05/01429/OUT MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT COMPRISING OF RESIDENTIAL (APPROXIMATELY 500 DWELLINGS), A MIXED USE LOCAL CENTRE (USE CLASSES A1-A5, CLASS B1 AND D1), COUNTRY/LINEAR PARK EXTENSION, STRUCTURAL LANDSCAPING, OPEN SPACE AND PLAY AREA AND ASSOCIATED HIGHWAYS AND INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS (OUTLINE) AT Stantonbury Park - Land North of, Wolverton Road, Stantonbury FOR Genesis Holdings Ltd INTRODUCTION The application site of 'Stantonbury Park' lies on the northern edge of Milton Keynes and totals approximately 71 hectares. The site currently comprises open grassed farmland, divided through the middle in an east west direction by the canal. The area north of the canal stretches to as far as a track, which flanks a series of lakes, the remains of St Peter Church and a scheduled ancient monument. The area to the south of the canal is triangular in shape and is bound to the south and south east by the Wolverton Road and to the west by a woodland belt. The civic amenity site lies to the southwest corner. The site is currently in agricultural use predominantly for pasture with a small area of arable cultivation. The farm buildings, which lie to the southeast of the site on the Wolverton Road with the exception of the main house and a large grain store, have been converted to office use. The site is located within the parish of Haversham although it lies on the edge of the urban areas of Stantonbury, Great Linford and New Bradwell. The cemetery lies on the opposite side of Wolverton Road to the site. CURRENT APPLICATION The application which is in outline is accompanied by a Development Brief, an Environmental Impact Assessment and a Transport Assessment which indicate the proposal to include: * Residential development capable of accommodating at least 500 dwellings of which 30% are affordable housing, predominantly 2 storey with 3/3.5 storey buildings in key locations to act as landmarks and provide definition (approx. 15 hectares) * A local centre, comprising a mix of employment, retail, residential and community and leisure uses (approx 1 hectare) * Associated highways and highway junctions, foul drainage, surface water drainage, balancing areas, and integrated public transport routes (approx 2 hectares) * Extension to Linford Lakes Linear park in order to create a Country Park and new play areas for a range of ages (approx. 50 hectares) * Associated structure landscaping and earthworks (approx 3 hectares) The new local centre is proposed to be situated towards the southwestern corner of the site along the main transport corridor through the development and adjacent to Wolverton Road Housing areas are proposed with the intention that the density of the housing would vary from typical low/medium density of housing on the northern fringes of the site through to medium and higher density areas located towards the centre of the site, adjacent to the principal corridor of movement. The proposal indicates a new access road through the site linking from the existing Saxon Street/Wolverton Road junction through to a new access to the east of the site linking back onto Wolverton Road. This road will become a new transport corridor. The whole of the area of new build development is set within a strong landscape framework of public open space and strategic landscape infrastructure. A landscape 'linear parkway' corridor is also located through the north-south central axis of the residential development area, providing a connection from the linear park to Wolverton Road. A significant feature of the proposed development is a major area of open amenity space, comprising the whole undeveloped northern part of the site, to provide an extension to the Linford Lakes Linear Park and form a country park. It is intended that this area should be managed in such a way as to encourage ecological diversity whilst at the same time providing informal recreation opportunities. A balancing pond is proposed with a sustainable drainage system used to ensure that there is no adverse flooding effects within the development or downstream along the River Great Ouse. PLANNING HISTORY The site was not allocated in the Second Deposit Draft Local Plan but was put forward by the applicants as an omission site. The site was considered at the Local Plan Inquiry held between October 2003 and June 2004. The inspectors report following the Inquiry recommended that the Local Plan should include a Modification to allocate an Expansion Area at Stantonbury Park for a residential development of 500 houses, a country park, and a local centre. The site was subsequently allocated for this form of development within the proposed modifications to the Second Deposit Local Plan published in June 2005 under a new policy EA7. Cabinet and Council considered responses to the Local Plan Modifications in October and November 2005; no further changes to Policy EA7 were proposed. The Council has now adopted the Local Plan. The submitted outline application incorporates all those requirements/criteria set out in policy EA7. The Council's Local Development Scheme, approved by Cabinet in March 2005 and by