This post updated:
25 July 2016 - I have added the full text of the email received from Councillor Julie Young in response to this blog post, at her request. I have added this at the end of this blog post. My summaries of her email below are accurate, I believe. I had good reasons for not originally publishing her full email - there was some legal text in the email saying not to, and there is personal information in her email.
24 July 2016 - 2 updates, both highlighted below with this date - these are my notes and comments on an email received in response to this blog post from Councillor Julie Young.
Greenstead Ward Councillors - My Comments on their Actions on the Local Plan Proposals
I am going to comment here on actions taken by our Greenstead Ward Councillors regarding the current Local Plan housing development proposals affecting Greenstead and Longridge Park.
This is a crucial issue, and residents need to be sure that they are being adequately represented.
Please contact them with your views on the proposals, in addition to responding yourselves to the current public consultations, which I will write about in the coming weeks.
Greenstead Ward Councillors
The Councillors for Greenstead Ward, Colchester, which now covers Greenstead and Longridge Park, are:
Tina Bourne
Julie Young
Tim Young
Their contact details are on their party communications which you have probably received through your letter box. If you do not have these, please email me and I will point you in the right direction. There is an email button available from the 'View my complete profile' link under 'About Me' on this Internet page.
Colchester Local Plan Meeting, 5 July 2016
This was an important meeting and many local ward Councillors spoke regarding the proposals. Also, many Councillors visiting from neighboring districts spoke for their constituents.
None of the Greenstead Ward Councillors spoke. None of the Greenstead Ward Councillors are on the local plan committee. I am dissapointed by this.
Update 24 July 2016: I received an email from Cllr Julie Young. Cllr Tim Young was present at the meeting but couldn't speak because the local plan comes under his cabinet portfolio. The other two Councillors had important, prior commitments so couldn't attend the meeting. Tina Bourne and Tim Young cannot sit on any committees because they hold cabinet positions. Julie Young is Mayor of Colchester, and does not sit on any panels or committees.
I hope the considerable political weight she describes will be brought to bear on the important issues facing the East of Colchester.
Green Buffer / 'Country Park' Between Existing and New Development
The current proposed size of this country park / green buffer, around half the size of Highwoods Country Park, is small, and will mean that much of the new development is visible to residents of Greenstead and Longridge Park. The sloping hill-sides opposite Greenstead and Longridge Park could well be covered in houses, according to my analysis.
I will record here efforts made by the Greenstead Ward Councillors to improve this situation.
This is one of the crucial issues!
Update 24 July 2016: I received an email from Cllr Julie Young. She said the Greenstead Councillors did submit a request for a country park when they first heard about the local plan proposals. She has met with representatives from Essex University, and also participated in a walk through the Salary Brook area with senior planning officers from Colchester and Tendring last year. She also said that their newsletter had covered this issue, although since July 2015, I could only find one small mention of this issue in the newsletters that I received. Ms Young also said that the Councillors highlighted an error on the maps distributed for the July 5th 2016 Local Plan meeting, which incorrectly showed housing, already, near to Longridge Park.
I replied to Ms Young and the other councilors to say that it is the size and clearly-defined boundaries of the country park which need to be determined. I also encouraged them to respond to both Colchester and Tendring Councils, and to use their upcoming newsletter to alert residents to the clearly-inadequate size of the currently-proposed "country park".
Colchester Council Local Plan Consultation running to September 2016
I will record their responses individually:
Tina Bourne
Reponded? [To be confirmed]
My views on content of response: [To be confirmed]
Julie Young
Reponded? [To be confirmed]
My views on content of response: [To be confirmed]
Tim Young
Reponded? [To be confirmed]
My views on content of response: [To be confirmed]
Tendring Council Local Plan Consultation running to September 2016
I will record their responses individually:
Tina Bourne
Reponded? [To be confirmed]
My views on content of response: [To be confirmed]
Julie Young
Reponded? [To be confirmed]
My views on content of response: [To be confirmed]
Tim Young
Reponded? [To be confirmed]
My views on content of response: [To be confirmed]
Update 25 July 2016:
Here is the full text of the reply received from Councillor Julie Young to this blog post on 24 July 2016, which is included at her request.
My reply to this email is reproduced in my later blog post 'Email to Greenstead Ward Councillors', which will be above if you are viewing the entire blog rather than just this post.
Dear James
If we are to protect as much of the wonderful green space that residents of East Colchester currently enjoy, this will require ward Councillors and residents to work together to ensure everyone in the local community is made aware of the proposals and take part in the consultation over the 10 week period. You may have noticed that [this sentence was not complete in the original email]
Indeed it was your current ward Councillors who asked for a Country Park to be created at the earliest opportunity we could, as soon as the development was talked about by the Local Plan committee. Indeed this was made possible by the Labour representative Cllr Kim Naish on the local plan committee who gave the ward Councillors in Greenstead early notification of the proposals. This early submission was made by me on behalf of the three ward Councillors and specifically stipulated this.
In January 2015 I made arrangements to meet with Anthony Forster Vice Chancellor at Essex University, Bryn Morris, the Registrar and Steve Clarke, their planning expert to discuss the proposals. They explained the University's approach and their preferences and I explained the Greenstead ward Councillors desire to see a Country Park created.
In April 2015, I had meetings with Cllr Barry Cook, St Anne's ward, Cllr Neil Stock (Leader of Tendring District Council) Cllr Gary Scott,mAlresford ward and local residents at the Oak Tree Centre where we viewed plans and discussed the impact of this development would have on our respective communities. We all agreed that this should NOT be allowed to strip away the natural environment that our respective communities currently enjoy. We arranged to walk the whole area and Cllr Barry Cook and I did so with residents and local environmental experts together with SENIOR planning officers from Tendring and Colchester. At the end of that day planning officers of both authorities would have had no doubt in their minds about the shared view that development should be east of the tree line with as large a Country Park as possible, this happened on the 15th May 2015 , under separate cover I will send you a screen shot of my Facebook page created on the 17th May 2015, together with the photos I took that day together with the business card of the Tendring District Planning officer present.
Due to the Boundary changes, we started to distribute newsletters to the Longridge area, starting with a Longridge special which introduced ourselves to residents. The proposed development has been a feature of these newsletters right from the start making our views very clear.
As soon as the papers for the 5th July were released we realised that a large chunk of housing had been placed on the map incorrectly close to Longridge. This was immediately raised with officers, an error had been made and this was changed at the meeting.
As for the 5th July, this was an important meeting that is why Cllr Tim Young was at the meeting, the local plan is in his portfolio, although responsibility for the plan rests with this committee. Cabinet Members cannot be members of the Local Plan so neither Tina or Tim can sit on this committee. As Mayor of Colchester I do not sit on any panels or committees, I chair Full Council and concentrate on the ceremonial role and ward casework. On the 5th July I was travelling back from Loughborough having moved my son from his University Accommodation into his new home and I believe Tina as Deputy Head Teacher of a local primary school had a school commitment that she had to honour. Just because Tina and I were not able to be at the meeting does not signify a lack of commitment to ensuring as much open space as possible is protected.
As your ward Councillors we will be promoting the necessity to respond to the consultation in our next newsletter, as we will be doing, reiterating the position we have been promoting both publicly and behind the screens over a significant and sustained period.
Julie
End of Update 25 July 2016
Regards
James
Colchester East Action Group (CHEAG)
Blog: http://cheag.blogspot.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colchestereastactiongroup
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