CREDITON TOWN COUNCIL ALSO OBJECTS TO PLAN

ELIZABETH Dalton, Chairman of Sandford Parish Council, has sent a letter, compiled with the assistance of members of the Parish Council, to Simon Trafford, planning officer at Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) with regard to the latest outline planning application (17/00348/MOUT) Land at NGR 284185 101165 (Creedy Bridge) Sandford: Residential development of up to 257 dwellings and up to five Gypsy and Traveller pitches; 8.6 hectares of land made available to facilitate the relocation of Crediton Rugby Club; up to 1.1 hectares of land safeguarded for the delivery of a primary school; access arrangements from A3072 (Exhibition Way); pedestrian and cycle access on to Pounds Hill/Stonewall Cross junction, Old Tiverton Road and Pedlarspool Lane; landscaping and area of public open space; and other associated infrastructure and engineering operations.The letter represents the comments from the council following on from those it submitted on April 25, 2017.

She writes: Further to our previous comments (April 25, 2017) regarding the above proposed Housing Development, we wish to add the following comments:

“The lack of proposed improvements to the roads to the South and East (Stonewall Lane and above East Lodge to the crossroads) is of great worry as there has been a significant increase in traffic using these roads since the traffic survey was originally carried out, due mainly to increase in delivery vans, generated by shopping on-line, and larger farm machinery having to use this route.

As such these roads will be used well beyond their safe carrying capacity.  However, any widening might necessitate taking down mature trees and this must be well-monitored.

Additionally, Devon Highways (Ian Sorenson) indicated that there is likely to be another housing development site on the south side of Stonewall Lane in future.

The junction of Old Tiverton Road and Stonewall Lane, where vision is extremely limited, is a potential accident black spot.

Any farm traffic with trailers, combine harvesters, and large delivery lorries etc will necessitate long reverses if meeting oncoming traffic.

The need for such traffic having to re-route through either the new estate or down into Crediton round extremely narrow lanes is of great concern.

Although Gleeson’s have reduced the number of dwellings from 326, there is huge concern over the ‘increase’ in the number of houses from the Local Plan allocation of 200 to 257.

Parishioners want to know why is this application even being considered by MDDC when the council was originally looking for a maximum of 165 houses, albeit increased later to 200 dwellings?

GYPSY AND TRAVELLER PITCHES

As this is ‘only’ an outline planning application there is no way of knowing what the proposed new development would look like.

Added to this the amount of affordable housing is only 21 per cent (?? + five gypsy and traveller pitches) = 23 per cent when the requirement in the Local Plan is for 28 per cent.

There is also great concern over the potential use of three-storey houses in the development to squeeze in sufficient (for Gleeson’s) dwellings to apparently make the scheme financially viable.

These tall dwellings would appear above the tree line and be an eyesore in this beautiful valley.   

We have been asked why there is a double standard in not allowing the cottage at the crossroads to have a shed in the garden due to its proximity to Shobrooke Park and yet potentially 257 of unknown design and finish the opposite side of the crossroads is being considered by MDDC.   

Sandford Parish Council strongly feel that IF planning consent is given it should be limited to the 200 dwellings noted in the Local Plan AND the full number of Affordable dwellings should be made available primarily to Local Residents.

The potential for Local People to have the opportunity to gain in this way should be widely advertised to ensure local people are aware of this. Alternatively how many plots could be available for local people to build their own homes, potentially five per cent.”

LACK OF PROPER CONSULTATION

Doubts have also been expressed about whether MDDC and the developer, Gleeson Developments Ltd, have complied fully with planning law with regard to the application, mainly concerning the change of use of the name of the development plan from Pedlarspool to Creedy Bridge part-way through the planning process.

Other areas of lack of consultation have also been pointed out by objectors.

TRAFFIC IMPACT

There are also concerns about the traffic impact in the area, particularly relating to Jockey Hill, Blagdon, Stonewall Lane and the complete closure of one ancient road, Pedlarspool Lane, which crosses the proposed development site.

Cllr Judi Binks, the member for Sandford and Creedy (MDDC), would like to hear the views of local residents concerning traffic impact.

DROP-INS

Gleeson Developments Ltd reviewed the plans it was proposing recently and this review was available to view at two drop-in events on April 16 and 17.

Gleeson Developments has submitted amended plans, reducing the amount of planned homes from 326 to 257.

The firm says these changes have been made following consultation with the community and in direct discussion with Mid Devon District Council.

John Smith of Gleeson Developments Ltd, said: “Following the application submission, we’ve carefully considered the feedback received and amended our plans to respond to matters raised. This includes reducing the proposed number of homes from 326 to 257.

“The changes are also increasing the proportion of affordable homes whilst continuing to propose improvements to local services and infrastructure. Plans for the relocation of Crediton Rugby Club remain unchanged.” 

The firm said that the number of speculative applications coming forward across the district continues to increase.

It added that unlike Creedy Bridge, these have not been allocated or formally released for future development by the council. The firm said that these speculative applications are seeking to take advantage of the fact that sites formally allocated for development are not coming forward for development quickly enough, thereby resulting in a housing supply shortfall across the district.

It says that despite the council’s resistance to many of these, including the recent refusal for 120 dwellings at Chapel Downs Farm, without a robust housing land supply the district remains vulnerable to “planning by appeal”, including in the local area.

It says this emphasises the importance of supporting those applications which have already been released by the council.

USEFUL AND INFORMATIVE

Representatives from Gleeson’s spoke at both Sandford Parish Council and Crediton Town Council meetings on April 16 and 17.

Sandford Parish Council agreed that the consultation had been a useful and informative event and Gleeson’s agreed that Sandford Parish Council should have been involved in the original discussions and apologised that this did not happen.

Sandford Parish Council discussed the outline planning application at its meeting on May 3.

CREDITON TOWN COUNCIL

Crediton Town Council recently objected to the planning application.

It agreed to support Sandford Parish Council’s objections and added it objected because it said it would dramatically affect Crediton, adversely affect the natural environment, affect the historic street plan, density of the number buildings was too high, the number proposed was too high, it was not in keeping with the local area, was not visually attractive and there was no information about light pollution.

It added that there was a huge traffic implication for the area, there were inadequate footpaths and inadequate public transport.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Comments about the plan are still being sought by Mid Devon District Council.

For further details, and to view the plan and associated documents, in full, visit the website: www.middevon.gov.uk .

It is easier to use the IDOX Public Access facility and to type in the plan reference: 17/00348/MOUT .

Comments can be submitted online or by email to: [email protected] .

You can post comments to: Development Management, Mid Devon District Council, Phoenix House, Tiverton EX16 6PP.

Mr Smith added that if anyone has any queries about the project in the meantime, then they can contact Matt Detzler from Gleeson Developments Ltd project team on freephone 0800 130 3270.

• Do you have a view about the housing plan? Is 200 homes better than 257?

Share your views with fellow “Crediton Courier” readers. Write a letter, suitable for publication, with your name, address and a daytime telephone number, to The Editorial Manager, “Crediton Courier”, 102 High Street, Crediton EX17 3LF.

Alternatively, email your letter, with the required information to: [email protected] .