Rushmoor leads urban regeneration push

Posted on September 13, 2017January 13, 2018

Leader of Rushmoor Council, Dave Clifford has published an article in Get Surrey, setting out how the council is tackling urban regeneration in Aldershot. Full article here.

He acknowledges the challenges facing town centres from increased internet shopping. Their response has been to produce a prospectus for Aldershot town centre. This includes a joined up plan to support redevelopment of areas such as Westgate and the Galleries. But they have also taken a leadership position by acquiring properties on Union Street. This is part of a plan to consolidate ownership, so a redevelopment plan can be put together.

There is much to be done, but it is clear Rushmoor is rising to the challenge.

Well done Rushmoor.

Hart is missing an opportunity

Hart Local Plan to regenerate urban centres

This is in stark contrast to Hart Council. The recent Local Plan consultation acknowledged “The delivery of town centre redevelopment opportunities must be a priority”. However, no significant proposals were put forward to improve the town centres of Fleet, Blackwater, Yateley or Hook. We did put forward some ideas on this in our response to the Local Plan consultation.

It remains to be seen if the new administration has the vision and the political will to tackle these issues.

Developers battle over new settlement options for Hart District

Posted on September 2, 2017September 2, 2017

Battle of the Bastards – the fight for new settlement options for Hart District

A trio of developers have commenced battle over new settlement options for Hart District. There was a meeting of senior councillors on 9 August 2017, where developers representing three potential new settlement sites made presentations. These presentations will be discussed at Cabinet on Thursday 7 September at 7pm. The three sites were:

Rye Common
Murrell Green
Winchfield

Minutes from the meeting have been published on the Hart website and here.

New settlement options for Hart District – Rye Common

The developer raised the following points regarding their presentation:

The site could deliver up to 1,500 with possible potential to expand to 2,000 homes if more land were to be made available.
The site is in one ownership.
Only a small part of the site was within 5km of the SPA. SANG provision included in the proposal.
Design and some technical evidence is at an early stage due to a change in supporting consultants.
No secondary school site proposed, although a site of 5ha could be made available in line with HCC guidelines.
Some areas of Common Land would need to be de-registered to provide access and re-provided elsewhere.
A range of infrastructure to be provided including primary education facilities.
Site has areas of groundwater flooding, but no fluvial risk.
Access on to the A287.
Site would provide open space, allotments etc.
There would be no coalescence issues.
Small scale employment provision included.

The actual presentation that was given has not been published on the Hart Council website. Overall we view this as a very weak proposal that clearly is not as well thought through as the other proposals.

New settlement options for Hart District – Murrell Green

The presentation and other documents related to this proposal can be found on the links below:

Murrell Green – Written Opinion from Anthony Crean QC
Murrell Green – Framework Plan
Murrell Green – Vision Document
Murrell Green – Letter from Crest Nicholson
Murrell Green – Letter from Bosch
Murrell Green – Q and A response

Murrell Green near Hook and Hartley Wintney Framework Plan.

Murrell Green Framework Plan with pipeline

The main points made by Lightwood, the developer in the presentation were:

The site can deliver 1,800 -2,990 units if required
Plans and evidence are well advanced
Developer already on board for first phase
In partnership identified proposals to include innovative initiatives within the home and related to travel options, including for electric and driverless cars and provision of electric bikes as central to the masterplan
Connectivity through access to the A30
Revised secondary school location proposed (9.7ha) with direct access in and out of the site and avoiding residential areas proposed in discussion with HCC
A range of infrastructure to be provided including primary education facilities
Discussions held with Stagecoach re possible bus routes
Access to Winchfield station will be provided
Promoters control a significant proportion of the site through option agreements
High proportion of 2 and 3 bedroomed dwellings
A proportion of dwellings will be designed to be easily extended to prevent the need to move
There are viable solutions to ensure that the gas pipeline is not a constraint on development
Small scale employment proposed on site
Supportive of the use of design codes
High speed broadband to be included
Design/layouts will ensure protection of the setting of the listed building
Open space includes SANG provision, sensory gardens, allotments, sports pitches

We have read these documents and think there are significant problems with this proposal. First, the design proposals still ignore the presence of the high pressure gas main. They make passing reference to re-routing it, but come up with a cost of only £2m. This seems like a very low figure to re-route about a mile of 24″ high pressure pipeline.

