Classification: OFFICIAL PORep1617 (REDACTED) Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan Green Belt Preferred Options Consultation Response DATE: 11 December 2016 NAME: Mr Richard Biddle ADDRESS: EMAIL: This response refers solely to the proposal to remove Green Belt status from the area of land referred to as Preferred Site Option 1 to the North East of Chesham for the development of 900 homes. I OBJECT to the proposal to remove the Green Belt status from the area of land referred to as Preferred Site Option 1 to the North East of Chesham for the development of 900 homes for the following reasons. Japanese Knotweed Infestation Specifically, it would be unwise to undertake any housing development on land where there is an infestation of Japanese Knotweed. The Green Belt Parcel Reference No 4.020, Area Name Land to the South of Lycrome Road as per the Green Belt Asessment Part Two Draft Report (Ref: http://www.chiltern.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=8730&p=0 Page 39) has an infestation of Japanese Knotweed. See photos. This has been confirmed as Japanese Knotweed by two qualified sources, an onsite tree surgeon and also by taking a sample to Rowan Garden Centre in Chalfont. The infestation is in the Woodland, clearly visible from the bottom South-West corner of the arable field between Deer Park Walk and Nashleigh House and covers the area the size of a tennis court, a hundred yards South of Nashleigh House. After Japanese Knotweed eradication, a process that can take up to five years, mortgage and insurance companies avoid having anything to do with neighbouring properties. If housing goes on this field it may be that the properties remain unsold. This fails to alleviate housing shortage yet has an irreversible detrimental effect on the surrounding environment. Page 1 of 11 Classification: OFFICIAL PORep1617 (REDACTED) Green Belt Parcel Reference No 4.020, Area Name Land to the South of Lycrome Road sits within the area of land referred to as Preferred Site Option 1 to the North East of Chesham. As a homeowner based 200 yards from this Japanese Knotweed infestation, I object vehemently to any proposal that can trigger further infestation of Japanese Knotweed to surrounding areas. Asbestos and Infill From my own experience of living at the Nashleigh Lodge property on Lycrome Road, I am aware that the area (approx 1 acre, possibly more) surrounding the property is built on “landfill”, much of it asbestos. One only needs to dig down 18” locally to hit it. When building a small extension to our house, we had to pay specialists to remove a truck load full of asbestos. It is my understanding that this area was previously the site of a mushroom farm. It is evident that the farm buildings including the asbestos roof were not removed when demolished but used for landfill. It would not be appropriate to build housing on this area of land contained within Green Belt Parcel Reference No 4.020, Area Name Land to the South of Lycrome Road. Both the items above come under the guidance given in NPPF Paragraph 121 on the suitability of sites for new use. National Planning Policy Framework (2012) and the Green Belt The Local Plan should conform to the guidance set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). According to the NPPF, Green Belt status should only be removed for “sustainable development” in “exceptional circumstances”. There is a stated preference for the strong protection for the Green Belt in the National Planning Policy Framework (e.g. paragraph 14, footnote 9, paragraph 17 and section 9). For the avoidance of doubt, unmet need does not in itself constitute the “very special circumstances” necessary to permit inappropriate development in the Green Belt. This is particularly relevant as the exercise to evaluate all possible Brownfield sites locally is not yet completed. The Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) is still only in draft form. It would be incorrect to say that exceptional circumstances exist whilst the HELAA has yet to be completed. The HELAA rejects a number of Green Belt plots that share the same characteristics and fewer constraints than Preferred Site Option 1. Reasons given are vague and uninformative. Other sites were also rejected in the HELAA because it was not known at the time if these plots would become available in the future or, in some cases, the identity of the owners of the plots were not known. This demonstrates that the removal of Green Belt status of Lye Green (Preferred Site Option 1) is not an exceptional circumstance and more appropriate sites that require more research should all be looked at first before falling back on this Lye Green site. Five purpose of the Green Belt According to the NPPF, the Green Belt serves five purposes: 1. To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; 2. To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another; 3. To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment; Page 2 of 11 Classification: OFFICIAL PORep1617 (REDACTED) 4. To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and 5. To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land. The area of Green Belt surrounding Lye Green performs well in these five purposes: To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas It has successfully prevented any further sprawl of built up areas to the North East of Chesham. The Hill Top & Newtown wards border onto arable fields, the existing Green Belt boundary. Those properties that border onto or sit within this area of Green Belt have had restrictions placed upon them when it comes to extending their properties or building new units as evidenced by the number of correctly rejected planning applications. The key reason cited in these applications is the impact to the openness of the Green Belt. Preferred Site Option 1 as Green Belt prevents unrestricted sprawl of the town of Chesham. To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another Lye Green is a distinct hamlet to the North-East of Chesham with its own history and identity. It has its own Green and a pub as a community hub. Preferred Site Option 1 is the Green Belt that surrounds Lye Green. In the event that Green Belt status is removed, Lye Green will just become part of the Town of Chesham and will threaten the nearby hamlets of Orchard Leigh, Whelpley Hill, Ley Hill and Botley with the same fate. Ashley Green, a village one mile to the North will also be under threat of being merged. Preferred Site Option 1 performs well in protecting Lye Green and nearby hamlets from being subsumed by the Town of Chesham, the Green Belt status should not be removed. To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment The three fields that make up this rich agricultural land (2 arable, 1 pasture) plus Woodland that make up Preferred Site Option 1 act as buffer towards adjacent areas of land that have AONB status. As per NPPF Paragraph 112: Local planning authorities should take into account the economic and other benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land. We should not be building on valuable land used for farming. This area is used regularly by Ramblers, dog-walkers, joggers and Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates. If the Green Belt status is removed there will be nothing between the urban sprawl and AONB. We have already seen the erection of a huge air-hanger-sized barn at the farm next to 23 Ashley Green Road without planning permission and with total disregard to building restrictions within the AONB. Why has this building not been demolished yet? Further breaches of this type are more likely if we remove the Green Belt status from Preferred Site Option 1 and impact the openness of surrounding Green Belt. At the moment, the area of Lye Green performs well as a hamlet that sits within the countryside. Remove the Green Belt status and it will become an expanding urban area that impacts and threatens the environment and openness of the surrounding Green Belt. One cannot mention the countryside without mentioning the impact on wildlife. Other Consultation responses from my neighbours will go into more detail on this but parts of Preferred Site Option 1 fall within a Biodiversity Opportunity Area and Biological Notification Site. (Ref: Biodiverstiy and Planning in Buckinghamshire Version 2, March 2014 published by Bucks County Council). Badgers, muntjacs and many other local species of wildlife and birdlife will be irreversibly displaced. These areas, rich with biodiversity, would be severely affected in terms of disturbance, light pollution and Page 3 of 11 Classification: OFFICIAL PORep1617 (REDACTED) connectivity if there was development around them. At a national level, the NPPF covers the protections of biodiversity and geodiversity in paragraphs 117-119 and there are no “exceptional circumstances” in this instance to ignore this guidance. To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns Chesham as a town has its own history and historical buildings as has Lye Green, a hamlet in its own right, with historical buildings of their own. The buildings of Nashleigh House and Lodge on Lycrome Road date back to the late 1800s. Brockhurst Farm and other local properties date back even earlier. The vehicle traffic from and during the upheaval of developing 900 homes will impact the setting and special character of these dated buildings. Surrounding these unique properties with New Builds will fail to preserve them and most likely lead to them being demolished. In the Cala Homes Development during the summer of 2014, local residents had to put up with over a month of heavy duty pile-driving for 40-odd dwellings.