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Barrowden Village Website |
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February Edition |
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Below are details of the current Parish Council Minutes |
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A special meeting of the Parish Council was held in the Village Hall on Wednesday 23rd November 2011 at 8pm to finalise the Parish Council’s response to the site allocations and policies document taking into account the views expressed by the public at the last PC meeting
PRESENT Mr D Lanning, Chairman; Mr J Haddon, Vice-Chairman; Mrs K Humphries; Mr T Blake; Prof N Witts; Mrs G M Wilkinson, Clerk, M B Roper County Councillor for the Ketton ward, 6 members of the public
APOLOGIES Miss J Hughes-Nurse; Mr N R Pridmore; Mrs C Emmett County Councillor for the Ketton Ward
Councillor Blake had prepared a draft response and this was then discussed.
In general the Barrowden Parish Council agrees with the bulk of the Site Allocations & Policies Document, with the exception of one particular item. There is one specific inclusion that the council and a considerable number of residents, feel should be removed from the document. The opinions and feelings were discussed and made clear at a recent village open meeting. The inclusion reference is: SALL/BAR/01 ‘Land at Morcott Road’
1. The area of proposed land is nearly 7 acres of greenfield land (2.81ha), which is an excessively large amount of land for the unnecessary proposed development. Particularly as the last affordable housing development plot in Barrowden was only 0.64 of an acre (0.26ha) and provided space for 7 dwellings. The size of the new proposed plot is nearly 11 times the size; therefore pro-rata could take 76 dwellings! It is felt that this is an excessive size of plot and the project could be very damaging to the Barrowden community.
2. Barrowden Parish Council and residents believe that due to the ‘remoteness’ from the village, it would almost certainly become a isolated enclave completely divorced from the village. This may lead to a number of other problems long term.
3. The road (Morcott Road) that passes the land is a single lane in a number of places, particularly when passing large vehicles. This means that apart from the obvious dangers of vehicles reversing to find wide enough places to pass, the road would be totally unsuitable to ‘feed’ such a development with all the additional traffic, without major development which the village of Barrowden would struggle to cope with and do not want.
4. The drainage infrastructure currently seems to be at its limit. There has been considerable ‘infill’ and new houses built in Barrowden over the last decade, and it appears to be taking its toll on the sewerage system. There have been numerous instances of raw sewage overflowing from man-hole covers in Main Street, Barrowden. Any further development and the system would clearly not cope.
5. There is also great concern with regard to the surface water, grey water and other drainage that would be produced from this possible project. The geomorphology of the indicated land will mean some serious research and considerations will be required to ensure flooding or contamination of existing waterways would not be caused in future extreme conditions.
6. It would represent the most disjointed residential development within one of Rutland’s most beautiful villages. Barrowden has a considerable number of ancient stone properties, a picturesque setting around a village green, an infamous gastro pub, and a highly photographed and painted village pond. All these historical items attract visitors to Rutland, particularly throughout the summer months. At a recent ‘open’ Parish council meeting it was evident that feelings were running high and this proposal would be strongly objected to on all accounts.
7. Within Rutland County Council’s Site Allocations & Policies DPD, there are several appendices, In appendix 5 (excluded sites) of the document, this piece of land is listed as an ‘excluded site’ for ‘mixed use’ therefore it cannot be given an improved infrastructure of supporting utilities, as these would be ‘Contrary to Core Strategy’ as stated. On this basis it becomes a bit of a ‘catch 22’ and therefore should be removed.
8. Following a survey conducted by RCC it was decided that there was no need for further affordable housing at present. Of all the villages in Rutland, Barrowden is one of just 16 out of 52 that have accepted affordable housing; it would be unfair and unreasonable to put a further housing burden upon Barrowden, when the existing infrastructure is already showing signs of not coping.
9. There are no employment prospects in the Barrowden area and no easy way to commute from Barrowden to anywhere with employment without a car. Barrowden’s public transport system is very erratic and mostly does not function. People requiring affordable housing will almost certainly require employment, facilities, public transport and an infrastructure that will enable them to improve their circumstances. Barrowden cannot provide this.
10. The previous cluster of 7 affordable houses that were built in Barrowden proved to be difficult to gain full occupancy. The first 4 dwellings were eagerly awaited and were occupied upon completion of the development. However, the remaining 3 dwellings took much longer to secure residents. Many of the villagers knew that there were a handful of local people hoping to gain one of the properties before the development were even agreed to, so in some ways there was a partial justification. However, in the instance of this new project there is no such demand from the village, which should be a requirement to comply with the affordable housing charter.
11. The land in question has previously been drawn to your attention as part of a ‘high yield land bank investment scheme’ see letters and brochure that follows. It has been part of a so called ‘land-bank scheme’ that buys agricultural land and ‘re-zones’ it by playing on the Governments apparent chronic shortage of land for housing in Britain, and sells it to speculating investors. The company that is involved in this particular ‘land-bank’ scheme bypasses the County Council and uses its might to gain approval and re-zoning directly from the Deputy Prime Ministers office, which completely over rules local councils.
Barrowden Parish Council would appreciate notification if any further sites come up for consideration, so that our Parish Council and our Barrowden residents have ample opportunity to comment on them before publication of the Preferred Options document. Councillor Blake also displayed photographs of the Morcott Road site.
After discussion the Parish Council felt that this was a satisfactory response and Councillor Humphries proposed, seconded by Councillor Witts that it should be forwarded to Rutland County Council, and this was agreed by all members.
This being the end of items for discussion, the meeting then closed.
Last updated: 30 December 2011 |
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Minutes of the Special meeting of Barrowden Parish Council held in the Village Hall on Wednesday 23rd November 2011 at 8pm. |
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Parish Council Minutes |
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To view minutes of previous meetings, please click on the appropriate date. |
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23 November 2011 minutes available 9 November 2011 minutes available 7 September 2011 minutes available 13 July 2011 minutes available 11 May 2011 minutes available 16 March 2011 minutes available 9 March 2010 (APM) minutes available
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