July 2010 - Green Belt Fight Starts Again.
just when we thought it was safe. .
along comes more of this?
Just when the new Government has abolished the intrusive and much disliked Regional Spatial Strategy, which dictated 2400 houses in the green belt fields at West Parley, Corfe Mullen and Wimborne, it has emerged that the East Dorset District Council is still planning to build there.
The CPRE Press Release and the article in the Echo on 12 July tell the story.
The District Council plans to do an extensive "consultation" for 2 to 3 months starting in October, putting building "options" to the public for their views. However WPRA fears that the "options" are likely to be choices between one green belt field and another - ie not much choice at all.
The Echo's reporter chose to concentrate on West Parley, but in reality the Council's choices will be spread between West Parley, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne and Verwood.
The communities and CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) will work together as they did before. With your help, we shall defeat this invasion of the green belt again.
Watch this website for further news.
CPRE Press Release 28 July 2010. Please Click Here
Bournemouth Echo article 12 July 2010. Please Click Here
November 2009 - green belt safe for now.
have we avoided this?
and this?
It can now be said with confidence that the Regional Spatial Strategy is dead. This unloved 2006 plan by the unelected and now defunct South West Regional Assembly at Exeter included 2400 houses in the green belt at West Parley, Wimborne and Corfe Mullen. (see further down in this section for the detailed plans of where they would have been)
What is the story? Where did the Government lose its way? In 2005/6 they were confident in the plan and had the backing of County and District Councils as well as the Regional Assembly.
the WPRA in action
- August 2006. East Dorset District Council changes their mind. Under the pressure of an unprecedented 300 people at a Council meeting, organised by WPRA and other groups, they agreed to oppose the plans.
- January 2007. WPRA made an all house West Parley Survey and presented it to our MP at a crowded meeting with press and TV. 57% of all residents replied, and 97% of them opposed the plans. We sent this to the Councils and to government.
- 2008. WPRA and like minded groups helped the local public respond to the public consultation on the plans. This led to a totally unprecedented number of objections, all of which had to be formally processed. It delayed government progress by 6 months.
- 2008. WPRA led local groups in a combined assault on the County Council. With Council elections looming, we threatened combined opposition to any Cllr who had not spoken out against the green belt plans. The County Council put out a statement opposing the plans for the first time.
- 2009. Hazel Blears, Secretary of State and chief architect of the green belt invasion plans, resigns. This led to another 6 month delay.
- 2009. The High Court objects to some aspects of the East of England plans, and this put the South West plans on hold for more study.
- 2010. General Election.
In all this, WPRA was well to the front and played a constructive part. We kept up with the complex details; helped to co-ordinate other groups in turning round the District and County Councils; informed the public; made the arguments; encouraged public participation and responses; kept good contact with the District Council.
The Future. WPRA recognises there will always be demand for more house building. The big change is likely to be that the District and County Councils, not Government and Regional bodies, will say where they are to be built. Local groups like WPRA can talk to Councils and influence them in a democratic way. We can make suggestions as well as oppose unsuitable plans.
Where the houses would have been
Land south of Christchurch Rd and east of New Rd, West Parley.
The R.S.S. invented the concept of "Urban Extensions" - large high density housing estates in the green belt adjacent to West Parley, Corfe Mullen and Wimborne. A total of 2400 houses, in high density estates, are planned in the R.S.S. to be built among these locations. In the R.S.S. they are planned to be in generalised "Areas of Search" - ours to the South and West of West Parley - but we quickly narrowed this down to the fields alongside New Road, South of Parley Cross, and the fields adjacent to Dudsbury Rings. We now know the exact locations and number of houses planned for them.
Land south of Christchurch Rd west of Ridgeway.
East Dorset District Council completed a 4 month task called the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. (S.H.L.A.A.) They were directed by the Government to survey and assess every possible building site in the South East of the County, whether it was in the green belt or not. Government instructions were that every Council must have a rolling 5 year supply of suitable building land - if they did not they would be vulnerable to any builder's proposal, whether in the green belt or not, being approved by higher authority over the Council's head.
Land at Holmwood Park, Ferndown.
The Council does now have this 5 year supply. All the sites can be found on the "Dorset for You" web site, in the EDDC Agenda papers for their 18 March 2009 Policy and Resources Committee meeting. click hereOf special interest to us are the sites assessed as suitable for high density housing in and around West Parley.
The problems for West Parley
Amazingly, the R.S.S. contains no detailed requirements on infrastructure - the roads, open spaces, schools, surgeries, recreational facilities etc needed to support housing estates (which would be up to a 65% addition to West Parley's existing number of houses)
the Stour in flood
West Parley has far more ancient roots than Bournemouth or any of our adjacent communities. We go back to the Domesday Book, a Church with Saxon origins, an Iron Age hill fort. We have all the essential features of a village - a parish council, village hall, school, church, pubs, sports fields. A year ago the West Parley under 15 cricket team were champions of all England!
