New Housing Development Planned for Castle Donington - Up-dated
| Published: 6th February 2008 20:30 |
Local MP, David Taylor, and Castle Donington Parish Council have added their weight to the housing application objections. Read the letters they have sent to Mr James Knightley at North West Leicestershire District Council in full below. Also James Knightley has just confirmed that he has received around 300 letters of objection so far.
From: TAYLOR, David (MP)
Sent: 30 January 2008 15:58
To: 'james.knightley@nwleics.gov.uk'
Subject: Application reference: 07/ 01844/ outm
Dear James,
I have very substantial concerns about this application, as presently specified, and will spell them out in a little detail.
The density of housing would add almost 1000 people to the population of the village (an increase of over 12%).
But this is at a time when the existing social infrastructure is seriously stretched.
This is particularly true of the GP surgery as well as of the schools. The present performance of the emergency services could well be significantly compromised.
More fundamentally still, the proposed road access to the development is totally inadequate and would seriously worsen the current traffic and safety problems in the Park Lane area and at/ near the traffic lights* in the village centre. I am unconvinced that the protection against flooding would be adequate.
I have had a large number of villagers contact me with similar objections to the above.
Unless and until these fatal flaws are properly addressed, I would urge the North West Leicestershire District Council to refuse this application.
Best wishes,
David Taylor
Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire
* Which single light could be serving over half of Castle Donington's population, as well as the journeys to/ from work of British Midland HQ employees
Read the letter sent by Castle Donington Parish Council
Up-date Released 21st January 2008:-
350 New Houses outlined to be built on this land - viewed from Fox Road, Castle Donington
Chris Elston, Development Control Manager for North West Leicestershire District Council attended the Castle Donington Community Forum on Saturday 19th January at Orchard School to listen to concerns about the new housing development outlined for land off Park Lane.
The majority of attendees were there to discuss this one topic and Chris Elston had his work cut out as concerns and questions were fired at him from the moment he entered the building. He also explained that with such a large contentious development it was unlikely to reach the monthly planning meeting until April and that residents' views would be considered up to that point.
Tony Saffell, a Castle Donington Parish Councillor and a District Councillor, said that he would call a Public Meeting to discuss the matter when the other parties such as Highways, Severn Trent, etc had considered the plans. He also recommended that the petition being raised by the community should be presented at a Full District Council Meeting in Coalville as this could only add to the gravitas of local concerns.
For a full report of the event follow this link Chris Elston Attends Castle Donington Community Forum
Thank you to everyone who has sent a copy of their objection letter to AboutMyArea/DE74. Click on the link to view an interesting letter from a resident on Fox Road
Up-date Released 15th January 2008:-
The District Council have been forced into extending the closing date for objections to the proposed planning application to build 350 new houses to the north of Park Lane and west of Fox Road to Wednesday 30th January.
The Council had failed to display the required application notices, usually found attached to lampposts, in the affected areas of Castle Donington in time for the original closing date of 18th January.
Many angry objection letters have already been received by the District Council citing reasons such as traffic chaos, accident black spots, rat runs and lack of village amenities to fend off the application. The extended closing date will give campaigning residents the opportunity to spread the word even further and encourage the wider Castle Donington community to make themselves heard.
Land off Park Lane in Castle Donington earmarked for proposed new housing development
Up-date Released 8th January 2008:-
Castle Donington residents have received notification from North West Leicestershire District Council of an outline planning application for a residential development and associated infrastructure to be located on land to the rear of 112 Park Lane, Castle Donington.
No details of the development were given in the letter which stated that the application can be inspected at the Council Offices in Coalville or by arrangement locally at our Castle Donington Parish Council offices.
Read a copy of the Notification of Planning Application letter here
It "sounds fairly innocent" you might say as it only involves land to the back of no. 112 Park Lane - BE WARNED - this is a planning application for 350 new houses to be built on land stretching from the north of Park Lane to the west of Fox Road. A new cut-through road is also planned for this development connecting Park Lane to a small cul-de-sac at the end of Bentley Road.
Some residents had a flyer posted through their letterbox urging them not to be complacent and to go along to the Parish Council offices to view the plans for themselves. As a result of this Castle Donington's Parish Council offices were besieged by more than 50 anxious residents on Saturday morning as they opened their doors at 10.00am demanding to see the proposed plans and voice their concerns. A number of Parish Councillors including Chairman Robert Else, Tony Saffell and Colin Burton were available at the offices to discuss the plans, listen to concerns and answer queries. Most of all they urged everyone to reply to the letter before the cut-off date of 18th January (NOW EXTENDED TO 30TH JANUARY).
