The slot we thought we had been allocated to the first part of the Hop Garden Road (Owens Farm), Hook appeal (APP/N1730/W/14/2226609) unfortunately didn’t happen due to some administrative hiccough. However, we have now been allocated a slot at 10am on 9 June 2015. This has presented an opportunity to improve further our submission and make it stronger.
The full details of the submission can be found here:
The summary of the submission is presented below and the main challenge to the SHMA here:
This purpose of this submission by the We ♥ Hart Campaign is to oppose the specific unnecessary development proposed at Hop Garden Road in Hook and demonstrate to other developers who may wish to put forward speculative proposals for the over-development of the district that they will face formidable opposition to their plans. Hart District is facing a scale of development that is against the wishes of its residents and in contradiction to stated Government policy to place planning decisions in the hands of local people.
Let me remind you of the Prime Minister’s words in 2012, taken from this Telegraph article:
He said: “I care deeply about our countryside and environment. Our vision is one where we give communities much more say, much more control. The fear people have in villages is the great big housing estate being plonked down from above.
“Our reforms will make it easier for communities to say ‘we are not going to have big plonking housing estate landing next to the village, but we would like 10, 20, 30 extra houses and we would like them built in this way, to be built for local people’.”
Mr Cameron, who was being interviewed in his Oxfordshire constituency, denied that the reforms would lead to large swathes of the countryside being built on.
He told BBC1’s Countryfile programme: “Here we are in west Oxfordshire one of the most beautiful parts of our country, set in some of England’s finest countryside. I would no more put that at risk than I would put at risk my own family.
“I care deeply about our countryside and environment. Our vision is one where we give communities much more say, much more control.”
We ♥ Hart object to this proposed development and any future speculative proposals on the grounds summarised below:
- The SHMA and OAN are not objective and represent a “need” that is far too high.
- Understated brownfield capacity means green field development is not necessary
- This proposed development will not contribute towards meeting the needs of the changing demographics of the district
- The proposed development will make the current infrastructure funding gap worse
- Lack of consideration of the environment
As shown in section 8, the combined effects of reducing the OAN as assessed in the SHMA to a more realistic level and taking account of brownfield development in the pipeline that is not included in the Land Supply calculation would increase the land supply to 11.7 years.
The only reasonable conclusion from this analysis is that the Hop Garden Road application should be refused as it is not required; would build the wrong type of housing in the wrong place to meet the changing demographics of the district; would make the already difficult infrastructure funding position worse and needlessly concrete over our valuable green fields and damage the environment.
We ♥ Hart respectfully requests that this application is turned down.
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