Planning and Payments ! 8th September 2014 Blackwater and Hawley Town Council Council Offices, Blackwater Centre, 12-14 London Road, Blackwater, Hampshire GU17 9AA Tel: (01276) 33050 [email protected] ! www.blackwaterandhawleytowncouncil.gov.uk Minutes of the Meeting of the Planning and Payments Committee At the Hawley Memorial Hall, Hawley Green Monday! 8th September 2014 at 7pm In Attendance Cllr Hennell (chair planning and payments), Cllr Clarke, Cllr Smith, Cllr Collett, * Cllr Blewett and Mr Gahagan executive officer. Over one hundred members of the public. P&P4222 Apologies Cllrs Hayward, Thames and Keene P&P4223 Councillors’ Declarations of Pecuniary Interests (DPI’s) and/or Councillors’ Dispensations There were no pecuniary interests declared by councillors or dispensations to be considered at the meeting P&P4224 Report of the Chair of the Planning and Payments Committee The committee agreed to take the planning application item 8. A. 3. 14/01817/MAJ. Land to North of Fernhill Lane next, after the democratic fifteen minute agenda item. Cllr Hennell then informed the meeting that she had asked Cllr Collett to chair the meeting because of his knowledge of this application and this was agreed. Cllr Collett then chaired the meeting for this agenda item. P&P4225 Democratic Fifteen Minutes The overwhelming majority of the public in attendance were from the Rushmoor Council area. It was agreed to allow members of the public, the vast majority of which lived outside the parish, to have their say and it was further agreed to extend the democratic fifteen minute agenda item to allow for this. *7.07pm Cllr Blewett arrived at the meeting. Each speaker was against the development of the land for 125 houses to the north of Fernhill Lane. Criticisms included poor communication by Hart District Council to neighbours in the vicinity, damage to the historic Hawley Park, the impact on Fernhill Lane, safety concerns about secondary access to the development and flooding and infrastructure concerns. The chair reminded the members of the public that they must submit their objections direct to Hart under reference 14/01817. At 8.10pm the democratic fifteen minute agenda item was concluded. P&P4226 Planning Matters 3. 14/01817/MAJ. Land to North of Fernhill Lane Cllr Blewett advised the meeting that as he was also on the main planning committee at Hart District Council that he was unable to give his opinion at the meeting because he had to keep an open mind. It was expected however that this planning application would be considered by the planning committee at Hart in early November. He also advised that he was empowered to arrange a site meeting by the Hart planning committee prior to this planning application being decided by them. The Town Council strongly objects to the above application for the following reasons: 1. Strategic Gap The development would intrude into the vital Strategic Gap which separates Hawley and Farnborough. It would breach the District/Borough Council boundary which currently separates the urban area of Farnborough from this rural part of Hawley. What would there be to stop further development on other fields in the gap until there is hardly any left at all? 2. Conservation Area The development would be totally inappropriate in the Hawley Park and Green Conservation Area, as it is alien to the rural nature of this Conservation Area. We would ask how does this development preserve or enhance the Conservation Area as it would be required to do. 3. Historic Hawley Park The development would destroy the integrity of the historic Hawley Park. The rich history and setting of Hawley Park are accurately represented by its rural nature, and the introduction of an urban development of this scale would be totally alien to that. !19. Planning and Payments! 8th September 2014 4. Main Access The location of the main access raises strong concerns about safety near two blind bends. The introduction of a right turning lane would do nothing to encourage safer driving and lower speeds. It is clear that something more substantial would be needed, such as a proper roundabout, in order to make this access junction safe in the context of the traffic already using the road. 5. Secondary Access What is there to stop the emergency access coming into general use at some time in the future? This would be an entirely inappropriate location for access into such a large development. Also, if pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are able to access onto Fernhill Lane, what safety measures will be put in place both for their emergence onto, and for their journeys along, such a beautiful lane, without ruining Farnborough’s last historic sunken lane. 6. Traffic Volumes Turning left out of the site, there is already quite severe congestion at the Hawley Church Traffic Lights and at the A30 junction. Vicarage Road also suffers long queues waiting to get onto the A30. Turning right out of the site, there is already severe congestion at the A325 Farnborough Road junction, particularly during peak hours. The traffic from this new estate will add to congestion at all these junctions. It also ought to be noted that Hawley Road/Hawley Lane is the route from Farnborough Ambulance Station to the whole Blackwater and Yateley area. Increased incidences of severe congestion at each of these junctions will put more people’s lives at risk when ambulances are consequently delayed. 