Mendip Local Plan Part II: Sites & Policies – Pre-Submission Consultation
Consultation Response Form Please use this form to respond or make representations on Local Plan Part II and associated consultation documents. For information or advice, please contact the Planning Policy Team by email at [email protected] or phone (0300) 303 8588.
Contact Details If you have appointed somebody to act as your agent, please give their contact details. All correspondence will be sent to the agent Name: Mrs Bridget Butt Agent Name: Mr Nigel Salmon
Organisation (if applicable): Company Name:
Salmon Planning Company Ltd
Address: 2 Priory Road, Wells, Somerset Postcode: BA5 1SY Email: [email protected] Tel: 01749 671 500 Date completed Date completed 5 February 2018
Do you wish to be notified of future stages of Local Plan Part II (tick box) x We will contact you by e-mail only unless you confirm here (tick box)
Data protection – please read - The information collected as part this consultation will be processed by the Council in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The purposes for collecting this data are: to assist in plan making; and to contact you, if necessary, regarding the planning consultation process. Please note that representations must be attributable to named individuals or organisations at a postal address. Representations and contact names will be published on the Mendip website but no other personal information Copies of this form are available from Council Offices and Access Points or can be downloaded from www.mendip.gov.uk/localplanpart2 . If you require this document in another format such as Braille, large print or another language then please contact us.
Please use a separate form for each site or main issue you wish to make. You can also attach one contact form to a group of representations. Please make sure any separate documents include your name –so they can be clearly identified.
Please return your response by 5pm Monday 12th February 2018. By post to: Planning Policy, Mendip District Council, Cannards Grave Road, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 5BT By email to: [email protected] By hand to: The Council offices in Shepton Mallet (address above).
Mendip Local Plan Part II: Sites & Policies - Issues and Options Consultation
For office use
Details of Objection/ Comment/Representation
Name Mrs Bridget Butt
Please indicate the document to which your representation relates (e.g. policy, paragraph Para II.24 Stoke St Michael number, HELAA site reference)
Do you consider the Local Plan is Legally Do you consider the Local Plan is Sound 1 ? Compliant? Yes x No Yes x No
Do you consider it necessary to participate at examination hearings? (eg present oral No evidence)
Please provide details below of why you consider the Local Plan is not legally compliant or is unsound. Please be as precise as possible. If you wish to support the legal compliance and soundness of the plan, please also use this box to set out your comments.
Para II.4 Butleigh
Proposed site allocation for custom/self-build housing development
2
Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
Mendip Local Plan Part II
Sites and Policies
Representations on Draft Pre-Submission
Land at Oddway Butleigh
Statement on behalf of Site’s Owners
Mr and Mrs G Butt
Prepared by:
G N Salmon Salmon Planning Company 2 Priory Road Wells Somerset BA5 1SY
LPA Ref: BUT001
Our Ref: PL.3595
Date: January 2018
1 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
1.0 Butleigh
1.1 Butleigh lies on the Somerset Moors close to the main towns of Street (5 km) and Glastonbury (6 km). The village has a population of 823 and supports the following community facilities.
• Post Office and General Store; • Public House • Travel to work public bus service • Primary School • Village Hall • Sports Hall and Playing Fields • Church
1.2 Core Policy 1 of the adopted Part I of the Local Plan classifies Butleigh as a Primary Village, suitable to accommodate most new rural development.
1.3 Core Policy 2 of the Local Plan requires a minimum of 1,700 new homes to be provided in the village of Mendip District over the period 2006 – 2029.
1.4 Table 9 of the Local Plan provides the distribution of housing for each of the identified villages. For Butleigh this requires a minimum of 45 new homes in the village over the Plan period. Planning permission for 13 homes has either been built or has planning permission leaving a residual requirement of 32 houses.
2 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
2.0 The Site
2.1 The village has historically developed around Sub Road and High Street and contains a number of Buildings of Architectural and Historical Interest and a designated Conservation Area. The Village has witnessed late twentieth century housing expansion to the south and north-east of the historic core.
2.2 Barton Road lies at the southern end of the village between the former Butleigh Hospital site to the south and the main body of the village to the north. The site lies at the eastern end of Barton Road, close to the junction with Henley Lane onto which it also has a road frontage. This part of the Village is known as Oddway.
2.3 The site, extending to 1.0 Ha comprises of unmanaged grass field with boundary trees and hedging. The southern boundary has a 70 m frontage onto Barton Road and a 15 m frontage onto Henley Lane.
2.4 The site gently slopes towards a stream which flows along its eastern boundary. It is flanked by housing along three of its boundaries - to the west by a terrace of nineteenth century cottages, to the east an early nineteenth century farmhouse and residential barn conversion and to the south, on the opposite side of Barton Road are 1960’s – 1980’s detached family houses. The north-east part of the site forms a small gap between older and post-war housing in Henley Lane.
2.5 There are no Listed Buildings in the vicinity of the site. The Village Conservation Area lies adjacent to the northern site boundary.
2.6 Vehicular access onto Barton Road is via a field gate access.
3 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
3.0 Site History
3.1 In 2014, the Site owners applied for outline planning permission to develop part of the subject site for 13 dwellings and adjoining land fronting onto Henley Lane to allotment gardens.
