WELCOME
Welcome to my latest newsletter. Please forward it to anyone else who you think would like to receive it, and they can sign up at my website (www.peterheatonjones.org.uk). If you would prefer not to receive it, please use the unsubscribe button below. And please get in touch if there are any issues you would like to discuss.
Planning in North Devon
One of my top priorities is to ensure that the voices of local residents are heard loud and clear when controversial planning decisions are being made. To push this forward, I’ve written several times to the former Planning Minister Nick Boles to urge him to review the current rules.
You’ll notice I said ‘former’ Planning Minister. In this week’s reshuffle, Nick Boles was replaced. The new man in the job is Brandon Lewis, who will combine it with the role of Housing Minister, which I think is a very sensible move. I will of course be writing to Brandon Lewis to re-state North Devon’s concerns about the current rules and urging him to give more weight to local opinions.
Similarly, when it comes to wind turbine applications, there has been much frustration that so many were being allowed on appeal. On this, there is some positive news. In the last few weeks alone, half a dozen turbine appeals across North Devon have been rejected by the Planning Inspectorate.
This welcome turnaround has come after the government changed its guidance following representations from people like me that local residents and councillors were too often being ignored.
The government has listened, and I hope this is a trend we can extend to the rest of the planning system. I will be urging the new Minister to do just that.
Fremington Army Camp
A year ago this month, developers won their appeal to build nearly 300 houses at the former army camp, just off the busy B3233 into Barnstaple. One year on, they have now applied for permission to change the access arrangements, and not for the better.
The consultation period expires today, 18 July, and I have written to the senior planning officer at North Devon Council to support the many local residents who’ve contacted me with concerns.
The access as originally planned was already inadequate for a development of this size, and yet the applicants now seek permission for an even narrower road. As one local resident has succinctly put it, this “flies in the face of credulity”.
Overall, the access arrangements from the main road remain a source of understandable concern and opposition. There can be no doubt that installing a traffic light junction will cause considerable harm to the Fremington conservation area, not to mention the implications for traffic on this already busy route into town.
I am not opposed to the development per se – at least it is on a ‘brownfield’ site and not on pristine green fields or valuable farmland. However the proposed access arrangements are not fit for purpose and the new application fails to address those concerns.
I have suggested that the application should be refused or deferred to allow discussions with the applicant, landowners, County Council and others. The access arrangements must be fundamentally revised to achieve the best possible outcome for all concerned.
This is another example where I’m fighting for the voices of local residents to be heard. Some politicians tell people they can’t or won’t get involved in individual planning applications. Nonsense! I’ll always stand up for local people on these issues, so do let me know what you think.
North Devon Homes
Here’s an interesting fact: more than one in ten of the population of this area live in a property that’s part of North Devon Homes. NDH are the company that took over social housing from the council 14 years ago. They now have a stock of about 3,500 homes with around 10,000 residents, all of which makes them a very significant part of the community.
That’s why I was delighted last week to be invited by the head of North Devon Homes to go on a tour of some of the big regeneration and new building projects they’re undertaking in the area.
In particular we visited Forches in Barnstaple and Pill Gardens in Braunton – the photo shows me with Chief Executive Martyn Gimber looking at some of the impressive new-build properties there.
Martyn and I talked about the challenges of providing good, affordable homes in the right places…which brings us full circle to the question of planning once again.
The pressure to build is not going to go away. The question is where and how to build new houses, and I was pleased that NDH is looking very positively at this.
They also make a point of consulting with their residents at all stages and listening to their voices. That’s exactly what I’m pushing for in the entire planning process, and will continue to do so.
Keep in touch
I am active on social media, which is a good way to keep up with what I am doing so please:
Follow me on Twitter: @PeterNorthDevon
Like me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PeterNorthDevon
Many thanks.
Until next week......
