Hill Farm affordable housing
Please help us to protect Stapleford’s heritage!
Our organisation has been established to conserve the historic and Green Belt heritage of the village of Stapleford, Cambridge.
Many local residents have recently felt Stapleford’s Green Belt to be under threat again — this time from a planning application submitted in March 2006 for affordable housing at Hill Farm, Gog Magog Way, Stapleford. The entirety of the land in question is in the Green Belt and is not far from the precious Magog Down.
It is part of the definition of the Green Belt that there is a strong presumption against development of any kind within it. However, in paragraph GB2:5 of South Cambs Local Development Plan, there is an ‘exceptions policy’ for affordable housing. This policy is nevertheless strictly constrained. For example, it has to be shown that no other site outside the Green Belt would be possible and that there is a genuine housing need of the kind being offered. If an exception is then made, it still has to conform to all parts of policies HG7 and HG8. This would mean that the houses or flats have to be guaranteed to be ‘affordable housing’ in perpetuity. This is very difficult to guarantee. Unless this guarantee is given, however, a contractual guarantee binding in perpetuity (not for a few years - but in perpetuity), then policy dictates that permission cannot be given for such development in Green Belt. Policy HG8 is then quite explicit that the scheme should be appropriate in scale and character and should not damage the character of the village or rural landscape. In this connection, it is not simply the houses or flats that have to be taken into account — but the general infrastructure required, and the noise and traffic and so on. Every house or flat on offer will have a very much greater impact than the accommodation alone would suggest.
If you click here you can see the site and submission details of the application and if you click here, you will see a closer outline of the accommodation on offer. This includes: 8 1-bedroom flats; 13 2-bedroom houses; 4 3-bedroom houses; 37 car spaces; and land for a football pitch.
The period of consultation formally expired on 6th April 2006. Local meetings have been held and letters have been written by local residents to the Parish Council and to the Planning Department at Cambourne. The decision now rests with South Cambs District Council Planning Committee. You could still make your views known to Charlie Nightingale, one of the District Councillors on this Planning Committee. He can be contacted at 2, Mingle Lane, Great Shelford, Cambridge CB2 5BG (telephone: 01223 511769). For further details of the composition of this Planning Committee (formally known as the Development and Conservation Committee), click here.
It seems important to stress that there is no serious local opposition to the construction of affordable housing in Stapleford. Quite the contrary. The opposition simply asks South Cambs to note that this planning application does not conform to their own exceptions policy and urges its refusal on those grounds. Granta Housing needs to be sent back to the drawing board. Objections that have been made by local residents include the following:
- Gross over development of site and surroundings projecting beyond the existing development boundary into Green Belt open countryside.
- Out of character with the surrounding rural area and the 7 houses in Gog Magog Way.
- Inappropriate design of houses and urban layout. Overbearing form of block of 8 flats. No Design Statement Submitted to justify proposals.
- An unacceptable increase in traffic and parking caused by the over development can be anticipated on a sharp bend on a narrow road.
- The submitted scheme has not taken into account the adopted motions of the Parish Council.
- (a) A motion carried on the 13 July 2005 instructed Granta Housing Society to consider the feasibility of developing an area of land, which does not extend beyond the line of the rear boundary of the houses in Gog Magog Way. Parish Councillors acknowledged this was in concurrence with the public views.
- (b) A decision on 8 June 2005 referred Granta Housing Society to concerns the Parish Council had on the density of the development, car parking and access.
- This detailed application has been made without the support of or prior consultation with the Parish Council. The Housing Society has not adhered to the Local Authority Protocol in operation since 1988 that Exception Sites for affordable housing would not be granted planning permission without the support of the Parish Council. No further consultations by Granta Housing Society has taken place following the overwhelming opposition to the scheme voiced at the public meeting on 27 November 2005 which forms the basis of the current application.
- The mix of properties does not meet the requirements identified in the Housing Needs Survey carried out in September 2005.
- The application does not indicate the proposed tenure and ownership arrangement to ensure the affordable housing is secured in perpetuity.
- There is no current proven need for an additional football pitch (within the standard laid down). It is inappropriately sited putting children seriously at risk crossing Gog Magog Way from the Recreation Ground changing rooms, parking and parents unable to see both pitches. No provision is made for additional parking when existing parking is already chaotic and dangerous during matches on the Recreation Ground. It is inappropriate development in the Green Belt open countryside.
- The Hill Farm application will be on the agenda at the South Cambs Planning Committee meeting at Cambourne on Wednesday 10th May 2006. Anyone can attend, although it is not permitted to intervene or say anything.
- There will be a site meeting at Hill Farm by the District Councillors on Monday 8th May 2006. The District Councillors are expected to arrive at 11.00 a.m..
- The Football pitch has been withdrawn.
The case officer from the South Cambridgeshire planning offices at Cambourne has now published his report, recommending refusal of the application. Click here to see the report.
All depends now on the District Councillors....
Further Update (6/5/06):Please meet outside no. 63 Gog Magog Way at 11.00 a.m. on Monday morning, 8th May. Bring along your own suitable poster(s) or simply download the one from the website (see below). The intention is to stand somewhere visible in peaceful opposition - not to affordable housing - but to these particular plans from Granta Housing on this Green Belt site.
[URGENT! Please note: there is a poster which you can download and print. (Please click here to download.) Please display this somewhere in the front of your house or in your front garden (on your fence, wall, wheelie bin, or on your own makeshift support of some kind) in time for the Councillors' impending visit on Monday 8th May 2006 at 11.00 a.m.. Please encourage or help your neighbours to do likewise. ]
Further Update (10/5/06):The District council voted to reject the application by 17 to 1, with 2 abstentions.
The Parish Council has also made it clear - as has SOS Green Belt - that members are not against affordable housing - rather, they do not approve of the current plans submitted by Granta Housing, plans which have now in any case been rejected.
Further Update (4/4/07):Granta Housing has made a new application for 18 affordable dwellings (S/0520/07/F). Click here to see the site details.
LATEST UPDATE, September 2007: This application was approved in August 2007.Anyone wishing further information, or with information to offer or suggestions to make, can contact Michael Day at viviennemday@tesco.net or enquiries@sosgreenbelt.org.uk.