Green field Sites
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 13th May 2009, 12:03
The following is taken from the Gurnard Parish web site. Is this common knowledge yet in Northwood?
“The meeting was held at Cockleton Farm in Gurnard and attended by Councillors Salter & Day
and the Parish Clerk, Councillor Pullen from Northwood Parish Council, Sharon Packer (Rural
Housing Enabler), Peter Griffiths (IW Council Housing Department) and Terry & June Butcher
(Land Owners). Discussion included the use of the land at the top of Cockleton Lane as an
exception site as it’s outside the UDP envelope, and assurances were given about the criteria for
occupancy, ie: addressing the local need. The combined need of Gurnard and Northwood comes
to 21 units, which would be a viable scheme for any Housing Association, but the current offer of
between £6K and £10K per plot was not considered enough. The Rural Housing Enabler will
liaise with the Housing Associations, and Councillor Pullen will seek formal agreement from
Northwood Parish Council to support the principle of a joint scheme for the 2 Parishes.”
Do we get a say in the process before its agreed?
16 Responses to “Green field Sites”
Leave a Reply
Village
- - Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society
- - Cowes Amateur Winemakers
- - Cowes Heritage
- - Cowes Radar Ex-Employees Association
- - Cowes-Deauville Twinning Association
- - Friends of Northwood Cemetery
- - Friends of Northwood House and Park
- - Medham W.I.
- - Newport Rowing Club
- - Northwood Floral Art Group
- - Northwood Village Produce Association
- - Northwood W.I.
Parish Council
I have just heard that the site looked at near Fourcross has been turned down by the Registered Providers (Housing Associations) due to the high land price being sought.
Whilst this does not preclude the Landowner from lowering his price, I am of the opinion that for the time being at least, this is not a live issue any more.
Even if a lower price was offered, it would have to be considerably less than what was on the table before and then there are still all the planning policy issues which operate against such a development on the suggested site.
Round one or indeed fifteen to us!
Best wishes, Roger Mazillius
Thanks Mr. Cotterill. In the absence of a specific site to discuss, the meeting would presumably just discuss whether or not we should find room for a site for affordable housing in Northwood for Islanders with a Northwood connection.
It would follow that whilst that debate would be useful, the real issue will be whether a specifically proposed site is suitable so there would then have to be another meeting to agree the site.
Would an alternative be for residents to email etc.in with support or not for the concept through this forum and through additional publicity in Northwood News, Parish Notice Board etc leaving the calling of an actual public meeting if and when a site does emerge?
Best wishes and thanks to Peter S. for his comment. Roger Mazillius
In my view the feelings and concerns being expressed on this forum in both Threads relating to the ‘Green Belt proposals’ have been clearly and succinctly put together.
The real solution is in Post ’21st May HTH’
to get a ‘Special Parish Meeting’ called and the Agenda set to deal with the issue of Affordable Housing; do we need them or where should they be built?
Lets put a horse before the cart and ask for willing volunteers to step up to the plate and work for getting this Special Meeting off the ground. Any one willing get in touch with me on:- 299008 to check whether there is sufficient support.
Silence or Apathy will kill the idea dead in the water.
Regards
Graham Cotterill Northwood.
Thanks Roger for your personal contribution. I hope the other Northwood Parish Councillors are similarly minded.
Peter S
Further apologies this time for my second reference to our next Parish meeting given as 4/6. It is as I first mentioned in fact on 2/6 – 4/6 is of course polling day! Further John Pullen will be away but will file a report on this subject.
Best wishes, Roger Maz.
Thanks to everyone for submitting such carefully considered and pertinent entries.
Our Housing needs Survey, which as has been correctly pointed out achieved a low return rate was however supplemented by entries on the Common Housing Register held by the IWC and used in conjunction with the local Housing Associations.This Register showed a definite demand for affordable homes in Northwood, mainly due to family connections,from those accomodated elsewhere on the Island.
So in our view there was a demand for affordable homes in Northwood. That led to enquiries to see if a suitable site was available.By suitable site, we were not expecting to just find any greenfield site but a small site which could more accurately be described as a brownfield site or one whose impact on greenfield areas would be minimal.
