District Council publishes its new green belt housing proposals -
520 houses to be built in West Parley on the Dudsbury Heights and New Road fields
21 Jan 2012
In the District Council's Core Strategy proposals published on 17 January, the New Road field is to have about 320 houses, together with shops, a 3000 sq metre supermarket, and some recreational land. See diagram A.
The Dudsbury Heights fields, behind Ridgeway, are to have about 200 houses. See diagram B
Road layouts are to be extensively altered. Traffic at Parley Cross is to be somewhat reduced by prohibiting 3 present turn lanes - see diagram C. Traffic to and from the new estates will use new link roads, shown in diagrams A and B.
These are big changes to the plans proposed by the District Council as "options" in September 2010. Despite their quite detailed nature, they have been developed behind closed doors - neither the West Parley District Councillors or the Parish Council have been involved or asked for their views.
Other green belt building plans are 335 houses at Verwood (reduced from 415); 250 houses at Corfe Mullen (reduced from 310); 1300 houses at Wimborne (increased from 955).
The proposed green belt housing at West Parley has been increased from 320 in the Sept 2010 options to 520 - an increase of 62%. This represents a huge (and in the Parish Council's view unsustainable) 32% increase over West Parley's present housing stock of 1630.
In the options proposed by the District Council in Sept 2010 the large housing option for the New Road field - then labelled FWP 5 - was labelled a "non preferred option" by the District Council on the grounds of their concerns over such a large extra population being so close to the Parley Common protected heathlands. We are not aware of why the District Council has changed their minds on this and has now reinstated this plan.
The views of West Parley residents on new housing are well documented in the 2011 Parish Plan. Backed by authoritative Surveys completed by 1000 residents the Parish Plan states that over 80% of the residents want to protect the Green Belt, which is a key gap between our community and Bournemouth. Over 80% of residents also accepted that West Parley should take its share of new housing; that a sustainable figure would be the addition of about 100 to our present housing stock of 1630; and that new houses would best be built in the infills on both sides of Christchurch Road.
The District Council will be voting on these new plans, to be issued for consultation as part of their developing Core Strategy, at 6pm on 5 March at a meeting in the Village Hotel, Bournemouth. The public may attend the meeting but may not speak.
The West Parley Parish Council and Residents Association will do its utmost to assist residents in accessing and completing the consultation forms that are to be available in March.
For more detailed information, see the West Parley content of EDDC's larger Core Strategy document - section 10, page 38 of this 46 page document - please click here
Residents who wish their views on the above plans to be made known to District Councillors before they vote may click here for the addresses of 25 of the 36 Councillors who live close to the green belt fields in question and so will be open to their importance. They could well be reminded that the next District Council Elections will be in Spring 2015, which is just when - if these building plans go through - the bulldozers will be getting to work on these green belt fields.
Residents updated on green field planning
busy night at the Memorial Hall
05 December 2011
Chairman Richard Heaslip made the following presentation at a crowded meeting (150) in the Memorial Hall Friday 2 December 2011: he exposes the old style top down planning which may force large unwanted developments on West Parley's green fields against the explicit wishes of residents, and the lack of democracy in the consultation process. Our two representatives on the East Dorset District Council were in attendance, and we hope they may strt to represent the residents views on the subject more forcefully in future.
Its time to get involved again! Please read this informative speech in full. . click here
EDDC's Green Belt Housing Plans - official West Parley Responses
17 Jan 2011
Site FWP3 Dudsbury Rings Fields (behind Ridgeway). 201 houses proposed by EDDC.
This proposal has been opposed by WPRA and WP Parish Council.
For WPRA detailed response to East Dorset District Council please click here.
For WP Parish Council detailed response please click here.
Site FWP4 New Road Fields. 100 houses plus new shops and neighbourhood centre proposed by EDDC.
This proposal has been opposed by WPRA.
For WPRA detailed response to East Dorset District Council please click here.
WP Parish Council accepted this proposal.
For WP Parish Council detailed response please click here.
The new Parish Council has since formally opposed this option.
Green Belt Housing Plans - Official Consultation is extended
04 Dec 2010
The Consultation run by East Dorset District Council on their Core Strategy (codeword for housing estates in the green belt at Corfe Mullen, Wimborne, West Parley and Verwood) has run into a muddle.
- The main response form for the average householder was to be a pullout in the Council's own newspaper, the East Dorset News. Unfortunately the distribution of this paper proved very patchy and many people have never seen it.
- The Exhibitions in Town and Village halls around the County were poorly publicised and attendance was very thin.
- The official on line response form is difficult and time consuming to use, and in any case cannot be attempted until a separate registration process with the Council has been completed.
So the Council has been forced to extend the Consultation period
(which was to have closed on 24 December) until Friday 14 January.
To see their new response form . . please click here
Green Belt Houses in East Dorset
30 Sept 2010
EDDC yesterday voted unanimously to authorise Green Belt building plans for consultation.
But it is the Council's stated Policy to stop building houses in the East Dorset Green Belt.
Are they now going to renege on this Policy ?
See the attached release on yesterday's Meeting which advocated building 2,170 houses
in critical Green Belt areas. . please click here
"The Government's Big Society policy advocates open and early consultation on such key issues, the Council has breached this."
Council publish their detailed plans for building in local green belt
22 Sept 2010
East Dorset District Council have just published their preferred options for housebuilding. As forecast, they are essentially in the same locations as earlier green belt plans
made by the last Government in the Regional Spatial Strategy (which has now been scrapped by the Coalition Government) The numbers of houses proposed in West Parley are less - 440 - although this would still increase West Parley's housing stock by an unsustainable 25%.
Corfe Mullen(310), Wimborne (1005), and Verwood (415) are are also hit by these plans. 40% of the proposed houses are planned to be affordable housing, that is to say social renting from housing associations or shared equity finance.
To see the plans and supporting documentation in full, click here.
The West Parley bits of the 365 page Core Strategy start at page 177. Please note this is a large document and takes a while to load.
For the convenience of readers WPRA has summarised the proposals for West Parley in this picture. There are 210 houses planned at Dudsbury heights, 85 at Holmwood Park, 45 at Coppins Nursery. In the New Road field it is proposed that at Parley Cross opposite to the present shopping parade there should be a new West Parley centre, with shops - the whole complex hopefully to be brought up to the standard of West Moors. Behind the new centre stretching down to half the fields there would be another 100 houses.
The District Council are holding a meeting at 5pm Wednesday 29 September to approve these proposals to go forward to public consultation lasting from early October to 24 December. Curiously, the meeting will be at the Village Hotel, Bournemouth. Even less acceptably, the public will be allowed entrance but denied their normal rights of speaking and presentation.
WPRA hopes that you will all take advantage of the opportunity to give your views on all this in the forthcoming consultation. This too has been made somewhat difficult - unlike past consultations you will not be sent a leaflet or form, nor can you go directly on line to respond. To get a form or to respond on line you must first register at EDDC - call 01202 886201 ext 2422 or email policy.planning@eastdorset.gov.uk
WPRA urges all its readers to register NOW and make your views known in the Consultation.
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.