Eastleigh Local Plan 2016 -2036 1. Submission version 2. Strategic Environmental Appraisal Objections by Twyford Parish Council August 2018 1. Introduction The Parish of Twyford is within the South Downs National Park. Twyford is included in the South Downs National Park because of the quality of its heritage, ecology and landscape. Because the whole parish is part of the National Park, its environment is given national importance with the obligation to protect its natural beauty. The National Park status gives it the highest level of protection from most development. The purposes and duty of the National Park are to: 1. Conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area 2. To promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the National Park by the public All authorities have a duty when carrying out their statutory duties to have regards to these purposes, and where there is an irreconcilable conflict between these statutory purposes, statutory requires the Sandford Principle to be applied, and the first purpose of the national park will be given priority. See Section 62 environment Act 1995. As Twyford will be affected by the proposals of the Eastleigh Local Plan, Eastleigh Council itself must have regard to the Statutory Duty. Twyford Parish Council (TPC) objects to the EBLP in respect the proposals growth to the north and east of Fair oak and the North of Bishopstoke. This objection is both to the Eastleigh Local Plan policies and the Strategic Appraisal (SEA) Twyford has been preparing a Neighbourhood Plan for the last 4 years, and has accumulated a significant evidence base which is used to support these objections. This is set out in www.twyfordneighbourhoodplan.com. which also includes links to a series of reports commissioned to inform the TNP. Strategic environmental appraisal (SA) has been carried out on the draft Twyford Neighbourhood Plan. The final version is awaited, and will be submitted when published. In addition TPC has had the benefit of seeing the objections of Winchester City Council (of which Twyford is part) and of Colden Common Parish Council which is our neighbouring parish and with which Twyford has strong community ties and shared interests. TPC endorses both objections and, where appropriate, relies on their evidence. 2. Twyford: description 2.1 General The 2011 census gives Twyford a population of 1595 which is an increase of 139 from the 2001 census. 744 of inhabitants are male and 851 female. 23% of households contain someone with a long term illness or disability. The proportion of population over 65 is relatively higher than for the Winchester area where the increase has been 50% over the past 20 years. The 2017 Population estimate of HCC shows a population increase of 51 since 2011 (i.e.to 1646), and a further significant increase in percentage of people over 60. The 2011 census shows about 674 households within the parish, an increase from 628 in 2001. Twyford has about 50% more detached houses than the South East generally and more than Winchester. Twyford’s houses are larger than average too and the population skewed to higher earners. Over the last 14 years, Twyford has experienced nearly 10% growth in housing, most of which has been at Northfields and Bournefields with infilling elsewhere. The facilities in the village are: • Shop with Post Office and cafe • Hairdressers x 2 • Pharmacy • Doctors Surgery • Dentist • Chiropractor • Physio • Two pubs .one with restaurant • Social Club • Village hall • Two Churches • Sports ground with football cricket tennis and pavilion • Allotments • 2 Play areas • Old people’s home • Businesses which sell directly to the public • Golf club • Stables and livery There are two schools - a flourishing C of E village school (approx 160 pupils) and a private Prep School for about 400 pupils. There is a business park/ industrial estate employing about 200 people in about 25 separate firms with consent to expand and for a 130 bed care home. Twyford acts as a service centre for neighbouring settlements in respect of its doctor’s surgery, extensive employment base, primary school, private school, shop, cafe, golf club and pubs. 2.2 Historical The history of Twyford is astonishingly rich, varied and ancient; this is evident in its historic landscape. It enjoys important natural benefits like the ample and constant water of the Itchen River and the fertile soil and natural woodland. These are the basic ingredients of a settled agricultural life and a key foundation for the prosperity of Twyford over the centuries. The village also sits astride lines of communication. The east-west axis was created first, via the fords of the Itchen leading to the ridgeways. Later, north-south routes became important, connecting the interior of the country with the south coast and its many ports. A number of roads, the river navigation and the railway line still run in a narrow 500 m corridor through the parish and remain dominant features of the landscape. Twyford is, of course, close to Winchester, a city for nearly 2000 years and capital of England from around 900 to 1200. In its day (and before the Black Death), Winchester was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Europe. For much of that time Winchester was dependent on the produce of its surrounding villages, of which Twyford was always among the most productive. Twyford was a valuable manor of the Bishop of Winchester from Saxon times to 1552; the detailed records of its management from 1108 onwards are recorded in the Pipe Rolls and from 1553 in the papers of the Mildmay family, all in the Hampshire Record Office. Twyford shows evidence of continuous occupation, perhaps as far back as the Bronze Age (2000 BC). The church is thought to stand on a ritual place of the Iron Age (1200 BC). There is a Roman villa in Park Lane and recent excavations in the grounds of Twyford School revealed an early Saxon cemetery. There are seven ancient monuments within the parish, including a Bronze Age barrow, a Roman villa and a 20th century pumping station, with around 70 listed buildings dating from the 14th to the 19th Centuries. There are several mansions and grand houses with grounds, dating from the 1600s to the present day. The village is Saxon in origin; it is in two parts: North Twyford is probably the earlier part whilst South Twyford was probably established later but before the Norman Conquest. The village runs north-south, parallel to the Itchen but generally above the valley floor except for some 19th century building in what is now the village centre. The ground rises steeply to the east of the village with some more modern building on higher ground. There is an extensive Conservation Area which incorporates the older parts of the village, both north and south, and the surrounds of the fords of which there are three. The character of the village is immensely varied 2.3 Ecology Twyford’s ecology is of national and international importance in its own right, both for the species it supports and for their habitats. The River Itchen is a chalk stream of exceptional quality; (SAC); it is a salmon river, otters live along it and it is home to specialized and rare insects and plant communities. Because of this, the water courses and much of the water meadows are subject to European and national designations. Twyford has several areas of biologically rich downland, where the chalk downland turf has survived without ploughing and is nutrient poor; it supports a much more diverse and numerous floras than cultivated land. This in turn is the habitat of many types of rare butterfly. In the parish the best areas are the SSSIs of Twyford Down (a nature reserve with St Catherine’s Hill) and the dongas on the Morestead Road and Hockley Golf Course and Watley Down. There are ancient woodlands at Gabriel’s Copse, Cockscomb Hill Copse, Roundbushes Copse and Hazeley Copse, all of which are designated as Sites of Nature Conservation Interest. The small fields, open spaces and large gardens around and in the village provide additional habitat and form buffers with human activity. There are several schemes for the protection and enhancement of key existing habitats in the parish. These are mostly the initiative of the Environment Agency (where water is involved) and DEFRA working through Natural England. Both Agencies grant aid to landowners and the local communities, and are assisted in land management by Hampshire and IOW Wildlife Trust and the South Downs National Park. Twyford Parish Council is directly involved in this effort through their ownership of the Meads and of Berry Meadow which are part of the Itchen floodplain. The Twyford Waterworks and Hockley Golf Course websites, to which links are given below, provide useful information on some of the heritage and important wildlife in these areas. 2.4 Landscape The protection and enhancement of Twyford’s landscape is a primary objective of the Neighbourhood Plan, taking its lead from the South Downs National Park. Twyford is included in the national park because its topography and historic landscape exhibit the key features of the South Downs - extensive farmed chalk hills with long horizons and small intimate valleys with the village low down close to the river. Twyford is at the extreme western end of the South Downs National Park and acts a gateway to it. It also forms, with other land outside the National Park, the setting of the historic city of Winchester at its most sensitive southern end. The western and south-western parts of the parish separate the village from the neighbouring but distinct settlements of Colden Common and Shawford and Compton.