Second, the site is being promoted by Lightwood Strategic, which is, in our opinion quite a lightweight organisation with negative net assets. They have entered into some sort of arrangement with Crest Nicholson, but at this stage all of their promises must be taken with a very large pinch of salt.

Third, they make great virtue out of the Amount of SANG they are delivering. Yet, in other parts of the document they offer up some of this land for even more housing. They aren’t quite specific, but the area they identify to the south and west of the site includes the former landfill site at Beggars Corner.

Finally, the roads proposals are totally inadequate. The access to the south is over the tiny bridge over the railway line and the A30 will become a bottleneck in Hartley Wintney and Hook with the addition of 2,000 further houses between them.

The other significant part of the Lightwood presentation was the legal opinion from their QC. This is clearly designed to warn other developers not to send Hart’s Local Plan for judicial review. It is also a warning to local pressure groups to let them get on with their proposals without hindrance or the Local Plan may fail, leaving Hart open to new, even higher housing numbers from the Government.

New settlement options for Hart District – Winchfield

Finally, Gallagher Estates and Barratt Homes made their presentation about the Winchfield proposal.

Winchfield Garden Community Master Plan with pylons and powerline

The main points made by the developer in the presentation were:

A scheme for 1,800 homes presented but opportunities to expand to 2,400 to west and south west
All land under control of the promoters
Technical work including viability very advanced
Neighbourhood centre to north of railway line
Engagement with Stagecoach
A range of infrastructure to be provided including primary education facilities
Shuttle signals to be added on road tunnel under railway, will allow for 3m pedestrian/cycle access
14ha proposed for a secondary school, in discussion with HCC
Solutions proposed to deal with identified flooding issues
Transport modelling work undertaken to prevent rat runs
A unique situation as focused around a railway station

The main problem with this proposal are:

Gallaghers totally ignore the electricity pylons traversing the school sites and the housing both to the north and south of the railway line.
The flood risk on that land is very significant, with the site and roads flooding three times in 2016 alone. They can’t just dismiss this with a single bullet point.
The roads proposals to get into and out of the proposed development are totally inadequate.
The proposal includes a footpath from the B3016 to Bagwell Lane and the western part of the development which is not currently a footpath and crosses land that is not in the ownership of the consortium.

Our Response

Overall, we think the motive behind these presentations is for the council to be able to say it has studied all of the options in detail.

Our view is that all of these proposals are unnecessary because they only arise from the Council’s insistence on setting a housing target of over 10,000 units, despite the over-inflated SHMA figure of 8,000. If we just reverted back to the SHMA figure, then none of these new settlement proposals will be required. Indeed, if we reverted to a more sensible housing target of 5,144, we could meet all of our housing needs for decades to come form brownfield sites alone.

We think that there is going to be a big battle ahead. The developers are going to fight to get their proposal into the Local Plan. We will continue to fight to reduce this ridiculous housing target and get more of our housing need met on brownfield sites.

Hart Local Plan Update

Posted on August 30, 2017August 29, 2017

Things have been quiet with the Hart Local Plan since the consultation closed back on June 9 2017. We have spoken to a number of people and have the following update:

Hart Local Plan Consultation Results

We understand that there was a strong response to the Local Plan consultation. But the results of the consultation will not be seen by anyone (including councillors) until September. There will be a Local Plan Steering Group meeting in September during which the consultation results will be discussed.

Impact of New Government rules on Hart Local Plan

There is clearly some concern about the new Government threats to councils with no Local Plan in place. Clearly, there are problems with the high pressure gas main at Murrell Green. However, if the council drops this site without also reducing the ridiculous housing target, then they will need to find new sites. These new sites may well require a further Regulation 18 consultation, which would push them beyond the deadline of 31 March 2018.

Hart Local Planning team

We understand that Hart has recruited four additional planners to the planning team to help them prepare the next version of the Hart Local Plan. The new version is supposed to be published for a Regulation 19 consultation in Winter 2017.

