Category Archives: HFDAG
Miller Homes – Support
30th May 2013
Brilliant news BAN5 has officially been deferred. The main reason’s are; It was a premature application, meaning it has been submitted during the Local Plan whilst it’s still being considered. The council has the right to defer the decision as they could argue they haven’t agreed the areas in which to build. Only because the submission of the local plan is imminent and out for public consultation are they able to do this. Any other time it would have been accepted. The second reason is the boundary. As we highlighted to them they deferred a similar application to the south, the BAN5 application was identical to the same reasons they gave for rejecting Saltway in November (also including prematurity). According to the press, public pressure made them realise they needed to act and defer the plans.
However this doesn’t mean it won’t get the go ahead. This is where Antony’s numbers plays a considerable part. As you are aware we are currently trying to prove that CDC have made a big mistake in the planning numbers. IF we can get them to see that we are correct, they may reconfigure their numbers.
So what next…The local plan has to go to the secretary of state who will appoint a planning inspector. The planning inspector will hold a hearing at CDC offices. I have asked if I can speak to him to put our case forward. He doesn’t have to see me if he doesn’t want to but let’s hope he does. The inspector will look at the plans that CDC have submitted and they will decide if the Local Plan is valid. They could change everything CDC has suggested in terms of numbers and locations or they could agree with them and approve the plan, which in turn will lead to persimmon building on BAN5. However the deferment gives us a bit of time to gather information, prepare to fight further and gain interest.
I have forwarded on the numbers presentation to other groups around Banbury to get their views but also to see if we can, as a much larger group, encourage the council to reassess these numbers. If the numbers come down then so does the demand for building houses. The problem being the developers read the local plan and see that CDC are suggesting they are short and therefore more housing is needed. The developers all quote the same thing…our houses will help CDC fulfil their housing need.
Thanks to everyone that submitted a reply to the council, it was only from this pressure that they gave in.
Following on from the meeting we had with the councillors, they have suggested our numbers are not great enough. I ask you all to encourage people to join the group, we need as many as we can….
We are looking to start a petition around the estate, which Moira will take lead on. So we are looking for volunteers to help go around Hanwell Fields to get signatures. If anyone can spare just a bit of time to go door to door that would be really helpful. Please email admin@hfdag,org.uk if you can help. I’ll get the sheets printed so don’t worry about that, Moira will liaise.
We are also looking at putting together a few events to raise awareness of the campaign, more news to follow on that.
The presentations from HFDAG meeting with the councillors
After a successful meeting on the 11th May with some of councillors, I’d just like to thank everyone that attended. I was pleased to see the passion that people put in to their questions. The councillors must realise that we are upset about these developments and that they really need to start to listen.
As requested please find copies of the presentations that we put forward. Admittedly mine ended up being cut short mostly down to time but also because others had asked similar questions.
A full analysis of the meeting with be discussed and then published.
Press Releases, Meetings and CDC numbers
Things are picking up a pace, Cherwell Council are sticking to this ludicrous idea of planning numbers by insisting the local plan is based on the old, out of date SE plan. This actually says a whole lot more about the council as much as their policy. They are infact the ones that are out of date. What we want to see is a clearly defined local plan that CDC can say with validity has been produced using the right methods, with the right skills for the right reasons.
As we have said time and time again the latest NPPF does not require such a number of houses over such a period of time. Using the NPPF, as they should, CDC only need to produce a small local plan which shows Bankside and Canalside. (these site constitute 12.6 years worth of housing). Our Latest Press Releases say it all.
We are arranging a meeting with the CDC councillors, we are planning for May 11th, 3pm at the Hanwell Fields Community Centre. If you are interested in attending then please contact admin via the contact page
BAN2 Updated Plans – Letters from CDC
Many of you will have received letters in the post today from CDC about changes to the development at Southam Road. It seems that someone, somewhere has engaged their brain and decided that the site would have a detrimental effect on the visual landscape of Banbury and the surrounding area. The numbers for this development have been reduced from the original 880 houses down to 600. The most significant reduction being on the area to the west of Southam Road (bottom of Dukes Meadow Drive) where the number of houses is now 90 from 370. However it I have also seen that Banbury Town Council are supporting this site to encourage the use of traffic calming on Southam Road. I think a few emails to Banbury Town Council may be in order as well !!!
Latest Press Release’s
HFDAG Press Release 122 – Impact of proposed developments on North Banbury
Press Release 122
HFDAG Press Release 121 – Cherwell housing plans are still wrong
Press Release 121
HFDAG Press Release 120 – The worst planning application yet, “Land Grabs”
Press Release 120
HFDAG Press Release 119 – Letter of objection sent to Cherwell District Council, January 2013 North Hanwell Fields proposed development (BAN2)
Press Release 119
The revised Local Plan has been published
CDC have just published the revised Local Plan for public consultation. This is the last step before it is presented to the Secretary of State for final decision. Given the coalitions stance on housing and development this more likely to be passed without any consideration on what we believe to be acceptable. So much for the Localism Act.
The revised plan has basically ignored all our concerns. The only minor change I can see is they are proposing a reduction of housing on the land to the west of southam road. Currently from 300 down to 90. However the number for north of hanwell fields (BAN5) has increased from 400 to 500. Everything else is still on the cards.
I just need to point out that I have not completely read all the documentation as there are a number of documents many of which are 300 pages each. So please bear with me.
The only thing that is slightly to our advantage is the local county council elections are coming up. Perhaps we should send a message to our councillors that they really need to start listening to us or they will no longer be councillors. The thing that I’m most concerned with is – who or what lets these out of touch idiots make such decisions about the direction and the structure (both physically and socially) of Banbury. We have a chief exec from a different council, we have a council leader and the head of planning committee who both live outside the district, how can they possibly have our best interests in mind.
The attraction for people to move to Banbury is the rural market town that it presents itself as. It is not a sprawl of urban defecation that many people want to avoid and yet this council is determined to change the very fabric that makes this town so appealing and turn in to excatly that. They should be ashamed to be our local councillors.