Gladman Land - Bromley Road Development

Updated: 15 June 2017 - added clarification about landscapes and views.

1. Introduction

Gladman Land have now submitted their planning application for 'up to 145 dwellings' on 'Land to The South of Bromley Road'.

Their application can be found here:

Tendring District Council - Planning Reference 17/00859/OUT

or search for 'Bromley Road' on the Tendring Council Planning Portal.

Gladman Land are a housing company who sometimes submit planning applications on land that is not allocated for housing. When they receive refusals from councils, they take them through to appeal, where in the past they have been successful.

To help oppose this:

• Submit your personal objections to Tendring Council, as described on their website. Individually-written objections with your own thoughts are best, although there are some ideas below. I have been told that petitions don't add value. Check with the planning department if you need clarification.
• Consider volunteering as described below. (Commissioning of a planning consultants' report would be urgent if it is to be done.)

2. Project

I had a very useful chat with Councillor Michael Lilley of Old Heath and The Hythe ward, who was involved in their organised opposition to a Gladman Land development proposal. My notes from that chat are below, in section 3. Thanks to Councillor Tim Young for arranging the chat.

For an organised objection, someone is needed to co-ordinate the following work.

Possible strategy:

a) Assess the risk of this development being approved. Tendring Council are likely to refuse it. However, assuming Gladman appeal to the government planning inspector, will the inspector need to follow 'the letter of the law' and allow 'sustainable development'? Or will they be able to use their judgement with respect to the emerging local plan? What is the risk?

b) Organise work on the items below, where relevant to this case.

If volunteers come forward, I can put people in contact with each other. There is an email button available from the 'View my complete profile' link under 'About Me' on this Internet page.

3. Notes from chat with Councillor Michael Lilley on 30 April 2017

3.1 Actions suggested

One or more people are needed to work on/co-ordinate any of the following items:

• East Donyland Parish Council paid for a report by planning consultants on the Gladman application at Battleswick Farm. (Cost was £500?) This was really good. Look this up - will be on CBC planning website as Parish Council’s objection to the Battleswick Farm, Rowhedge Road development. To contact the parish council: East Donyland Parish Council, Parish Clerk is Nicki Matthews, see the East Donyland Parish Council website.
• Use ward councillors’ locality budget to pay for our own report by planning consultants?
• Do comment on developer’s web page - otherwise they might say to council that no-one bothered responding.
• Speak to Colchester and Tendring MPs - go to hustings for June 2017 elections.
• Call open, public meeting - MPs (Colchester and Tendring), borough councillors invited.
• Councillors are there to defend resident’s rights. Get them on board.
• Parson’s Heath - get their borough councillors on board, too.
• Talk to Tendring planning officers.
• Make residents aware, build-up support. Get loads of people together. Publicity.  
• Poster campaign to raise awareness. Leaflet drops - try to get everyone to object to council.
• Put up posters - mention overdevelopment of green space.
• Rosie at CAUSE - might be able to help.
• Members of public should go to local plan meetings in Tendring and Colchester.
• Make sure land not accepted into new Local Plan by Tendring District Council, Colchester Borough Council.
• Ask for meeting with Gladman Land? Rowhedge team asked for a meeting with Gladman Land.
• Get county councillors on board. When find out who new county councillors are in May 2017, get them on board. Julie Young is currently our county councillor for Greenstead Ward.
• Look at results of county council elections in May 2017 - get meeting with new councillors - schools and roads - they can look at.
• Petition - councils like paper petitions. Sways planning committee, can be better than online.
• Respond to any appeal by the developers to the Planning Inspector.

3.2 Objection reasons

• Any reasons you can think of yourself, using your local knowledge.
• Lack of green space, over-development.
• Look at schools - how much capacity? Developers offered to give £500,000 in Rowhedge.
• Local dentists, doctors, schools - how many free places do they have? Ask them. Do they have physical room to expand?
• Objection: destroy green space and buffer.
• Proposed Garden city will supply housing in this area.
• In Rowhedge, someone else offered an alternative piece of land - so they supported that instead for local plan.
• Farmhouses on land were quite old in Rowhedge - historical expert looked at - should be listed. Developer could still build around them, though.
• Look at hedgerows, would have to destroy to build road to enter site? Historic hedgerows?
• Ask for properly-built housing, green housing, plugs for electric cars, etc.
• Will this impact the proposed garden city and its schools and highways provision?
• What is land currently used for? Farming - valuable agricultural land cannot always be used. There are grades and lifetimes of land. In Rowhedge, land was split between beneficiaries in inheritance, so they wanted to sell it.
• If they propose a transport plan - e.g. bus passes - who will pay for it? Who will enforce any proposed parking restrictions?
• Needs an expert in planning to look at the application.
• What is an affordable house? Can be high cost. Who will it be affordable by?
• Tendring will get council tax, Colchester will pay for services?
• 135 homes proposed, so, say, 300 cars - maybe 300-500 cars extra on Bromley Road and Harwich Road. Put pressure on highways about this.
• Object to lack of infrastructure. Infrastructure that will go in in garden city - to combat current lack of infrastructure, would be needed for this too.
• Object about destruction of countryside. [A view, for example a sea view from a resident's house, cannot be protected. A landscape can be protected, and is an important planning consideration.] Concentrate on planning matters only.
• Gladman have said they would build pumping station to prevent flooding - check everything about this. (With building of houses - rain has nowhere to go.)
• Over-development and loss of green space. Watch out for objecting on basis of lack of affordable housing - developer can counter by supplying.

3.3 General notes

• Mike Lilley used to be on planning committee.
• Rowhedge Residents Association, an action group, was set up.
• They had a public meeting, 130 people attended.
• Gladman have money and solicitors.
• Gladman have won a few appeals to the planning inspector in Tendring.
• In Rowhedge, residents were lucky because the application was: a) rejected by local plan b) rejected by planning officers. Appeal may still be made to government planning inspector, though.
• Council planning officers don’t always know all the rules - planning consultants can assist with objections.
• Gladman Land often propose small developments.
• Kevin Bentley - their county councillor in Rowhedge. He was very helpful and worked across party lines.
• Government planning inspectors have been instructed to find in favour of developers more often than previously.
• Tendring are behind - unfortunate, they don’t have a local plan.

Regards
James
Colchester East Action Group (CHEAG)
Blog: http://cheag.blogspot.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colchestereastactiongroup