Government threatens councils with new housing need methodology

Posted on August 3, 2017August 3, 2017

The Government has threatened councils with a new housing need methodology if they don’t submit a Local Plan by March 2018. The threat is contained in a Government newsletter that has been reported upon by Lichfields the planning consultancy. The report can be found here.

It is of course unclear what this new methodology might entail. However, the Government is desperate to increase the level of housebuilding, so it is likely this new methodology will further increase Hart’s target.

The new deadline of 31 March 2018 gives a critical backstop date for Hart to submit its Local Plan for inspection. The target date for submission was vaguely described as Spring 2018 in the latest consultation. However, as we know Hart Council has missed every deadline it has set itself. So, it remains to be seen if the new administration can get a new plan together on time, especially as Hart has already effectively turned down an application on one of its preferred sites.

Hart Council to destroy its own Local Plan

Posted on July 22, 2017July 22, 2017

Council Incompetent over farm home plan destroying Local Plan

Hart destroys its own Local Plan

Hart Council will effectively destroy its own Local Plan. It has taken the decision to oppose the appeal into the Cross Farm care home application by proceeding ‘on the basis that the planning application has been refused’.

This is laughable because the Cross Farm development was one of the preferred sites in the recent draft Local Plan consultation. The proposal is for a 160 unit care village and a 64-bed care home. The potential impacts of the decision to turn down the application are:

Hart loses 224 dwellings from its draft Local Plan, potentially rendering it unsound
The Local Plan no longer meets the specialist housing needs of older people, potentially rendering it unsound
The council loses around 25Ha of valuable SANG land, constraining capacity to build new homes in the district
The cost of the appeal is likely to be around £100,000, rising to over over £200,000 if Hart Council loses
May lead to the introduction of a further round of consultation into the Local Plan, costing more money and losing another six months in the schedule

It is looking like the new CCH/Lib Dem administration is even worse than the previous Tory administration when it comes to planning policy. It may well be time for the Secretary of State to step in and appoint commissioners to replace this failing council.

The full article in the Fleet News and Mail can be found here.

Hart fails to decide Cross Farm application on time

Posted on July 8, 2017July 10, 2017

Sad clown at Hart council fails to decide Cross Farm Appeal document 16/03400/OUT

Hart Council clowns fail to decide Cross Farm application

Hart Council has failed to decide the Cross Farm in Crookham Village planning application on time. This has led the developers to submit an appeal on the grounds of non-determination. This comes on the heels of the failure to determine the Grove Farm (Netherhouse Copse) application back in December 2016. This is Jedi-level incompetence that makes the Council look like clowns.

The original application was made in January this year and should have been decided by 7 April. The application doesn’t seem to have been considered at all by the Planning Committee. Details of the original application for the Cross Farm development can be found here, and searching for 16/03400/OUT. The appeal documents can be found by searching for 17/00078/NONDET.

The proposed Cross Farm development in Crookham Village was one of the recommended sites in the recent Local Plan consultation. This indicates that the proposal was supported by officers.

We can only guess at why it wasn’t determined on time. Clearly, the council is dysfunctional. The Conservatives were in charge of the council when the application should have been decided. However, Community Campaign Hart (CCH) held the chair of the Planning Committee at that time. Now the Planning Committee is chaired by Graham Cockarill of the Liberal Democrats, and the administration is jointly run by CCH and Lib Dems. Therefore, it seems none of the parties are able to get a grip on the planning process and take decisions on time.

One explanation might be that despite Cross Farm being in the draft Local Plan, CCH councillors felt unable to support the proposals. Therefore, they abdicated responsibility, so they could blame any decision on the Inspector. Of course, the appeal will be at council taxpayer expense.

[Update] Another explanation might be that it wasn’t in the interests of the Tory administration or the officers to bring this to the Committee on time. Cross Farm in Crookham Village was a preferred site in the draft Local Plan. If Cross Farm had been rejected at Committee, it would have effectively scuppered the Local Plan. [/Update]

Cost of Cross Farm, Crookham Village appeal

It is likely that this public enquiry style appeal will cost the council over £100,000 to defend. We find it difficult to understand how they expect to win the appeal given that the site is in the draft Local Plan. Therefore, we think it likely the inspector will award costs to the developer should they win. This would bring the total costs of the appeal to over £200,000.

