eventually made valid on 16th August 2011, and the revised proposals that we can comment upon. Hopefully this means more than just going over the plans submitted in August 2011, which we all reviewed and objected-to by mid September ! We need to hear how the applicant intends to address the numerous errors, omissions and non-compliances already noted by EHDC Planning Officers, numerous statutory consultees and ourselves in their August application.

Fight4FourMarks, based on continuous feedback from our village community, remain totally opposed to this current application both in its content & timing.

News Headline - 15th September 2011

Following a telephone call and emails by Fight4FourMarks to the Managing Director of Persimmons Homes, he delegated to Paul Bedford (Senior Land and Planning Manager) to sent the following second reply after their response last week that they had already consulted with the community :

"Thank you for your second e-mail. As I said we constantly review our consultations and after discussions with East Hampshire Planners have decided to hold a second consultation event. Letters have been sent to the Parish Council etc today confirming this. It is hoped to hold the consultation the week beginning 3^rd of October. The consultation will explain the differences between the submitted scheme and that shown at last years event."

Letter from ProVision planning consultancy

F4FM will advise the exact date and time plus venue when informed by Persimmons.

BRISLANDS LANE OBJECTIONS - NOW CLOSED

We await notification of EHDC North Planning agenda for 20th October 2011

at 18:30 Amery Hill School

The Parish Council Planning Meeting SAID NO - WE REJECT IT

Persimmon application for Land north of Brislands Lane on 7th September 2001 at the Village Hall

OUR OPEN QUESTION TO OUR MP, COUNCILLORS, & DEVELOPERS - can you please define what sustainability means ?

National Planning Policy Framework - in public consultation will it make the planning system less complex & more accessible, promoting sustainable growth ?

NPPF demands councils support "sustainable development", but that is defined, first and foremost, as sustaining the economy

Newsnight 01/09/2011 - see Greg Clark MP squirm re Planning with Paxo

Public Letter from Royal Town Planning Institute 02/09/2011

National planning policy framework - news page

The Coalition is trying to railroad its national planning policy framework in

The Government’s draft planning policy sides with developers

Housing Numbers - is it planning barriers or developers' land banks to blame ?

Localism Bill - will it will shift power from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils ?

more Four MarksBBC South Today screen pictures

Four Marks Residents' Meeting

Thank you Four Marks - what an amazing turn out, with standing room only !

Controlled, objective points made by so many local residents.

A very clear mandate for us all to move forward in getting this inappropriate poorly prepared application refused by EHDC Councillors.

Fight4FourMarksPresentation OUTLINE Site Plan

Click Here to go to Main Site Template Objection Letter

Tuesday 30th August

Brislands Lane Objections : Template Objection Letter

Thursday 18th August 2011

Application Documents loaded to EHDC Planning Web Site click here

Wednesday 17th August 2011 - site north of Brislands Lane

Persimmon's cynically timed application is now live on EDHC's planning web site for 111 dwellings (but no detailed documents yet !). Four Marks has not had a proper Community Consultation, and we will be raising this with both EDHC & the Parish Council.

The application is not on the agenda for this evening's Parish Council meeting, so is unlikely to be discussed formally until early September by them, with a pre-meeting public speaking opportunity.

We will vigorously object to this application on numerous planning regulation & policy grounds, and urge everyone in the Four Marks Community to do likewise.

Please send us your views and objections to (or approval for) this application at fight4fourmarks@yahoo.co.uk. Also we need you to volunteer to help distribute leaflets, co-ordinate information around your immediate neighbours and assist with raising objection letters.

Pro Vision Letter Pro Vision Brochure

Communities and Local Government Web Site

New simpler Planning Guidance proposals for sustainable growth

Summary

Garden Grabbing concerns raised by new figures (05/08/10)

Fight4FourMarks four year battle to object to in-appropriate windfall sites development has been supported by government statistics, and the recent changes to PPS3 Planning Policies.

New figures have laid bare concerns over the dramatic increase in the number of 'gardens grabbed' for development in the last 12 years. Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark said the statistics show the Government was right to take immediate action to prevent unwanted garden grabbing by changing the planning rules.

The percentage of new homes built on previously residential land - which includes back gardens - has increased to 25 per cent, up 14 percentage points since 1997, when only one in ten homes was built on similar land. In the South East the average rise was from 16% to 32%, but in EHDC it has almost doubled to 48% (for the full national analysis by local authority click here).

Last month, Greg Clark changed the planning rules (PPS3) to give councils new powers to prevent unwanted garden grabbing by taking gardens out of the brownfield category that includes derelict factories and disused railway sidings. EHDC, like many councils, has been left frustrated at the increasing amount of inappropriate development on gardens which they have been unable to prevent. Taking gardens out of the brownfield category can dramatically transform councils' ability to prevent unwanted development on gardens where local people object and protect the character of their neighbourhoods.

Allocated RESERVE SITE North of Brislands Lane (31/07/10)

The public exhibition on Friday 23rd July was a big disappointment lacking in any real details, with only poor quality draft site plans available. The few glossy information sheets had in some cases incorrect information on them (a commuter station in FM !). The proposed 130 dwellings on the 4.35 hectare site is far too high - EHDC stated 90 dwellings in the Development Brief, and with PPS3's 30 dph density required removed recently by the Government, this proposal is a gross over-development. We await a formal application and some real details to look at. There was no drainage report (or consultant in attendance), and also no highways report to look at; consultants from Persimmon's agents were unable to offer any real information and the Persimmon Homes' representative left early before many local residents were home from work and able to get to the Village Hall. It was hardly a successful or wide public consultation and this will be recorded with EHDC Planning Officers, the District Councillor and Parish Council.

