Launceston Growth Area Concept Plan Public Consultation Comments
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Information Classification: PUBLIC Launceston Southern Growth Area Concept Plan: Public Consultation 29 June – 10 August 2020 Comments received Launceston Community Development Trust is an ambitious community benefit society with open membership and run by local volunteers. We currently have 35 members, both individuals and local businesses. Our vision is for a better Launceston. Uses and Layout We would like to express our strong support for the Launceston Southern Area Concept Plan. It is clearly a product of hard work and careful thought which has taken on a number of comments made through the consultation to date. The shape, scale and layout we feel are proportionate to the town’s need to grow to support the services and facilities we wish to preserve and enhance. Such a development, if delivered well will enable Launceston to continue to be an influentially market town adapting for the future and serving itself but also as a satellite town serving Truro, Plymouth and Exeter. Climate Change We applaud the intention to encourage the development as part of the town’s response to tackling the global climate emergency, but feel it could go further. It is rare to have such an opportunity to develop such a large series of adjacent sites and more could be done to steer the aspirations we have in the town for renewable district heating and micro electricity grids. All residential and commercial builds should aspire to get as close to net zero carbon. Use of in-roof solar PV, ground source heat pumps and sedum roofing (for biodiversity, natural cooling and to reduce water runoff) could be more clearly encouraged. The development also offers an opportunity to open up Launceston’s spectacular landscape for residents and visitors to enjoy and address the disproportionately small amount of public green space currently available for people to enjoy. The two valleys offer the chance to create green pedestrian and cycle centric highways. The plans as shown illustrate this intention but could be even more ambitious. The green routes should be extended completely through to the main arterial routes into the town and not stop short because of arbitrary existing or anticipated barriers. Local Infrastructure Information Classification: PUBLIC There should also create a clear indication for how these natural flows of pedestrians can be connected to the rest of the town. It is disappointing to see that the concept plan does not attempt to look at ways to address issues that it creates off site. Specifically such a large development area naturally emphasises the town’s dislocation caused by the A30 trunk road. More needs to be done to address this to avoid the town splitting into two districts. For instance a land bridge across the A30 providing a green space above the trunk road connecting Hurdon Road with Dunheved Road replacing the inadequate existing foot bridge. In addition we can see the potential for a cable car connecting the development with the town centre perhaps at the Cornwall Council owned Market carpark, and then onto Ridgegrove and the Kensey valley. We understand these kinds of interventions are beyond the scope of this concept plan but this is a flawed assumption since such a large development zone will change the entire dynamic of the town and so demands a more holistic approach if we are going to avoid more short distance car journeys and the emergence of two neighbouring towns. Sports The proposed sports pitches are laudable but as a stand alone resource will be difficult to manage sustainably. It would be better to have more housing and use the resource to expand the existing facilities near launceston college and coronation park. The scale of the development may even provide enough CIL to perhaps even rebuild Launceston College on the Pennygillam end of their under-utilised playing fields and opening up an chance to extend Coronation Park through the existing school grounds and over the A30 as a single Central Park. This would again prioritise pedestrian routes across the town without having first to navigate narrow and indirect footpaths hidden within or around housing estates. Movements and Connections Cycle and pedestrian routes should be prioritised both in the green spaces and on the roads, both should be sufficiently wide and straight to provide efficient travel options. Car routes should be less straight (safer) and managed (sufficiently narrow with gentle / broad speed bumps). The bridge spanning the east valley is an essential piece of infrastructure that will avoid this area of Launceston become a series of disconnected cul-de-sacs. Any developer on either side of the valley must be obliged through the planning process to configure their site layouts appropriately and contribute proportionately. Neighbourhood Centre Information Classification: PUBLIC The Neighbourhood Centre is well intentioned and an important resource but would be more commercially viable if it was not totally surrounded by houses and instead bordered the valley park making it a more plausible destination venue, or adjacent to the proposed sports pitches so staff could manage and secure these facilities more easily. Launceston CDT was set up to help be the conduit that could help prioritise, develop and steward the neighbourhood elements of Launceston. We would be willing and able to be channel section 106 funds or any CIL as well as act as land owner for the whole site or just those parts that a housing developer would not like to retain once homes have been sold. I am writing to comment on the plans for Launceston Southern Growth Area. I currently live near the proposed development. Firstly, I would like to say that I agree that the proposed development is located in the right area for Launceston to expand, based on the topography of the land surrounding Launceston. I do have some concerns: • I worry that the development will put undue pressure on the road system around the Southern end of Launceston, particularly approaching Pennygillam roundabout and onto the A388 at Stourscombe. I believe traffic attempting to join the A388 is an accident waiting to happen. • I am concerned about the environmental impact of replacing farmland with houses. All the hard surfacing is likely to cause flooding issues in the streams within the proposed development. I appreciate that there are SUDS written in to the plan, but don’t trust the developers to adhere to this. • Similarly, I would like to know how the development fits in to Cornwall’s Net Zero plans. Will the houses be energy efficient enough? Will there be in built solar panels/ground-source heat pumps? Will trees be planted to replace the lost hedgerows/pastureland? Information Classification: PUBLIC • I would like these houses to be pleasant places to live that enhance the local area. Large gardens and green spaces should be available and the houses must be built in the local Cornish vernacular rather than being the identikit yellow boxes seen elsewhere in modern housing developments. • I worry that Launceston’s infrastructure will not cope with the increase in people in the area, particularly the doctor’s surgery/minor injuries and the primary/secondary schools. I would like to see the developers contribute to addressing this, rather than just building houses. • I worry that the houses will not be affordable for local people. It should be a priority for these houses to support local people who will in turn support the local economy, rather than becoming a dormitory town for Plymouth/Exeter. • I have also heard that these houses are frequently sold to councils from England to house their more “difficult” citizens. I feel this wrong on many levels, especially for the citizens of these cities who are effectively forcibly rehoused against their will. I would like Cornwall Council to be more vocal in addressing this. • I have heard that the development at Upper Chapel has been rushed, with many houses built to exceptionally poor standards. I would like Cornwall Council to hold the developers to account over this. • I also have concerns that councillor Neil Burden owns much of the land in this development and therefore cannot be an impartial voice on the matter. He should stand down/be removed from the council if he wishes to develop his land, otherwise it smacks of corruption and gives Cornwall Council a bad name. My most important point is that Cornwall Council must stand firm to the developers and hold them to account over the quality of developments. We know they have the money to do the job properly and in a way that enhances the local are. Please make sure they do so. Information Classification: PUBLIC Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Launceston Southern Growth Area Concept Plan 2020. This document is submitted on behalf of St Woodrow Care Ltd by Red Planning Ltd. In the last few days the government has published the White Paper Planning for the Future and Changes to the Current System. The latter document sets out a revised standard method for housing requirements. The proposed standard housing requirement for Cornwall, calculated by consultancy Lichfields, sees an increase of 1,429 new dwellings per annum. We would urge the Town Council and local authority to take early action to identify Stourscombe Farm as the next allocation for the town. This submission promotes the benefits of the site and of bringing it into the southern growth area. St Woodrow Care Ltd are bringing forward several sites across Cornwall to deliver much needed older person’s accommodation. In fact, to say much needed does not do justice to the severe shortage and critical importance of providing a range of housing solutions for older persons in Cornwall, with and without care.