See article posted on Shaftesbury Voice by Councillor Proctor Fight the premature housing developments Shaftesbury is a small town and it has had very high proportion of new residential developments that are still being built by the big national companies beloved of the planners. As a member of Shaftesbury Town Council I can confirm that the Town councillors share your concerns that we have had too much development too quickly and the town needs a breathing space o f at least a few years before we have any further large developments. We Town councillors are aware that our schools and medical facilities, employment and car parking and roads have so much catching up to do. The Town Council has declared its policy that we should not have any more large developments until the bypass has been constructed. The Town Council has no power under UK planning laws but we can lobby our district councillors to support our views. They have to follow government policy or the developer will go to appeal and get a planning approval without possible tempering through planning conditions. That is why I am pushing for our Town Council to employ a planning barrister to ensure we do all in our limited powers to stop or at least defer the developments. There is no point in writing letters of objection until a planning application is made or your letter will be wasted. Once there is a planning application number then write to the Planning Officer at North Dorset District Council, Nordin Salisbury Road. Blandford. Quote the planning reference number and the name of the development application Keep your letter to one side of the paper. Keep the letter punchy with bullet points. You are showing your support for objection, not writing an essay! Ensure you give your own name and address. Points which I feel should be made but do not feel you have to use all of them: The Neighbourhood Plan is still being prepared. Any development is premature until this is approved. We have had too much development too quickly The access road is inadequate Our town roads are inadequate The roads serving Shaftesbury are inadequate especially the A350 Our car parks are too small to serve further houses in the town Our schools are already stretched beyond their safe capacity Our Medical centre is already struggling and Dorset has no more funding for any additional costs or patients Our sewage works was extended but the sewers were not built to serve the size of the town now being proposed. Already sewage runs down Gold Hill and other hillside streets due to the pressure in the pipes. We need time to upgrade sporting and leisure facilities before more houses are built. Social services are stretched due to the excessive numbers of affordable housing in recent developments. We need a new community hall, a roof on the swimming pool, a proper football centre with state of the art clubhouse before we can think about any new developments. Then there are wildlife issues. Facilities for childrens play need improving. I hope that gets you started and am sure you will think of more points. Start preparing your letters and get friends to write as well, but please wait for the planning referenced number or send a letter now and write again. The Town Council knows of the problems so please do not inundate us with letters. Do send as many as you can to North Dorset!! Lets work together with specialist advice to fight the large developers. They employ people from outside the area and do not use local tradesmen and suppliers so this area does not benefit from this type if development. Cllr Philip Proctor
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 09:44:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015