Gerald Eve’s Plans for the Grange - OBJECT NOW!
Gerald Eve has submitted an outline planning application to Chiltern District Council for the Grange site in the heart of Chalfont St Peter. In order to achieve a development that we can all be proud of, it is extremely important that EVERYONE in our village sends a letter of objection to Chiltern District Council BEFORE 31st MARCH. We have designed this leaflet to help you object as effectively as possible.
The planning application for The Grange is an OUTLINE planning application. This means it is trying to establish residential development on The Grange site, together with means of access to the site (from three points). It is possible to object to the detail of the plan (232 houses and a care home) but those elements are indicative only – just to demonstrate one way in which it could be done. A further planning application would follow to clarify the detail once residential use has been established by this initial application. That could result in a higher density of houses.
Local Planning Policy
Every area of land in Chiltern district private or public is protected by a planning policy under the ADOPTED LOCAL PLAN. This limits what can be done on each piece of land. For many years the Grange site has been protected from wholesale redevelopment by planning policies in Chiltern District Council’s (“CDC”) adopted Local Plan (policies CSF2 and R10). Policy CSF2 applies to the retention of community buildings (which includes education) and R10 to open space (even though it is not public open space).
To override those policies, up until now at least, it was necessary for the land owner/developer to make a case to demonstrate that the buildings or the open space was no longer needed.
Has a case been made to show that The Grange is not required for community or educational use? The applicants say that the buildings and land are empty and that no alternative user for them has been found. Have they really looked for one?
Due to changes in Government policy a new system is due to take over from the ADOPTED LOCAL PLAN. This is called the LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK (LDF for short). The main document of a range of documents that make up the LDF is called the ‘Core Strategy’. CDC has produced a Core strategy in DRAFT. It is NOT yet approved and is still awaiting further public consultation. This draft document shows the Grange site as a STRATEGIC HOUSING SITE (a site that has been identified for residential development) and changes the policies protecting it. CDC therefore intends to overturn the current policies CSF2 and R10. One day it is protected and, hey presto, the next CDC has slipped it below the radar of most as a housing site.
Our view is that this planning application is therefore too early (premature) in that it anticipates the overturning of policies that are still in force. How can this application be satisfactorily dealt with before the proposed new policies for the site have been finalised and publicly debated? What Policies Apply To The Grange? Do protective policies still apply to the site?
Well they have not been replaced by anything else, nor has CDC explained why they should be. We are told by CDC that the Local Plan should have expired in 2006. As such the policies in that document are ‘saved policies’. HOWEVER, new proposed Policy CS42 in the Draft Core Strategy says ‘To only permit the loss of community facilities in exceptional circumstances’. What are these exceptional circumstances in the case of The Grange???
Some Reasons To Object:
1. There is no democratically agreed planning policy that exists for The Grange site – except the ‘saved policies’ (described above), which presume against redevelopment. The application is too early and therefore ‘premature’. No case has been made to change the allocation of the site to residential development.
2. To swamp the site and the middle of the village with so many dwellings is simply not right. It is certainly not what residents wanted for it when responding to the recent village survey, conducted by the Parish Council.
3. If this large site is infilled, Chalfont St Peter will just become another small town. The Grange is part of its heritage and is what helps to make it unique. A new school or community user should be found. The former playing fields (which are now just overgrown) can be reused for our children.
4. The new access point shown is badly situated, close to the awkward junction at the bottom of Gold Hill Common. The two existing access points (Grange Close and the former Holy Cross School access) will swamp hundreds more cars onto Gold Hill and Lower Road.
5. The drainage system cannot cope now – let alone with hundreds more people moving into the centre of the village. Additionally education, police, healthcare, the road network and other local amenities will suffer.
6. Wildlife, including Badgers has been seen on the land and The Grange has a large number of mature trees.
7. There is no demonstrated local demand for a care home or for all of the proposed new houses.
Please send objections to: Carol Castle, Planning, CDC, King George V Road, Amersham. HP6 5AW or e-mail at: planning@chiltern.gov.uk
Application number: CH/2010/0293/OA
IMPORTANT: Please copy your objection letters to all of your District Councillors click here for their names and e-mail addresses, don't forget to cc you letters to: object@sense4csp.org