So to the Gurnard initiative. Our Parish Chairman, John Pullen was invited to the Gurnard site inspection by Gurnard’s Parish Clerk as an observer only and indeed he went as such. At that time the identity of the site was not known to us. As far as I am aware the recording of that meeting as shown in the “Homes” thread is correct but John will be reporting on this at our meeting on 2nd June.
As far as I am concerned, the site inspected is unsuitable for several reasons, most of which have been put forward in this forum. I would be most surprised if this view was not shared by all my Parish colleagues.
Further, as I have previously mentioned, the Island Development Plan,whilst allowing in the most stringent of circumstances rural exceptions to planning designations made by the Plan,is not drafted to allow housing development on greenfield sites in positions similar to the Gurnard proposal. Wrapping all this up, means in my view that such a proposal would not be found acceptable by Planning Officers. Indeed the exception provision is not meant to ride a coach and horses through carefully constructed greenbelt areas designed to protect the rurality of the Island.
Please see the entry inviting all those interested to make a submission to the Parish Council including of course attending our 4/6 meeting.
As a matter of procedure I should also add that if a suitable site was found in Northwood, that site would be publicised in advance of any Parish Council recommendation and would be the subject of either an agenda item or a special Parish Council public meeting.
Turning now to another interesting topic relevant to this matter, namely the merging of Northwood and Gurnard Parish Councils and the consequent financial savings this would achieve.I am sorry to disagree about the savings. Whilst it is true only one Clerk would be needed, this would involve a similar amount of work at similar rates of pay. How could it be otherwise? Indeed there would be a case I suspect of a larger Council needing to pay its Clerk at a higher rate!
There is then the issue that Parish Councils represent their local communties – an interesting thought given the possibilities of conflict between two different villages over for example this “housing site” and sending out conflicting messages to those communities eg “we want it” – “no we don’t” If that scenario seems endlessly downbeat I am sorry but that is what happens in the real world. On the upside of course we could find both communities locked in a warm embrace of continuous co-operation and agreed ideals. Whilst that could happen, I would prefer to keep our Parish Council representing Northwood residents and showing goodwill to all our other Island parish colleagues.
Needless to say these are my personal views.
I have made an entry in the corresponding thread referring to this entry.
Roger Mazillius
Based on the previous comment (13:25) if anyone out there genuinely cant make it, but has some useful arguments, then please post them here, and those of us that do go may be able to add them to ours. Thanks.
The next meeting of Northwood Parish Council will be held on Tuesday, 2 June in the WI Hall at 7.45 pm. If you are unable to attend to raise a question, please email or send a letter setting out your representations or your support for this issue to the clerk, Barbara Herbert @ barbara.herbert@sky.com who will ensure your views are put to councillors when they take a decision as to whether they wish to support the actions of Gurnard Parish Council or not. You must include your name and address as anonymous comments will not be taken into account. Whatever your view, make sure you let the councillors know.
Interesting opinion about turning up to Parish Council meetings.
It would not be very good use of 2000 people’s time to go and discuss the colours of next year’s plants, whether to make a £50 donation to the other community organisation, or listen to them reviewing their organisational policies.
To ask a one minute question at the begining of a meeting (before there is discussion on the topic) is not going to be very fuitful.
Now that some detail of a potential proposal is available, a real consultation meeting should be organised, publicised, and sufficient detail provided in order for residents to form a considered opinion.
The fact that the plot is the other side of an invisible and previously unknown parish boundary is of little relevance. If Northwood residents strongly oppose the proposal, it is more likely that the planning authority will have little respect for the arguments put forward by the distant host.
HTH
Quote… ‘Ms ****** referred to the Housing Needs Survey (HNS), which had been undertaken in November, to investigate the affordable housing need of people who live in Northwood and to gauge local opinion. Of the 1,000 questionnaires distributed, 89 or 8.9% of forms had been returned. This was considered to be some way below an average response. The report set out the key findings and identified that 11 households stated that they would have a local housing need at some time within the next five years. Of these 8 were specific with their requirements.