The overall council budget is ~£10m. Surely, this appeal money could be better spent on local services, infrastructure or social housing?

Government to force Hart to increase housing target

Posted on July 5, 2017July 5, 2017

Increased housing target will lead to more £1m houses like this at Hartley Row Park, Hartley Wintney, Hart District, Hampshire.

Government to force Hart to increase housing target.

The Government will force Hart to increase its housing target says Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, it is reported in the Telegraph today. The article says:

Families living in some of the most sought-after parts of the country will be forced to accept more homes being built near them to tackle the housing crisis, the Communities Secretary has said.

Sajid Javid said that he wants communities which have benefited from soaring property prices to play their part in solving the housing crisis.

New rules to force councils to increase their housing targets will be published in the next three weeks.

Excerpts from his speech have been tweeted. It is clear Mr Javid has in mind councils that have yet to produce a Local Plan.

From the Javid speech: consultation on new OAN methodology this month. pic.twitter.com/Ny5yygpvuF

— Simon Ricketts (@sricketts1) July 5, 2017

We don’t agree with Government that Hart needs to build even more houses. The 10,185 target adopted in the recent Local Plan Consultation is clearly ridiculous. It is already more than twice the need identified by the Government’s own population forecasts. What we need is more social housing for those who can’t rent and can’t buy. We also need more 1 and 3-bed properties to help the young get on the housing ladder

We certainly don’t need more £1m houses like those for sale in Hartley Wintney at the moment.

Land-banking causing delays to building

We might also address the land-banking in the district, where thousands of houses have not been built, even though planning permission has been granted.

Year of grant	Net uncompleted dwellings
2003	5
2005	1
2006	0
2008	1
2009	2
2010	14
2011	58
2012	591
2013	402
2014	793
2015	1,066
2016	148
Grand Total	3,081

It remains to be seen if the new Hart Council administration can stand up to this bullying from central Government. We need a lower, more realistic housing target.

Gallagher propose schools under power lines

Posted on June 8, 2017June 11, 2017

Gallagher propose schools under power lines

In a desperate attempt to influence the Local Plan Consultation, a ‘newsletter’ has been issued in which Gallagher propose new schools under power lines. This is a last minute attempt to try and shoehorn a new settlement at Winchfield into the draft Local Plan. Apparently, the newsletter has only been issued to residents of Fleet and Church Crookham.

We have seen the newsletter and compared the schematic to the local OS map. As far as we can tell, the high voltage power line goes directly over the school grounds. Moreover, there is a pylon directly on top of the sports pitches. Our best attempt at showing the location of the school, and powerline is shown in the graphic above. Aside from the obvious electrocution risk, overhead power lines have been linked to increased risk of childhood cancers such as leukaemia. The secondary school is also right next to the mainline railway line.

The document has been issued by Curtin & Co on behalf of Gallagher. They apparently specialise in the ‘Politics of Planning’. The contact given is David Scane, who can be reached at [email protected]. We deplore this crony corporatism. We recommend that WeHeartHart supporters email this man. We should let him know that we don’t approve of these shabby tactics and how ridiculous it is to propose schools in such an unsafe location.

Of course, no evidence has been produced in the Local Plan to show a new school is required. Even if such evidence is produced, it isn’t clear why we can’t simply allocate land for a school without the hundreds of acres for housing.

We have updated our guidance with this new information in our suggested response to the consultation that can be found on the download link below. Please do make amendments into your own words and submit it to [email protected] before the deadline of 5pm on 9th June 2017. All of the Council’s consultation documents can be found here.

Response to the Hart Draft Local Plan Consultation

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CPRE slams Hart Local Plan

Posted on June 7, 2017June 7, 2017

CPRE Murrell Green has slammed the draft Hart Local Plan

CPRE slams Hart Local Plan

The local CPRE has slammed the draft Hart Local Plan, saying it is incoherent and lacks regard for the countryside.

They say:

CPRE’s District Group for North East Hampshire are concerned that the Local Plan has no coherent strategy but is instead a series of tactics to deliver a housing and development supply without any recognition of the role of countryside and the value of the natural environment.

