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Parklands Residents’ Association |
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Stage 2 –
Outline planning permission to build up to 263 houses Northamptonshire County Council has
applied to build between 185 and 263 houses on the site. An outline planning application
(N/2006/1052) was submitted to the Borough Council on _______________________________________ Our opinion is that residents generally
appreciate that something has to be done with the built part of the school
site. What people are not prepared to
compromise on is the loss of the playing fields and green open space. Playing fields can only be built on once –
when they are gone, they are gone. Residents’ meeting – September 2006 The residents’ association held a
public meeting on 8 September, which was attended by around 300
residents. Representatives from all of
the major political parties were present, together with Stephen Kelly of the
WNDC (the ultimate decision makers). We stated that we objected to this
application, campaigning hard to have the site developed to provide sports
facilities, additional parking and changing rooms to compliment the
facilities at the community centre. We
received a great deal of support from across the political spectrum,
including letters from MP Sally Keeble
– copy HERE MEP Derek Clark – copy HERE Parliamentary candidate Councillor In addition, a number of organisations
registered their objections Parklands Tigers Football Club – copy HERE Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust National Playing Fields Association We explained that our efforts alone
were not enough, and that we needed written support from residents to succeed. Download guidance on how to object HERE,
and our main objections HERE The
consultation period for this application closed on Meeting of NBC Planning Committee –
November 2006 NBC planning committee met on “The existing built part of the site
should be redeveloped for residential development subject to: (i)
provision of 1
adult-sized football and 6-8 mini-soccer pitches on the existing playing
fields; (ii)
provision of
improved changing facilities at Parklands; and (iii)
retention of woodland as amenity open space.” However, the decisions regarding all
school sites were deferred at the request NCC Special Meeting of NBC Planning
Committee – January 2007 By January 2007, the recommendation had
changed to “No objections are raised in principle
for the reasons set out in the report,…” NBC Planning committee called a special
meeting on 15 January to consider the planning application for Stage 1 Complaint Parklands Residents’ Association wrote
to the council to complain about the handling of planning application
N/2006/1054 (copy HERE). Further Consultation with WNDC –
January 2007 Since the deadline for representations
closed in September 2005, we have been made aware of further issues and
evidence to support our arguments against the development of housing. We wrote to WNDC with this information, and
also our concerns regarding the handling of this application (copy HERE) Special Meeting of NBC Planning
Committee – February 2007 NBC Planning committee called a special
meeting on 6 February to consider the planning application for At this meeting, the chair, vice-chair,
and Councillor Eldred all spoke against this application. Our recollection is that the committee
agreed to defer recommendations on However when the minutes of the meeting
were published several weeks later, the applications for Parklands and Kingsthorpe were marked as ‘resolved’ ! The Residents’ Association cannot see how
it can be considered democratic to appraise practically identical
applications using different criteria - surely NBC either require input from
Sport England, or they do not. We
cannot see how this requirement can vary between sites. Stage 2 Complaint Parklands Residents’ Association wrote
to the council to escalate our complaint about the handling of planning
application N/2006/1054 (copy HERE). Revised recommendations from Sport When Sport England were first consulted
about this application in September 2006, they raised no objection whatever
to the summary disposal of the playing fields at all 18 ‘surplus’ school
sites. Following a sustained campaign
by Sally Keeble and ourselves, Sport England agreed
to review all of the applications On (i)
the retention of
an area for the creation of a junior pitch – in a location that is optimal
for integration with the adjacent public Parklands site; and (ii)
a financial
contribution that would meet a significant proportion of the costs involved
in improving the changing facilities at the adjacent public Parklands site (iii)
open space to
serve the new residents of the housing development This
is a very positive result, and should help to safeguard the fields for future
generations, whilst improving facilities for current users Further Consultation with WNDC –
April 2007 WNDC contacted the Residents’
Association regarding local opinion on how the recommendations of Sport
England may best be achieved. A
meeting of the residents’ association was held on Review by Central Government – June
2007 We have long been extremely concerned
that the proposed development is against the local plan. Last year we asked our MP, Sally Keeble, to look into this matter on our behalf to see if
anything could be done to prevent the planning authorities from ignoring
their own publish policies. Sally Keeble
has now written to us to advise that, should WNDC approve the planning
application, the Secretary of State will re-examine the decision (copy HERE). This
is extremely good news for our campaign, as there can be no justification for
going against the local plan Update – Members of the Residents’ Association
have attended a number of meetings with Sally Keeble
and WNDC regarding the development of school sites across WNDC have committed to contact everyone
who responded to the original consultation, and post notices regarding the
new public consultation. This process is
likely to happen once negotiations between the developer, NCC, and WNDC
regarding Section 106 contributions for all sites, has been formally
concluded. As of |
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