Hart Council fights for survival in Hampshire local government reorganisation

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Hart District Council fights for survival in Hampshire local government reorganisation

Hart District Council is fighting for its very survival in the Hampshire Local Government reorganisation. Hart has sent a desperate letter and copy of a leaflet to the Hart District Town and Parish Councils setting out the case for its proposals for a ‘Heart of Hampshire’ Combined Authority. This is in stark contrast to the competing Unitary Authority proposal from Hampshire County Council. Both proposals have been put forward in the Hampshire County Council consultation which closes on 20 September 2016.

Hart’s proposal would lead to the introduction of an additional tier of local Government and a directly elected mayor along with a claimed extra £30m per year to be split amongst the participating authorities including Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Hart District Council, New Forest District Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Winchester City Council. Hampshire County Council and the M3 Enterprise LEP would also be involved. In return the COmbined Authority would gain extra powers although it isn’t clear just what these extra powers would be.

Hampshire County are proposing a Unitary Authority approach which would mean the abolition of district councils like Hart and Hampshire County Council and their replacement by new Unitary Councils who would provide all services. These proposals would lead to savings of up to £40m in senior management and councillor costs, optimising services and reduced property costs.

More detail on the pros and cons can be found here and here.

Hart’s letter to the town and parish councils and a copy of the leaflet to be sent to all households can be found on the downloads below.

Hart leaflet to residents
Hart leaflet to residents
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Hart letter to parishes
Hart letter to parishes
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Hart have set our their own devolution web page here and Hampshire County Council have set up a local government reorganisation web page here.

 

Hampshire launches consultation on local government reorganisation

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Hampshire County Council Consultation Option G Five unitary Councils

Hampshire County Council (HCC) has launched a consultation on reorganising local Government in the county. This has arisen out central Government’s desire to reduce local Government budgets and devolve more powers to local areas. This has resulted in a bunfight between Hampshire County Council and the District Councils that we reported on here.

This consultation asks us to make a broad choice between supporting the “Combined Authority” option most favoured by the District Councils and the “Unitary Authority” option favoured by Hampshire County Council. Each broad choice has a number of sub-options. The Combined Authority approach would include establishing an extra tier of Local Government and led by one or more directly elected mayors. The Unitary Authority approach would involve the dissolution of the existing Hampshire County and District Councils, being replaced by one or more new Councils responsible for all services. It appears as though this latter approach will save more money, but unless the unitary authorities cover smaller areas, potentially at the risk of remoteness and reduced accountability.

The documents are quite large and complex.  The impact on local planning and potential housing allocations is not covered in any detail in any of the documents as far as we can see. Consequently, We Heart Hart doesn’t have very strong views on the “Combined Authority” or the “Unitary Authority” approaches. However, we have an instinctive dislike of complexity and more tiers of Government and therefore would slightly favour a unitary authority approach, but using “Option G” in the Deloitte Report commissioned by HCC, shown in the image above.

This subject was covered at the recent Hart District Council meeting, with leader, Stephen Parker, making clear that there was still conflict on this issues between the County and the Districts:

Yesterday Hampshire County Council launched a consultation, based on a desktop report commissioned from Deloitte covering the financial effects of unitary status, covering both unitarisation and devolution, as well as a metro mayor. Sadly the Deloitte report only covered unitary councils, and paid little attention to other issues such as service quality and democratic accountability. The failure of Hampshire County Council to pause the consultation to take advantage of a report commissioned by the other Hampshire councils from Price Waterhouse Coopers to consider the issues not addressed in the Deloitte report will compromise the outputs from the consultation. This has caused some problems in the relationship with the districts, and I with colleagues from the Heart of Hampshire group of district councils will be meeting tomorrow with the Leader and Deputy Leader of HCC to seek to normalise the relationship, whilst recognising the issues around the deficient consultation.

The consultation is open until 20 September 2016.

The dedicated web page for the consultation can be found here.

The executive summary of the proposals can be found here.

The more detailed consultation information pack can be found here.

The consultation response form can be found here.

We would urge everyone to engage with this issue and respond to the consultation.

Hart now has 6.3 years land supply

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Hart District Council Logo

Hart Council has published a new land supply calculation that shows we have 6.3 years land supply.  The document can be found here.

This is good news as it shows that Hart can still retain a degree of control over granting planning permission to voracious developers up to the point it finally gets a Local Plan in place.

However, there are a number of interesting points coming out of the new calculation:

  1. In the most recent year 2015-16, 705 new dwellings were completed, nearly double the annual requirement expressed in the current SHMA
  2. Hart are using 382 dwelling per annum, for a total of 8,022 houses over the planning period compared to the 7,534 agreed figure for the SHMA.  They say this is to respond to some criticism made in the Hop Garden Road appeal, but we are concerned about it, especially as the new SHMA should reduce the overall requirement.
  3. A total of 4,473 houses have been built or permitted since 2011.

