The following updates have been made since the website was started in early April 2015:
12. 4/11/15
The Ashbrook Lane application for up to 80 homes was unanimously refused planning consent by ESBC’s Planning Committee on 27th October 2015. Will the developers now submit a revised application, or will they take the current application to Appeal?
11. 3/11/15
The new Local Plan was formally adopted by ESBC on 15th October 2015, just before the Ashbrook Lane planning application was due to be heard on 27th October. We are still awaiting the outcome of the meeting.
10. 28/7/15
The 6-week consultation period for the new Local Plan ends on 24th August 2015.By mid September the inspector will present a draft repost to ESBC for checking, and the Local Plan should be formally signed off shortly thereafter.
As it is unlikely that any planning applications for major developments in the village will be heard before that date, then in theory Abbots Bromley should be back to the situation where major developments will only be allowed on the two sites identified in the Local Plan ( Lichfield Rd and Uttoxeter Rd for 36 units – 4 outr of the proposed 40 having already been approved elsewhere in the village).
9. 10/7/15
The planning manager informed me today that the government inspector has given the thumbs up to the Draft Local Plan (which includes the figures for the 5-year land supply) and it will today begin its 6-week modification consultation period. I am told that the Local Plan will begin to carry weight as of now. However, NPPF will continue to be the dominant guidelines until the Local Plan has been formally adopted. Even after adoption, NPPF will continue to guide planning decisions in the event that the Local Plan doesn’t cover something.
8. 29/6/15
Rubber traffic-count strips have been laid across the top end of Radmore Lane. We are trying to find out why. Is it linked to another application to develop more land off Ashbrook Lane? (Rumours are that it is land opposite the current application, on the north side of Ashbrook Lane. It is doubtful whether planning consent would be granted for yet another development feeding onto Ashbrook Lane – but a roadway through to Radmore Lane might solve this problem for the developers.) If you know anything, please contact us!
7. 28/6/15
With two new parish councillors being ex-planning officers, it may be that the parish council sees the wisdom of a Neighbourhood Plan. I understand discussions are taking place with ESBC. Please encourage any members of the PC to support a motion which will begin the ball rolling. It may be too late to deter developers from targeting Abbots Bromley in the short term, but it may help to safeguard the village in the long term.
6. 29/5/15
Ashbrook Lane planning application submitted today:
5. 07/05/15. Ashbrook Lane Proposals: New page created. Click on tab in main page’s index or click here
4. 02/05/15. Appendix M: Traffic Counts – added
3. 01/05/15. ESBC Local Plan:
The public examination of ESBC’s Local Plan is due to resume later this month (May). ESBC is confident that it has taken the necessary steps for it to meet with the government Inspector’s approval. If so, then the Local Plan will carry some weight up until the point where it is officially adopted. Now see Update 9.
2. 01/05/15. ESBC 5-yr Land Supply:
Unofficial information indicates that, after recalculating its provision, ESBC now feels it has a 5-year Land Supply. Should this be true, then it will help ESBC fight aggressive development plans. As of the end of June 2015, ESBC is still awaiting the government inspector’s decision on the 5-year land supply calculations. The problem is that, although ESBC’s figures meet the government’s quota of new units for the next 15 years, the council has recognised that the building in the first 5 years will be below the annual average because building in the two key development areas (Uttoxeter and Burton) cannot be done fast enough, even though building between years 6 and 15 will be above the annual average (meaning that, over the 15-year period, the annual average is about in line with government demands). Now see Update 9
1. 22/04/15. The importance of having a Neighbourhood Plan:
The ESBC Planning Manager has stated that a Neighbourhood Plan can be used to determine planning policy even in the absence of a valid Local Plan and a 5-year land supply. Those parishes that accepted ESBC’s offer of support two years ago to write Neighbourhood Plans are beginning to see the wisdom of their decisions because they now have a very localised set of planning guidelines. For example, without a Neighbourhood Plan, Yoxall (with the support of ESBC) would have been almost powerless to prevent a planning application for 170 homes. Abbots Bromley, on the other hand, looks horribly exposed to future development.
An article in “The Times” newspaper (20th April 2015) noted:
“Towns and villages will have a better chance of resisting unwanted new housing after one of Britain’s most aggressive developers lost a test case.
Gladman Developments has withdrawn its legal challenge against a “neighbourhood plan” drawn up by the residents of Winslow, in Buckinghamshire, who wanted to determine where new homes should be built in the town.
The residents’ victory over Gladman is expected to encourage many other communities to fight proposals by developers by adopting their own neighbourhood plans.
Gladman, which uses weaknesses in local planning policies to target greenfield sites, had tried to block the adoption of the residents’ plan.
The Cheshire-based developer wanted Winslow to double in size to 4,000 homes, whereas 98 per cent of local people voted in favour of a plan under which only 450 homes would be built. Gladman initially tried to prevent the residents from voting on the plan by seeking an injunction to prevent a local referendum from taking place.
After losing that case, Gladman challenged the legality of the plan at the High Court. A judge dismissed the case in December, but last month the company made an appeal against that decision. The developer has now withdrawn the appeal, meaning that Winslow’s plan will be used to decide where new homes should be built.
Uncertainty over the legal status of neighbourhood plans, which were introduced under the Localism Act 2011, has deterred many communities from adopting them, with fewer than 50 completed to date.
At least 1,400 communities are understood to be preparing plans and Winslow’s victory may encourage them to complete the process.
Llew Monger, a Winslow councillor, said that the case set a precedent that could be used by other communities fighting developers. “This is perhaps the dawn of more localism and much less legalism in relation to neighbourhood planning, which will hopefully encourage many other communities to embark on developing a neighbourhood plan,” Mr Monger said.
Roy van de Poll, another Winslow councillor, said that Gladman appeared to have given up boasting about its aggressive approach to obtaining planning permission for housing. He said that the company had recently removed statements from its website in which it described itself as “obsessed with winning consents” and said it was expert at obtaining “residential planning consents on edge-of-town greenfield sites”.
The Times revealed last year how Gladman had sent a letter to landowners in another area advising them to “move quickly whilst the local authority is vulnerable”.
Neil Sinden, policy director of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “Hopefully now other communities will stand up to bullying developers. However, there is a need for much clearer legal status for neighbourhood plans.
“We are pushing for a community right of appeal against speculative development in areas where a neighbourhood plan has been prepared. This is intended to level the legal playing field between developers and local communities.
Gladman declined to comment.”
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