The rural areas seem to have been completely missed in that there is no recognition of the role or function of the countryside and rural communities in this part of the county. Hart’s Vision ignores landscape value, the value of historic or heritage assets, as well as the social and health value the countryside provides for recreation.

Employment site assessment and policies appear to be ill-considered, especially in the rural areas. There are no criteria to support the policies and this results in some sites that employ few people being designated as important for jobs yet other vibrant employment sites in the villages are allocated for housing. This is in direct conflict with the Plan’s aim to protect employment sites particularly in the rural areas.

Murrell Green, which lies close to Hartley Wintney, Winchfield and Hook, is a potential greenfield settlement for 1,800 houses and a secondary school. The site contains endangered woodland, ancient lanes and hedgerows, and lakes and ponds. The proposals show no regard for these natural features and there are concerns about water supply for the high level of proposed housing

We agree with the CPRE, and many of their ideas are incorporated in our suggested response to the draft Local Plan consultation. Please ask the council to think again by downloading the link below and review our suggested comments on the draft Local Plan. Please do make amendments into your own words and submit it to [email protected] before the deadline of 5pm on 9th June 2017. All of the Council’s consultation documents can be found here.

Response to the Hart Draft Local Plan Consultation

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Local Plan misses opportunity to regenerate urban centres

Posted on June 6, 2017January 13, 2018

Hart Local Plan to regenerate urban centres

The consultation on the Draft Local Plan misses an opportunity to regenerate urban centres in Hart District.

This is contrary to Para 131 of the Plan that says “The delivery of town centre redevelopment opportunities must be a priority”. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) indicates (paragraph 23) that planning policies should promote competitive town centre environments and set out policies for the management and growth of centres over the plan period.

This can be best illustrated by using Fleet as an example.

Fleet is the lowest density town of its size in the country. The chart below that there is significant scope for increasing development density in Fleet.

Fleet housing density versus towns of similar size

The retail offer in Fleet is poor, the cultural facilities (e.g. Harlington Centre) are outdated and there is no proper cinema.

Fleet Health score versus benchmarks

However, Fleet has the highest average earnings per person of comparative towns by quite a large margin (eg 9% more than Camberley). High earnings should give Fleet a significant advantage over the comparison towns.

Fleet earnings versus competitors

The Local Plan Vision and Objectives fail to take advantage of the opportunity to modernise Hart’s urban centres while at the same time protecting Hart’s countryside.

We believe that the Vision for the Local Plan should be centered on the proposition that Fleet and other urban centres will be re-generated. With Hart District Council’s full and active support, a plan based on urban regeneration would achieve the following benefits:

An ambitious Hart Urban Re-generation Project (HURP) would attract private investment and thus be affordable
Private investment would allow for Hart’s infrastructure to be upgraded in line with the urban re-generation
Good urban design principles would achieve a higher population density in the urban centres while at the same time providing an improved ‘sense of place’ and making the urban centres more desirable places to live.

A similar approach could be adopted in Yateley to provide a proper retail-led centre and improvements could be made to Blackwater. The requirement for additional retail facilities in Hook, identified in the Local Plan could also be met.

Apparently, Hart did have a plan to conduct a brownfield study to evaluate the ‘art of the possible’ in our urban centres. This project has not delivered.

In addition, Yateley lacks a defined centre, Blackwater is indistinct and Hook lacks good quality restaurants and shopping facilities.

The council should be setting out a bold plan to improve the retail, cultural and recreational amenities in the district. We should also develop plans for a theatre and cinema in Fleet as part of an attractive mixed-use redevelopment. There will be significant cash available from developers to fund such an ambitious plan.

Moreover, the council should work collaboratively with developers to regenerate other urban areas such as Blackwater and redevelop the centres of Yateley and Hook.

Please ask the council to think again by downloading the link below and review our suggested comments on the draft Local Plan. Please do make amendments into your own words and submit it to [email protected] before the deadline of 5pm on 9th June 2017. All of the Council’s consultation documents can be found here.

Response to the Hart Draft Local Plan Consultation

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