 

Odiham Parish Council submits its Neighbourhood Plan to Hart Council

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Odiham High Street, Hart District Hampshire

Odiham High Street, Hampshire

It has been reported in Fleet News and Mail that Odiham Parish Council have approved their draft Neighbourhood Plan and submitted it Hart Council for checking before being sent to an examiner.

Nine possible sites for housing have been included in the plan. Around 60 homes, or 30 homes plus a care home, could be built adjacent to Crownflelds in Odiham.

Other sites earmarked for development are at 4 Western Lane, Odiham (20 homes). Hook Road, North Warnborough (15), Albion Yard and Roughs Cottage, North Warnborough (both 12), Longwood, Odiham (10), Crumplins Yard, Odiham (eight), and land at The Swan Inn, North Warnborough (4). Land at Dunleys Hill in North Warnborough has also been earmarked for homes, subject to agreeing an acceptable minimum to allow for the remainder to be designated as a public open space or Local Green Space.

This amounts to a total of around 141 dwellings, plus Dunleys Hill, which compares to 120 plus 30 at Dunleys Hill for sites identified in an earlier draft of the Neighbourhood plan set out in the recent consultation, plus an additional 264 dwellings on sites put forward for ranking by Hart Council in the New Homes Booklet.

Council Leader misleads the public on brownfield register

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Brownfield site: vacant offices at Ancells Farm Business Park, Fleet, Hart District, Hampshire.

Fleet News and Mail have picked up on our story about Hart Council botching the new brownfield register. They have obtained a quote from Hart Council leader, Stephen Parker (our emphasis):

“One of the pilot requirements is for sites to be ‘deliverable’. The Special Protection Area (SPA) for birds is currently a real barrier to development in Hart.

“The council is working hard with our partners, including Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership, to deliver a big area of SPA mitigation land which, once in place, will allow additional sites to come forward.”

However, the manual for the pilot scheme says that to be regarded as suitable for housing our proposed criteria are that sites must be:

Available. This means that sites should be either deliverable or developable. Sites that are deliverable should be available and offer a suitable location for development now and be achievable with a realistic prospect that housing will be delivered on the site within five years and in particular that development of the site is viable. To be considered developable, sites are likely to come forward later on (e.g. between six and ten years). They should be in a suitable location for housing development and there should be a reasonable prospect the site will be available and that it could be viably developed at the point envisaged.

The terms deliverable and  developable have specific meanings in the NPPF. It appears as though there is a requirement on the council to include sites that meet the less onerous ‘developable’ criteria, which they have failed to do. The manual also says that sites that are entered on the register should be free of constraints that cannot be mitigated. We Heart Hart recognises that the provision of SANG land is a significant constraint, but the council is in the process of purchasing over 30 Ha of land, capable of supporting 1,600 new dwellings. We might add that most of the sites on the pilot register have already been delivered so are not within the spirit of the brownfield register project.

There is also provision for councils to include sites in the register that it doesn’t think are suitable to ensure transparency in the decisions taken by the authority.

We think there’s around 2,500 extra units that can be built on brownfield sites that do not appear in the register. It is time that Hart Council started doing as much as it can to support the brownfield strategy and not as little as it thinks it can get away with.

Hart’s Brownfield Register fails to meet expectations

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Brownfield site: vacant offices at Ancells Farm Business Park, Fleet, Hart District, Hampshire.

Brownfield site: vacant offices at Ancells Farm Business Park, Fleet, Hart District, Hampshire.

Hart District Council has at last published its register of brownfield sites in the district. Sadly, the register has failed to live up to expectations. The full register can be downloaded on the link below.

The purpose of the brownfield register is to provide house builders with up-to-date and publicly available information on all brownfield sites available for housing locally. The register is supposed to help housebuilders identify suitable sites quickly, speeding up the construction of new homes. Hart Council was one of the pilot local authorities participating in the national brownfield register scheme as announced back in March 2016.

At first glance, the register identifies 3,542 potential units on brownfield sites, which might be considered good news.  However, closer inspection of the register reveals:

  • All but two of the sites already have planning permission, indeed a number of them have already been built (e.g. Queen Elizabeth Barracks at Church Crookham, Landata House in Hook, and Monachus House in Hartley Wintney).
  • Some of the sites are not even brownfield sites, for example Rifle Range Farm in Hartley Wintney.
  • None of the sites that Hart Council itself identified as brownfield sites in the recent consultation are recorded in the register.
  • None of the other potential sites that have not yet been permitted on Ancells Farm or along Fleet Road have made it on to the register.
  • Very few, if any, of the brownfield sites in the SHLAA that we identified in our brownfield solution, most particularly sites like the former police college at Bramshill have made it into the register.
  • Over 2,000 of the units in the register have already been granted planning permission, with 1,500 units at Hartland Village (aka Pyestock) and 16 at another site yet to be granted permission.

