1 August 2011
The Inspector appointed to decide on the Braintree District Draft Core Strategy has approved all of the proposed Growth Locations on greenfield sites in the district, including the 300 houses proposed for land off Forest Road/Rectory lane in the Parish of Rivenhall.
Despite a concerted community campaign, the land is now likely to be allocated for development in the Braintree District Local Development Framework, which is the "Local Plan" to the year 2026.
A key concern of local councillors and residents was that the administration of Braintree District Council (BDC) used a whipped vote at a Council meeting in 2009 to ensure that the Rivenhall Growth Location stayed in the Plan, despite the Witham Local Committee and the Local Development Framework Panel both voting to take it out.
Yet the Inspector in his report stated that the way in which BDC had made the decision was not a matter for him.
Cllr. James Abbott, District Councillor for Rivenhall said
" We knew the bar was set high for us to persuade the Inspector to make a different recommendation. He has not been able to take into account what to many of us seemed an obvious democratic deficit in the way the decisions were made. He was also unable to properly consider what we believe to be viable alternatives bacause not enough work had been done on them - which makes it a bit of a foregone conclusion in that the proposed Growth Locations had had a lot of work done on planning for them as part of the LDF process.
The biggest concern though is the fact that despite hundreds of local people making their views known about both proposed Growth Locations around Witham (through 3 consultations), despite both parish councils (Witham and Rivenhall) being opposed and despite local district councillors backing those concerns (at 2 separate votes of the Witham Local Committee), the decision has turned out the same anyway. So much for localism and promises by the Government that local people will shape their own futures.
It seems that developers will be the ones shaping the future, with local communities mere bystanders.
Throughout this process over several years we have been clear as Green Councillors that we recognise that housing is needed and we have not challenged BDC's overall housing totals. It was the distribution of development that has been the key issue. We believe the Rivenhall site is unsustainable and if built will present major challenges for the future by doubling the number of houses in the parish.
We will continue to look for opportunities to argue that case."
There was some welcome news in the Inspectors Report:
1. He dismissed the late attempt to re-allocate the Eastways extension which would have narrowed the gap between Witham and Rivenhall End significantly.
2. He also dismissed attempts by developers to bring forward the start dates for the Growth Locations, including for the land off Forest Road/Rectory Lane in Rivenhall Parish. The start date for the Rivenhall site remains as before at 2021 so long as BDC maintains a 5 year supply of housing land.
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