Peter
Peter Heaton-Jones
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
email:[email protected]
www.peterheatonjones.org.uk
Welcome to my latest newsletter. Please forward it to anyone else who you think would like to receive it, and they can sign up at my website (www.peterheatonjones.org.uk). If you would prefer not to receive it, please use the unsubscribe button below. And please get in touch if there are any issues you would like to discuss.
Planning in North Devon
One of my top priorities is to ensure that the voices of local residents are heard loud and clear when controversial planning decisions are being made. To push this forward, I’ve written several times to the former Planning Minister Nick Boles to urge him to review the current rules.
You’ll notice I said ‘former’ Planning Minister. In this week’s reshuffle, Nick Boles was replaced. The new man in the job is Brandon Lewis, who will combine it with the role of Housing Minister, which I think is a very sensible move. I will of course be writing to Brandon Lewis to re-state North Devon’s concerns about the current rules and urging him to give more weight to local opinions.
Similarly, when it comes to wind turbine applications, there has been much frustration that so many were being allowed on appeal. On this, there is some positive news. In the last few weeks alone, half a dozen turbine appeals across North Devon have been rejected by the Planning Inspectorate.
This welcome turnaround has come after the government changed its guidance following representations from people like me that local residents and councillors were too often being ignored.
The government has listened, and I hope this is a trend we can extend to the rest of the planning system. I will be urging the new Minister to do just that.
Fremington Army Camp
A year ago this month, developers won their appeal to build nearly 300 houses at the former army camp, just off the busy B3233 into Barnstaple. One year on, they have now applied for permission to change the access arrangements, and not for the better.
The consultation period expires today, 18 July, and I have written to the senior planning officer at North Devon Council to support the many local residents who’ve contacted me with concerns.
The access as originally planned was already inadequate for a development of this size, and yet the applicants now seek permission for an even narrower road. As one local resident has succinctly put it, this “flies in the face of credulity”.
Overall, the access arrangements from the main road remain a source of understandable concern and opposition. There can be no doubt that installing a traffic light junction will cause considerable harm to the Fremington conservation area, not to mention the implications for traffic on this already busy route into town.
I am not opposed to the development per se – at least it is on a ‘brownfield’ site and not on pristine green fields or valuable farmland. However the proposed access arrangements are not fit for purpose and the new application fails to address those concerns.
I have suggested that the application should be refused or deferred to allow discussions with the applicant, landowners, County Council and others. The access arrangements must be fundamentally revised to achieve the best possible outcome for all concerned.
This is another example where I’m fighting for the voices of local residents to be heard. Some politicians tell people they can’t or won’t get involved in individual planning applications. Nonsense! I’ll always stand up for local people on these issues, so do let me know what you think.
North Devon Homes
Here’s an interesting fact: more than one in ten of the population of this area live in a property that’s part of North Devon Homes. NDH are the company that took over social housing from the council 14 years ago. They now have a stock of about 3,500 homes with around 10,000 residents, all of which makes them a very significant part of the community.
That’s why I was delighted last week to be invited by the head of North Devon Homes to go on a tour of some of the big regeneration and new building projects they’re undertaking in the area.
In particular we visited Forches in Barnstaple and Pill Gardens in Braunton – the photo shows me with Chief Executive Martyn Gimber looking at some of the impressive new-build properties there.
Martyn and I talked about the challenges of providing good, affordable homes in the right places…which brings us full circle to the question of planning once again.
The pressure to build is not going to go away. The question is where and how to build new houses, and I was pleased that NDH is looking very positively at this.
They also make a point of consulting with their residents at all stages and listening to their voices. That’s exactly what I’m pushing for in the entire planning process, and will continue to do so.
Keep in touch
I am active on social media, which is a good way to keep up with what I am doing so please:
Follow me on Twitter: @PeterNorthDevon
Like me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PeterNorthDevon
Many thanks.
Until next week......
Peter
Peter Heaton-Jones
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
email:[email protected]
www.peterheatonjones.org.uk