Proposed plan shown below.
KEY: thick line through middle = link road connecting Park Lane to Bentley Road; continuous white line = road; broken white line = cul de sac; broken green line = walkways; green areas = grass; green circle = play area.
Also have a look at a black and white plan it is possibly easier to decipher.
You only have until 18th January (now extended to 30th January) to voice any concerns you may have
either by writing directly to Mr. James Knightley at North West Leicestershire District Council or submit your comments on-line here via the Council website http://www.nwleics.gov.uk/development_control/
quoting reference 07/01844/OUTM
A local resident has supplied AboutMyArea DE74 with a prepared letter to assist anyone who may need some help.
Download a PRE-PREPARED LETTER just write your name, address, sign and send.
Parish Councillor and Chairman of the Parish Plan, Shaun Ambrose-Jones, has issued a letter to residents in the Fox Road and Park Lane area stating his views of the planning application and urging Castle Donington residents to respond in writing before the deadline. A full copy of the letter can be seen below:
Re: Application Reference 07/01844/OUTM
350 house development to the North of Park Lane and West of Fox Road
Dear Fellow Resident,
I am writing to you to encourage you to respond to the above proposed development which I believe we all received letters about from the District Council.
As Chairman of the Parish Plan Committee I can assure you that the local population is very much against the further development of Castle Donington. That said though, the situation with this development is that the Government instructed all County Councils to approve any land earmarked in local plans for residential properties. There is very little likelihood of overturning it and totally preventing it from happening, but if that is how you feel you should object.
In May last year I became a member of the Parish Council and discovered that they fought against the development of both the Willow Farm Industrial Estate and the Distribution Centre. Ultimately the fight proved futile even though it was started before outline planning permission had been given. If you add in that Gordon Brown himself wants 3 million new homes to be built around the country you can see stopping this from actually happening is going to be almost impossible.
This does not mean that we can not influence it, if enough of us respond. I have written a letter pointing out that the local community has not been considered. Can the schools cope with the additional pupils? They haven't considered this and the doctors surgery is struggling to cope now so it will have no chance with another 1,000 potential patients. The developer needs to be held responsible for funding additional infrastructure.
On the development itself, my view is that 350 houses on that land is too many. I also think it crazy that they are creating a new "rat run" from Park Lane towards the A50. How many hundreds of additional cars is it going to attract? On top of this I believe Bentley Road is totally unsuitable to carry an 8 or 10 fold increase in traffic. Those who use it know that in the morning as you turn up towards Queensway the sun blinds you. More traffic in a potential black spot.
Then there's the stretch of Queensway to Darsway, with people parking outside their houses there are frequent issues with minor gridlock backing up onto Darsway, what will it be like with another 500 residents' cars plus those on the rat run? The main access to the site needs to be from Short Lane (across from The Spital) or similar, avoiding extra cars using Queensway/Bentley. I'm sure this could be done but the developer will want to avoid it as it would cost more. Maybe the new development shouldn't be a through road either.
Obviously you may have your own thoughts on this development, probably that it shouldn't go ahead, or different views on how it might be improved. Whatever your views, can I urge you to write to following gentleman and make them known.
Mr James Knightley
Environment Directorate Development Control
North West Leicestershire District Council
Coalville
Leicestershire
LE67 3FJ
We do need to hurry as we only have until next Friday, 18th January to get our views registered.
My letter, the plan and some photographs will be on the local community website www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/de74 if this helps. Lots of things happen against our wishes because we don't make the time to have our say. In fairness we don't own our view, but if we're going to lose it, let's try and influence what actually appears.
Thank you,
Shaun Ambrose-Jones
Anyone wishing to see the detailed application plans should contact Castle Donington Parish Council on 01332 810432.
Make your views known in Community Comment - it is FREE to use and will be monitored by the Parish Council.
Community Comment:
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The stark reality is that this Govt does not believe individuals, or communities, can be trusted to manage their own affairs. Instead they compel local authorities up and down the country to provide land for developments like this.
As one of your newly elected Conservative DC's I am painfully aware of the seething frustration produced by just this sort of thing; not least because as a Councillor I find that my hands have been already tied by policy imposed from on high or by decisions taken in the past.
Nonetheless I shall do my best to make sure we get the proper Section 106 agreements in place so that we actually get the proper investment in the area to alleviate the various pressures on local resources more households will produce.
If you wish to continue to write to me, please do! I already have a veritble mountain of mail and I do read every letter though am sorry I cannot personally reply to them all.
With regards
Charles Meynell
Cllr. Castle Donington
Joined: 28 Jan 2008Posts: 3
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