We have contacted the council to find out the reasons why this important opportunity has been botched. We have been told this is a temporary blip due to lack of SANG capacity.  We are far from convinced of this reason as the register itself has a column for constraints.  The purpose of the register should be to identify all of the sites and not miss some out because SANG capacity is not yet available.

We do hope that Hart Council gets to grips with this, because a robust brownfield register will be a significant piece of evidence, as part of the Local Plan, to help fend off the proposals to build at Pale Lane (Elvetham Chase) and Grove Farm (Netherhouse Copse). The register of brownfield sites  becomes a statutory obligation next year.

Hart Council Brownfield Register
Hart Council Brownfield Register
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Winchfield publishes Neighbourhood Plan

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Cows in Winchfield, Hart District, Hampshire

Winchfield Parish Council have published their Neighbourhood Plan and Hart District Council have invited comments.  The deadline for comments is 4 September 2016, and can be made by following the instructions here.

For those interested, a full copy of the Neighbourhood plan can be found on the download below.

Winchfield Neighbourhood Plan
Winchfield Neighbourhood Plan
Download Now!437 Downloads

 

Hart Council proposes to buy Bramshot Farm for SANG

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Proposed SANGs at Bramshot Farm and MoD land near Fleet Hampshire for Sun Park and Pyestock (Hartland Village).

At their meeting on 16 July, Hart Council Cabinet resolved to grant authority to the Chief Executive to:

  • To secure an interest free loan from the LEP to cover the cost of procuring Bramshot Farm to set up and administer a Strategic SANG [currently owned by RSPB]
  • Subject to securing an interest free loan from the LEP to complete the purchase of Bramshot Farm for the purposes of delivering a SANG.
  • To invite the developers of Sun Park to contribute towards the procurement and setting out of Bramshot Farm as SPA mitigation for their potential residential development at Sun Park.
  • To facilitate the procurement of land to the north of Pyestock (Hartland Park) at no cost to the Council to provide SANG mitigation for the potential Pyestock/Hartland Park development opportunity

This means that there will now be more than enough SANG land to support the development of Pyestock and Sun Park, with maybe some left over to support development within Rushmoor Borough boundaries. This is an important step in demonstrating that the forthcoming Local Plan is deliverable.

The council paper can be found here, and a map of the proposed SANG sites is shown here and in the image above.

Berkeley Homes propose development to start at Hartland Village in late 2017

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Berkeley Homes (St Edward) launches consultation site for new development at Hartland Village, aka Pyestock and Hartland Park

Berkeley Homes (St Edward) launches consultation site for new development at Hartland Village, aka Pyestock and Hartland Park

Berkeley Homes (St Edward) have begun their consultation on the proposed Hartland Village at the brownfield Pyestock site, near Fleet in Hampshire. They held meetings on 14th and 16th July. The papers they discussed at those meetings can be found here.

They propose submitting a planning application in Spring 2017, and assuming permission is granted relatively speedily, construction could begin in late 2017 or early 2018. This shows how important this brownfield development can be in delivering significant contribution to Hart District’s housing needs up to 2032as part of the Local Plan.

We Heart Hart broadly supports this development, provided proper infrastructure is developed along side the housing especially schools, community facilities, cycle paths and roads.

If you would like to make a comment on this application, then Berkeley Homes have set a deadline of 5 August 2016. Please send your comments to [email protected] or see the main consultation page here.

Planning application made for Grove Farm (Netherhouse Copse)

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Grove Farm - Netherhouse Copse Fleet and Church Crookham Hampshire Site plan

Grove Farm – Netherhouse Copse Site plan

[Update] Application approved on appeal, making the council a sitting duck for new applications [/Update]

Berkeley Homes have submitted an application to build 423 dwellings at Nether House Copse (aka Grove Farm) in Fleet, Hampshire. Hart District Council have circulated a letter to some people seeking observations.

We Heart Hart does not believe this development is either necessary or desirable as there is plenty of brownfield land available, most notably the proposed Hartland Village at the Pyestock site, also proposed by the Berkeley Home group, and many others we have set out here.

We encourage you to object to this development, by going to the Hart consultation website and searching using the reference 16/01651/OUT.