The fields in question are unsuitable for such large housing projects. The one at New Road is only just over a mile from the end of Bournemouth Airport runway - and the airport is planned to expand fourfold over the next 10 years. To deliberately place young families in such an environment would be folly. The Dudsbury Rings fields are right up to a flood plain on one side and a scheduled ancient monument on the other.
The importation of up to 1000 young families in a village whose present residents are largely retired is unsustainable,
All Saints Church
When the green belt was first put into law its prime purpose was to prevent urban sprawl, that is separate communities merging into each other. If the West Parley housing estates were to be built as and where planned, they would go right down to Kinson, separated only by the river. We would be a part of North Bournemouth.
The Fight up to Now
In 2005 the South West Regional Assembly - a remote and unelected body in Exeter - followed the Government's lead and originated a Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the South West of England for 2006 to 2026.
The full text is available at
RSS Final Draft. This immensely long and grandly named study included all sorts of economic, employment
and social factors, but has since proved to be mainly about the Government's drive for
houses at all costs.
In January 2007 West Parley Residents Association carried out an all house survey with a range of detailed questions on all sides of the issue. An amazing 65% of houses replied and 1755 registered electors signed the forms. An overwhelming 98% of residents were opposed to building in the green belt. This uniquely valid survey was
Click Here.
The first problem was that East Dorset District Council supported the green belt urban extensions. After extended campaigning and crowded public meetings, in August 2006 West Parley Residents Association and the parallel organisations at Corfe Mullen and Wimborne pressured EDDC to hold a crucial meeting in a school, in front of hundreds of residents. At this
meeting EDDC unanimously reversed their position to one of opposition to building
in the green belt, a position that they have since maintained.This left Dorset County Council, remote from us at Dorchester, as the only local authority supporting building in the green belt. They did this until very recently. In the Autumn of 2008 all the affected communities got together in a sustained campaign of pressure on DCC,
reminding them that County Elections were around the corner and we would relentlessly campaign
against any Councillor who had not vigorously represented us on this issue. In October 2008
DCC crumbled, and issued a statement saying they were against the Urban Extensions as
currently configured, on the grounds of inadequate infrastructure planning.
The Bureaucratic Mess
In 2007 the R.S.S. went to an Examination in Public at Exeter. We considered it a rushed and set up job; our MPs were not even allowed to speak. Briefly, the Inspectors confirmed it in all its essentials. They even said (it appears to us on little more evidence than a drive through) that all the S.E. Dorset settlements in a ring from Wareham to Wimborne to Ferndown and Verwood could be regarded as part of the Bournemouth/Poole conurbation. So according to them we live in Bournemouth!
We have been at this since the summer of 2006, with forums, rallies, council meetings, getting ourselves int the press etc. If you would like to see some history of how we have tackled this from the beginning, please click this link.
In 2008 the Secretary of State Hazel Blears published her final version of the RSS for public consultation, following which she would issue the definitive version. This was due in January 2009. In the event the SW region sent in a record 35,000+ responses and objections, which delayed the final issue by 6 months. It was expected at the end of June 2009, but the Secretary of State Hazel Blears resigned just before it could be issued.
Now, the new S. of S., John Denham (MP for Southampton Itchen) is likely to take his time before deciding the final Regional Spatial Strategy, if he does that at all.
East Dorset District Council are unanimously against these green belt housing plans. Even if the RSS is decided and issued by the Government, EDDC still has to process the paperwork and carry out statutory consultations. All this delay on the part of the Government means that in practice the District Council does not now have the time to implement them before the May 2010 General Election.
How it looked in mid 2009
The bureaucracy is complex and WPRA has to watch the situation like a hawk. Essentially, even when Hazel Blears issues the final RSS, it isn't law - but it is heavy handed Ministerial guidance. Under the law, only EDDC can approve planning applications or alter the green belt.
Hazel Blears
EDDC is forced to go through a process of compiling a new Core Strategy for its local planning. This has to have a defined number of stages and public consultations. One of these will be at the end of 2009, when the public will be faced with choices of where all these houses might be built in the green belt. This will be very difficult, both for the council and for the public. However, as the Secretary of State has been late issuing the final RSS the process of completing the Core Strategy and sending it to the Government for approval cannot now be finished before a General Election has to take place in May 2010.
This means that a planning application for a major build in one of the Green Belt Urban Extensions cannot be made in accordance with all the rules before a General Election. And should
the Government lose its majority,
the alternative Government has pledged to scrap the Regional Assemblies, scrap
the Regional Spatial Strategy, return control of building to the local authorities, and protect
the green belt.However, we may not be home and dry. Developers could put in speculative planning applications as soon as Hazel Blears publishes the RSS end June 2009. These could be rejected by EDDC, but go to appeal. On major planning applications, the Secretary of State has powers to "call them in" and approve them herself. But even in this case, no actual building could take place for a year or two, and a Secretary of State from another Government could take another view.
The upshot is that we have to pay attention, watch it closely, see that the local councils maintain their unanimous opposition, and keep the public informed.