the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) in April included the production of a Supplementary Planning Document for the Stantonbury Park site. In the knowledge of the new planning system and the requirement to have an adopted masterplan for the site prior to the determination of any planning application, a number of consultation events took place prior to the submission of the planning application to give an opportunity to people to raise issues on the development of the site. Representatives of the developer and their planning consultants attended the events. This informal and 'frontloaded' consultation programme is in addition to the statutory consultation procedures on the Development Brief itself. The Council and the developer have taken a collaborative approach to public consultation in respect of this site, which is consistent with the requirements of the new planning system to involve stakeholders earlier in the process. The Council does not yet have an adopted Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) but the approach taken through the focus groups and exhibitions was considered appropriate under the new system. MAIN ISSUES The main issues are: - 1) Compliance with policy, government guidance and acceptability 2) Development Brief Design and layout 2) Planning Obligations- whether the proposed levels of contributions are fair and reasonably related to the nature and scale of the development. CONSULTATIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS Buckinghamshire and River Ouzel Internal Drainage Board have no comments. Minerals and Waste Team have no objection. Waste collection needs to be considered especially from flat blocks. Beds, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust have no objections subject to the mitigation in the EIA being adhered to and management being put in place. It is also essential that appropriate long term funding of the site is formulated with the developer and secured through S106. Rights to ride representative - The masterplan is too small; plans fail to show cycle routes through the development; the plans omit the proposed bridleway running from Newport Pagnell end linkage, crossing the existing canal up to the old church; there needs to be a linkage from Newport Pagnell to existing redways; linkages have been removed from the previous scheme; dangerous at grade crossing to the New Bradwell end linkage Arts Officer advises that an artist works with the developer from an early stage to identify integrated projects that involve and engage new communities. 1% of capital costs to this work in accordance with policy. Urban Design recommend that the brief be altered especially in relation to the 'built form' plan, which should be amended, to illustrate that there are a number of problems with it. These have now been dealt with the adopted Development Brief. British Waterways are broadly happy with the details of the development brief but their main concern is that is that the design of the open space edge of the housing area should be high quality. The proposed accesses for vehicles and pedestrians through the area and into the parkland are also important considerations. The dwellings on the edge should face out over the linear park with a wide public path to define the edge and limited planting to allow visibility. Structures across the canal and towing paths will have to be upgraded to allow for increased usage. Permission with BW needs to be discussed in relation to works to the canal, any displacement of moorings, safety and security and discharge into the canal. Environment Agency broadly agrees with the principles of surface water proposals and the Flood Risk Assessment but requires further details including a model of the watercourse and volumes and flow controls for the required attenuation. They have confirmed that surface water drainage issues can be dealt with through S106 and conditions. Rights of Way Officer has no objections subject to the right of way remaining open and its character maintained. Environmental Health - Contaminated Land have no objections subject to conditions; Air Quality have no objections and Noise considers that a further noise study be carried out on the impact of increased road traffic noise at a detailed stage. English Heritage has no objections to the application or the development brief. The local badger consultant, Mr Frewin found no badger setts or signs English Nature is satisfied that this development is unlikely to impact on any statutory designated sites. Within the Brief they are happy to see that sustainable construction techniques will be incorporated into the development such as SUDS and use of Eco-homes. The Parks Trust represented by David Lock Associates indicates that the Trust's concerns relate to the potential impact of the development on Stantonbury Local Centre, which it owns and manages. The proposed Local Centre is situated in a prominent position and is likely to attract passing trade as well as local customers and as such they state that it could be argued that the proposed centre could have an adverse impact on the vitality and viability of Stantonbury Local Centre.