Some specific issues are :

* far too limited public open spaces;

* the affordable housing % shown on the map was 49 out of 130 - hardly 40%;

* the primary vehicle access is too narrow and is a disaster just waiting to happen (as per Treloar Heights house fires);

* there was no drainage survey to see (neither sewage or run-off surface water)

* highways access into and through the Barratt baseline site and ultimately to the A31 will be a nightmare scenario in reality (whatever academic theoretical report the Highways consultant and HCC may come up with - as has been proved time again the reality is very different).

* the Sustainabilty presentation sheet claimed residents would be able to access local facilities and services (some limited services as we all know) and employment opportunities without having to rely on a car (ha ha - there are very limited employment opportunities in Four Marks itself and the vast majority of the population commutes and shops by car to Alton, Winchester, Guilford, Reading, Southampton/Portsmouth and London (by train via Alton station).

* the Sustainabilty sheet showed a number of bus routes (currently we have the 64/X64 which was shortened to Alton-Winchester only) and which has start / end times that make it useless for Alton train commuters.

* perhaps the most amusing sustainability claim was that the Four Marks & Medstead Train Station offers connections to London-Southampton. Any such commuter connections ended in the 1950s and the station only services a tourist attraction steam railway called the Watercress Line, which is not a commuter railway to either city (just between Alton to Alresford at weekends and off peak times in the summer). Very poor research indeed by the Planning Consultants.

EHDC launch NEW COMMUNITY PLANNING WEB SITE & FACEBOOK PAGE

PlanningResource Comm & Local Govt RTPI Planning Aid

15/07/2010	Greg Clark dispatches unnecessary building targets	click here
24/06/2010	The future of local planning	click here
09/06/2010	'Garden grabbing' to be curbed	click here
09/06/2010	‘Garden Grabbing’ NFU Mutual	click here
09/06/2010	Stopping Garden Grabbing & Housing Crisis	click here
09/06/2010	Move to end 'garden-grabbing' house building	click here
17/06/2010	‘Garden grabbing’ powers welcome	click here
08/06/2010	Good Practice Advice on Pre-Application Discussions	click here

June 2010 changes to PPS3 Garden Grabbing policies here

Monday 19th July 2010

NEW DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY IN FOUR MARKS

It has been a quiet year or so, but we are seeing increased activity in our village from potential site developers. An immediate event is regarding the North of Brislands Lane allocated (reserve) site.

Persimmon Homes are holding a pre-application public exhibition at Four Marks Village Hall on Friday 23rd July 2010 between 2pm & 8pm. Do go along to let them and their various consultants know what you think (objectively & unemotionally) about their plans.

Click here to see the F4FM formal invitation from Julian Higgins of Pro Vision Planning Consultants

EHDC Development Brief Reserve Site Map

From 2009 : Reserve Site, North of Brislands Lane

Local Plan Approved Reserve Site, North of Brislands Lane

As this is a Reserve Site in the adopted EHDC Local Plan, we have little choice about development taking place at some time in the future ONCE A NEED IS SHOWN - so unfortunately we cannot object to it as an overall plan, only the details.

This is only in a very early pre-Planning Stage. Although there may have been pre- application discussions (developers in consultation with EHDC, which is normal practice), there is no actual planning application made so far.

An EHDC Development Brief for developers is out for public consultation until 9th October. The Development Brief is prepared as additional planning guidance and sets out the way EHDC wishes to see the site developed with an emphasis on high quality and sustainable development. It will provide the basis on which planning applications can be submitted and assessed.

During the Brief's consultation period anyone can make their views known about the Development Brief itself by 9th October 2009. Comments or questions can be made to either Four Marks Parish Council at their public open meeting on 9th September in the Village Hall at 19:30, or direct to EHDC on their web site under Planning or to us at Fight4FourMarks.

EHDC Development Brief Reserve Site Map

EHDC Local Development Framework Consultation

This replaces the Local Plan (Second Review).

For more detailed information click here

2007 Ruislip-Northwood Stop garden Grab campaign click here

WANTED - INTERESTED LOCAL PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE

These are our communities and our families' future, so why don't you get involved ? Some of us have been working hard to stop in-appropriate over-development in Four Marks, Medstead & Chawton. We don't want to become small towns with a greatly increased population, but yet no facilities or infrastructure. We can only be effective in fighting in-appropriate planning applications being made in Four Marks, Medstead & Chawton by everyone working together, and using objective planning arguments - so far in support of EHDC Planning Department we have great success, including FOUR Developer Appeals dismissed by National Planning Inspectors in 2007.

Contact us at fight4fourmarks@yahoo.co.uk with your name address and telephone #

To See The Latest Planning News in Four Marks & Medstead go to News Update

To see the detailed applications & links to EHDC's web site go to Development Applications

F4FM objects (and will continue to object) to inappropriate & high density developments, which our village infrastructure cannot support. We do (and will) support well-designed & affordable developments that meet the needs of our community and are in line with government, regional, county, district and parish Development Plans. We support all efforts to generate local employment and economic growth for our community.