On Monday evening (16 May) Purton Parish Council refused the application for the 26 houses at Pavenhill.
Wiltshire Council is currently considering the application. It is anticipated that the decision will be made on Monday 18 July.
If you wish to comment on the suitability of this application this should be done by Thursday 2 June 2016 on-line.
Some thinking points for your consideration:
- The layout plan is very regimented which is not in keeping with the arrangements of the existing surrounding houses (which reflect the local topography);
- Some archaeology of interest was found (some about 1500 AD and some 6000 – 10000 BC) which warrants more extensive survey of the specific location (proposed play area and the pumping station);
- The limited ecological survey failed to identify any badger activity though this is known from current local knowledge. Given that planning permission cannot be granted for development which would have an adverse effect on badgers (Badgers Act 2000) this is grounds for default dismissal of the application;
- The Design and Access Statement makes light of the difficult access conditions to the Pavenhill shops and also of the limited public transport options which render the site unsustainable;
- The Statement ignores the likelihood that all school children will need to be driven to the local schools, given the hazardous alternative of walking;
- The privacy encroachment and potential diversion of existing rights of way all add to the unsustainability of the site;
- The urbanisation of the access arrangements demonstrate the inherent unsuitability of this location and change the character of the transport corridor into the village;
- The Statement continues to emphasise the good public transport links that can be accessed by walking from the site ~ this is simply impractical on any routine basis;
- The Flood Risk Assessment makes very little reference to climate change effects of which there is now a great deal known with considerable work undertaken on behalf of the Government;
- The long-term cost of the drainage arrangements is assumed to be passed to Wiltshire Council or to an unknown management company;
- The Site Waste Management Plan is a generic template with no clear alignment as to likely waste streams arising from this specific development;
- The Transport Statement is unaligned with Wiltshire Council’s Core Policy 60 (Sustainable Transport) since the site offers no effective sustainable transport options due to its location, though it tries to make a case by suggesting “… cycling will potentially be attractive to new residents” due to the low traffic speeds of Pavenhill Road and thus making all facilities accessible, from the Pavenhill shops to the schools!;
- The Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment acknowledges that “… Overall, there will be a Minor Negative Significance of Impact on the components and character of the landscape.“;
- The Planning Statement ignores that Wiltshire Council will be publishing its Five-Year Housing Land Supply soon, that the so-called “New Eastern Villages Neighbourhood Plan” is misnamed, that the developer made no contact with the Purton Neighbourhood Plan Working Group and that the emerging neighbourhood plan clearly shows that this location is unsustainable and also lies outside the emerging neighbourhood plan and the current and revised settlement boundary.
If you wish to comment on the suitability of this application this should be done by Thursday 2 June 2016 on-line.
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