Discussion ensued on the recommendations outlined in the report, together with the advantages/disadvantages of undertaking a joint scheme with a neighbouring Parish Council. Using the HNS as an evidence base, the report indicated that there was a need for 4 to 6 houses, with a mix of rented and some shared ownership properties. However, this could increase to 10 to 12 houses, if those households on the IW Housing Register were taken into account.
A list of suggested sites, which had been taken from the HNS, formed part of the report.
RESOLVED :
i. THAT the Housing Needs Working Party, in liaison with Cllr **********, investigate the location of an appropriate parcel of land, where the landowner was agreeable for a small affordable housing scheme to be undertaken and to report back to a future meeting;’
============================================
This quote from parish records clearly indicates what events take place if residents fail to turn out and attend parish meetings! Issues like this are passed through without challenge from the very people who are effected by any development, however small. Once inertia is gathered…non- stoppable
In relation to the first post on this thread you have a classic example of what leads from a apathetic attitude to democracy at local levels.
Time and time we have forum threads littered with indignation to out right disbelief; The only place where any sort of democratic influence can take place is at council meetings. You can get your idea’s and ‘pro’s and ‘cons across. Importantly pick up the nuances from the councilors responding to a point.
The meetings are well advertised why don’t electors turn out? A strange event recently when there were 22 electors at a meeting; oh yes some thing was on offer! But there is always some thing on offer….your democracy,your local community…turn out and protect them.
PS. I have emailed the moderator of this forum asking for the 2 threads on this issue to be subsumed if possible, it is obvious they are the same vehicle. Put together a greater over all view would be obtained.
G R Cotterill Northwood.
Look at the February minutes of Northwood Parish Council – it says the response to the Housing Need Survey was well below the average – only 89 parishioners bothered to respond . Where does the idea that more housing is needed arise? Cockleton Lane is certainly not the right place to build any sort of housing – affordable housing or otherwise. The site of Gurnard Primary school would be best – in the heart of the village. Keep village boundaries distinct.
At a likely density of 30+ homes per hectare, this equates to 1 to 1.5 acres of land. £130k to £200k per acre is twenty to thirty times the price of agricultural land.
The Council regularly sells assets to ‘special purchasers’ at less than the market rate if it supports the cause.
I think the Northwoood PC will we wise enough to smell the rat.
Peter S
From what I have read from Gurnard Parish web they had a very poor return to the Questioner, of the 900 forms given out to all households within the parish, 68 forms (7.5%) were returned and not all these 68 people wanted it to proceed. This level of response is considered lower than the national average for the level of surveys distributed and method of return given, and it was stated therefore can not be classed as representative of the views of people in the parish.
Although the Council realised the apparent need was very small they still went ahead with the Task, why?
It now seems they require Northwood to join in to make it viable. This is another example of why its not good practise to have so many small Parish Councils doing their own thing on major contentious issues like building on Green Belt land.
In answer to the suggestion about using the Gurnard school site, this is prime land and I feel sure when it becomes available it will attract Top Dollar. Only farms and small holdings with no chance of getting building approval without using the “affordable housing” route will be interested in £6000 a plot.
Its also interesting to know if the “locals” dont take up the available housing under these rules it gets passed on to other areas, I leave that to your imagination.
Sam D.
Woudn’t the Gurnard school site be a better ‘brownfield site’, potentially available at a below-market price from the council once the school moves. Nearer the centre of the village.
Peter S
When the parish council organises and advertises the public meeting to gauge support, I expect it will be well attended.
If looking for plots at just £6000, what will the budget be for quality design, landscaping etc?
Thanks for the details.
This is very worrying. If it is the land opposite the Post Office, it would be a serious loss of local amenity. As you approach Cowes from Nodes Road, this is the first sight of the Western Solent, and the visible greenery strongly distinguishes Northwood from Cowes. It could set a precedence for ribbon development along the road, and cause further congestion at Four Cross unless there was a significant developer contribution for road improvements.
If the Gurnard Housing Needs survey was based on questions relating to people wishing to remain with their community, then why have Gurnard PC suggested the most distant point to the South? (French Government and Sangat spring to mind).
Didn’t Brighstone go through a similar exercise recently? Survey to justify a ‘need’, then when it came to sites, the community did not want any.
Does anyone have any more info, or concerns?
RF