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Parish Council's response re proposed Development of land located of Low Street.
Set out below, for the Communittees information, is the response forwarded by Sherburn in Elmet Parish Council to Selby District Council's Planning Dept - formally objecting to the proposal to erect 498No residential units on land located adjacent to Low Street, submitted for approval by Developer's.
Planning Section
Selby District Council
Civic Centre
Doncaster Road
SELBY
YO8 9FT
24 October 2011
Dear Sirs
Re: 2011/0893/EIA - Outline planning application for the construction of 498 dwellings to include access and landscaping on Phase 2 land on land between Moor Lane and Low Street, Sherburn in Elmet
The Sherburn in Elmet Parish Council has sought the views of residents by holding public meetings and distributing questionnaires. Taking into account the points raised by residents and the views of Councillors the Parish Council objects to this application.
Policy Objections
The 498 dwellings proposed on this site represent the entire allocation referred to in the Core Strategy. In theory if this planning application is granted no further development would be allowed in Sherburn before 2026. The Parish Council are concerned, however, that to accept such a scenario is naive, and that there will be many more new houses built than these 498 if permission is granted, particularly as a result of the decision of the District Council to release the Phase 2 site (SHB1B) and the provisions of the Site Allocations “Preferred Options” DPD.
The reason for this is although the Site Allocations DPD proposes that only 282 houses will be built on the whole of the Phase 2 housing site, the site allocated in the DPD includes land for about 150 houses that is not within the red line boundary of this planning application. If this application is granted and the sites in the preferred options DPD developed the total level of development in Sherburn to 2026 would be a total of 864 houses excluding any windfalls, (ie about 75% more than the Core Strategy figure) made up as follows :
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498 on this site -
150 on the part of SHB1B allocated in the DPD but not part of this site. -
200 houses on Allocations DPD site SHER03 -
16 houses on Allocations DPD site SHER017
In addition there is still further land to the east which is part of the Phase 2 housing site SHB1B but not within the DPD Allocation or the Persimmon/ Redrow planning application site. We remain unconvinced that the District Council can resist the development of this land during the Plan period to 2026.
The Parish Council will comment further on the release of SHB1B and the proposals in the Allocations DPD in a separate representation, however even if the Parish Council was to accept the proposals in the DPD this proposal is contrary to the Council’s “preferred” policy for Sherburn both in terms of the published Core Strategy and Site Allocations DPD . In addition all 498 houses on this site could easily be completed well before 2026, and this will mean calls for additional land releases within the 15 year period.
Highway issues
In addition to the above, the impact of 498 new dwellings on the highway network would be substantial. We are concerned that the proposed application shows access only to Milford Road. Traffic from the development would therefore have to access and egress through the heart of the village, either through the central crossroads or through residential areas. In our view traffic going east would be likely to use the Fairway/Pastures and those going west the Eversley Estate and Garden Lane. The part of Garden Lane between Thomlinson Way and Church Hill and the junction of GardenLane/Church Hill are particularly substandard and are likely to see a large increase in use if the development goes ahead, as a result of additional residents commuting to Leeds. Beyond the village, apart from the bypass, our only road links to major routes are country roads. We do not believe the application gives adequate consideration to this and are particularly concerned about vehicular and pedestrian conflict in the centre and residential areas of the village.
In addition the village centre would suffer traffic congestion and lack of car parking. There is no scope to increase parking in the centre of the village.
Other issues
- The increase in numbers of residents would put the police under considerable pressure to maintain law and order.
- The village facilities at present would not support the influx of new residents, for example the doctors surgery is full, the police station is manned by volunteers, there is no fire station, no public indoor leisure facilities, no household waste recycling centre and no bus services after 7pm or on Sundays. Train services are limited and there is very limited parking at either South Milford or Sherburn Stations.
Whilst some of these problems could be mitigated to some extent by developer contributions, the basic problem is that village services and infrastructure are at and beyond capacity without this large development which if there is no other development would itself be likely to increase the village population by up to 20% by 2016 and by one third if other proposed allocations are confirmed.
The Parish Council therefore confirm that they do not support the application for 498 dwellings and request that the planning application is refused on the ground that it is contrary to policy, will create unacceptable congestion and highway safety problems on residentail roads and in the village centre and will put unacceptable strain on village services and facilities.
Yours sincerely
MARGARET GIBSON (Mrs)
Clerk to Sherburn in Elmet Parish Council |