3.2 In September 2014 the housing application was refused because it fell outside of the settlement limits of the village and the housing layout failed to reflect the character and appearance of this part of the village.
3.3 No appeal was lodged against this decision.
4 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
4.0 Proposed Land Use Allocation
4.1 The owners of the site are putting forward this 1.0 Ha parcel of land for housing development in Part II of the Local Plan. The surrounding development is low density and not all of the subject site can be developed because of a water course which cuts across the south-east corner of the land. It is therefore suggested that an overall density of 20 dwellings per hectare is applied to this site. This would yield up to 20 dwellings.
4.2 The land owners are proposing to release the land for a self-build/custom build site whereby the site’s infrastructure would be installed to each of the housing plots and these would be designed following a design code to be agreed by the local planning authority. Such an approach would accord with Government policy contained in Para 50 of the National Planning Policy Framework which requires LPAs to plan for people wishing to build their own homes.
4.3 A plan showing the extent of the allocation is shown edged red on the plan attached to this statement.
5 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
5.0 The Site’s Potential Suitable for Meeting Future Housing Needs
5.1 17 sites have been promoted by land owners in the Village for housing development. 4 sites have been discounted by the LPA because of their environmental impact or isolated location from the village.
5.2 The subject site is reference BUT001 in the Council’s SHLAA. This assessed the site as follows:
“Field with road frontage on two edges with a slight slope away to a watercourse in a southerly direction. Low density residential development surrounds the site aside from its northern edge. Site lies south of the main core of the village. Site lies beyond development limits; watercourse on the site. Site is potentially suitable for development subject to identified constraints and consideration of landscape impact.”
5.3 Two other sites shown on the SHLAA have sites which would yield between 58 – 101 dwellings per site. This scale is significantly greater than suggested in Table 8 of the Local Plan as should also be discounted. The remaining 8 sites are smaller scale yielding + or – 10 of the scale suggested in Table 8 of the Local Plan.
5.4 It is suggested three of the site’s referenced BUT002C, 006 and 017 are either not attached to existing housing development or occupy a peripheral and sensitive location in the landscape and are less than suitable for housing development.
5.5 These sites, BUT006a, 10 and 12 all located within the historic core of the village designated as Conservation Area.
5.6 BUT003 and 015 – both of the same size each have a development potential of up to 38 dwellings. BUT003 has been identified as the preferred housing site in the draft Plan yielding up to 32 dwellings at a density of 22 dwellings per hectare.
6 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
5.7 The housing requirement for the District over the plan period is expressed as a ‘minima’. There is nothing in the plan nor in the NPPF to disallow additional housing than planned for.
5.8 In this submission, we are not arguing that the subject site is more suitable for development than the proposed allocation BUT003. We contend the subject site is suitable for development and can yield a self-build development site that adds to the housing mix that is different from the housing delivered under BUT003.
7 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
6.0 Discussion
6.1 The subject site comprises an identifiable body of development extending from the public house at the crossroads with Sub Road and Barton Road eastwards to the crossroads at Oddway. The body of development is physically separate from the main part of the village which lies 130 m to the north. The 2002 Butleigh development boundary only referred to the main village and not the development along Burton Road.
6.2 A well used public footpath provides pedestrian access to the village facilities in the High Street. These comprise a general store and Post Office and Primary School at a distance of 650 m and Playing Fields and Sports Hall of the same distance. The nearest bus stop is located 300 m distant where also the village pub is located.
6.3 The main part of the site is physically contained on three sides by established housing development along Barton Road and the crossroads at Oddway. The finger of land which fronts onto Henley Lane is flanked either side by housing along this lane. Consequently, the development of this site will not result in any physical or visual encroachment of development onto open countryside as would occur on many of the other alternative site’s being promoted in Butleigh.
6.4 In 2014, the site was subject of an ecology survey. This identified the water course, which dissects the south-east, has local value and a 5 m development free buffer should be provided along both banks. Apart from this natural feature, the site displays no interesting, natural or man-made features that would preclude the site’s development.
8 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
7.0 Deliverability of the Site
7.1 The subject site is in single ownership. It is a Greenfield site with no contamination or geophysical constraints.
9 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018 Housing Allocation Land at Oddway, Butleigh
8.0 Conclusion
8.1 The site occupies a disused parcel of agricultural land flanked by village housing. Despite its detachment from the main body of the village it has good and safe pedestrian access to village facilities. This site, unlike others being promoted in the Local Plan, has a road frontage surrounded by existing housing and will not extend the built-up limits of Butleigh onto surrounding countryside.
8.2 There are no constraints on the physical development of the site or its ability to be brought forward for development.
8.3 The site owners are proposing for the site to be developed for custom/self-build housing. This will avoid the sterility of housing design built by a single house builder. This concept of development is distinctive from other sites in the village. It should meet a need for this type of housing in Mendip district, and fulfil the guidance and expectations of National Housing Policy.
8.4 It is therefore requested that this 1.0 Ha site identified red on the attached plan is allocated as a future custom/self-build housing site for up to 20 dwellings.
10 Salmon Planning Company PL.3595 January 2018