7. Air Pollution Some years ago Blackwater was found to have the highest levels of air pollution within Hart District. This was caused by the sheer volumes of traffic in Blackwater and the regular congestion seen there. Intelligent traffic management has managed to reduce air pollution to acceptable levels. Additional congestion caused by this development, however, could return us to previous levels of air pollution, which is a serious concern for the large number of people who live and work in Blackwater. 8. Bus Services Contrary to the extraordinary claim in paragraph 2.14 of the Planning Statement that “the site has excellent bus connections”, the reality is that the bus connections here are very poor. Apart from college buses, the only service which runs along Hawley Road is the service 82, which runs just once one way in the morning and twice the other way in the afternoon, well before the return from work rush-hour. In order to justify their extraordinary claim the applicants make much of the service 2 in their Framework travel Plan, making light of the fact that the nearest bus stops are nearly double the normal acceptable distance for people to walk, brushing that off as merely “guidance”. 9. Rail Services It is hard to imagine that anyone commuting regularly to London would walk 750 m to the bus stop in order to catch the service 2, which only runs once every half hour, in order to get to Farnborough Station. They would have no public transport option at all for getting to Blackwater Station, as the service 82 runs in the wrong direction at each end of the day. Connections to the rail network would be almost wholly reliant on car transport, guaranteeing that the feared additions to congestion at local junctions will materialise. The site, therefore, is an unsustainable place to develop. 10. Infrastructure There is strong competition to get into local schools and other facilities such as GP surgeries. This significant addition to the population of the area will make those problems worse and there is nothing in the proposals to mitigate these effects. 11. Surface Water Significant volumes of water already flood out of the site into Fernhill Lane. The roads, footways, drives and roofs of any development will generate significantly more surface water, which will run off the site very quickly. One balancing pond in the bottom corner of the site is a very unconvincing solution to this problem. 12. Foul Sewerage There have been occasions when foul sewerage systems in the area have been overloaded during times of heavy rain. No development should be allowed on this site unless the whole system is first brought up to a standard whereby it can cope. It is totally unacceptable to put other residents further downstream at risk of sewage flooding as a result of this development. 13. Bridlepath Facilities Horse riders currently use the fields to get through to the western parts of historic grounds of Hawley Park and to Hawley Common. Unless alternative bridlepath facilities are provided they will be forced to take their horses along Fernhill Lane, which is a dangerous route for young horse riders because of the speed of traffic. Further equestrian use would also then take place on the already busy Fernhill Road. !20. Planning and Payments! 8th September 2014 14. Premature to Emerging Local Plan Any consideration of development of this site is premature to the proper planning of the area through the emerging Local Plan, which would be unlikely to allocate such an unsustainable site, which intrudes into the Farnborough/Hawley Strategic Gap, is alien to the nature of the Hawley Park and Green Conservation Area and would destroy the !integrity of the historic Hawley Park The chair also stated that two other big planning applications were due to be decided later in the week by the Hart planning committee and he advised the public to visit the Hart website and or read the local papers for the decision as there was a number of developer applications being submitted in a like manner up and down the country. 8.42pm the meeting was suspended 8.52pm the meeting was reconvened and Cllr Hennell resumed as chair of the meeting P&P4227 Minutes After consideration the minutes of the planning and payments meeting, held on 11th August 2014, were signed as a correct record by the chair.