Cirencester Scene Magazine - Establishing Local Connections
Save Our Cirencester Chesterton: Too big - not to fail?
As we move to the close of summer Councillor Mark Harris, Cirencester’s mayor, believes we all deserve a pat on the back and a celebratory drink at the rugby club, and before you think that Save Our Cirencester has achieved a victory in getting the numbers reduced at Chesterton, NOT YET.
Councillor Mark Harris is euphoric because the proposed Humpty Dumps development appeal has been dismissed by the planning inspector. In sum- mary, his 17 page decision report says:-
“I have found that the proposal would cause sub- stantial harm to the landscape character and ap- pearance of the site and its environs. Whilst the pro- posal would bring benefits in terms of market and affordable housing delivery and other matters these are, applying the approach to decision making set out in the Framework, collectively insufficient to justify the granting of planning permission contrary to the provisions of the development plan.”
We at SOC congratulate Mark and his supporters in achieving a positive outcome from the ‘Hump- ty Dumpty’ appeal. In an article in The Standard, Mark Harris is quoted as saying, “This is fantastic news for the community. There may be a signal that Cirencester has met its quota.” We agree; this is most pertinent in relation to the proposal to build 2350 houses at Chesterton Farm by Ba- thurst Developments.
We assume that we can now look forward to the same proactive involvement and vociferous op- position to the Chesterton development, as the impact will cause substantial harm to the land- scape character and appearance of the site, to a far greater extent than the development on the Humpty Dumps.
We at SOC have consistently campaigned about the size of the proposed development, and it is interesting that Redrow Homes, a major develop- er, placed a comment on the Cotswold Local Plan citing its countrywide experience. They say:-
“The proposed distribution strategy allocates 2350 dwellings to be delivered through one strategic site at Cirencester. This indicates that the Plan is
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heavily reliant upon the delivery of one strategic site to deliver the majority of the Cotswold residual housing requirement. The over reliance of just one large strategic allocation for the whole District is of great concern.
If an issue arises where the strategic site as a whole or in part could not, or is not delivered as expected it would put the delivery of the Strategy and whole Plan at risk, having serious impact on the district as a whole. This has been commonly experienced across the country. It is advised that Cotswold Dis- trict should learn from the experiences of other authorities who have relied upon one or two large strategic sites to deliver their identified housing re- quirement.
As detailed under Section 7, there is an over reli- ance on the delivery of the large strategic alloca- tion at land South of Chesterton. As suggested pre- viously, this proposed proportion of the District’s housing requirement should be decreased.
Furthermore, development on this currently pro- posed scale could significantly alter the historic market town and diminish its unique character.
Modifications sought: This proposed proportion of the District’s housing requirement should be de- creased.”
For the moment, let’s put the celebratory drinks and congratulations on hold.
The threat and harm to Cirencester is still very relevant.
https://twitter.com/SaveCirencester
https://www.facebook.com/Save-Our-Cirences- ter-186529714847099/
saveourcirencester@outlook.com https://saveourcirencester.wordpress.com/ www.twitter.com/SaveCirencester
www.facebook.com/Save-Our-Cirences- ter-186529714847099/
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