EASTON-IN-GORDANO PARISH COUNCIL

 

Julie Smart                                                                                                  1 Monmouth Road

Clerk                                                                                                            Pill

Tel/Fax:  01275 374442                                                                              North Somerset

Email: eigparish.council@btinternet.com                                                  BS20 0AY

 

 

                                                                                                                     12^th January 2007

David Turner

Director, Development and Environment,

North Somerset Council

Somerset House

Oxford Street

WESTON-SUPER-MARE

North Somerset

BS23 1TG

 

 

 

Dear Mr Turner

 

NORTH SOMERSET REPLACEMENT LOCAL PLAN:

FURTHER PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS

 

With reference to the letter dated 11 December 2006 from the Principal Planning Officer, I am writing with the response of the above Parish Council to the further proposed modifications.

 

We understand that:-

 

1.      the Officers’ view that an area of land within the parishes of Easton-in-Gordano and Portbury be deleted from the Green Belt for future Port use, as recommended by the Inspector, still stands;

2.      an amendment was passed at the November Council meeting to retain Green Belt status for that part of the area within the parish of Portbury;

3.      a further amendment to retain Green Belt status for that part of the area within the parish of Easton-in-Gordano was not passed;

4.      therefore the result, should these proposed modifications be ratified, would be the loss of Green Belt status applying only to the land within the Parish of Easton-in-Gordano.

 

This Parish Council, together with Portbury Parish Council, has already made a substantial case in several previous letters, including those dated 25^th August 2005, 20^th February 2006 and 31^st May 2006, for the retention of Green Belt status for the whole of the area in question. As requested in your letter of 11^th December the detailed objections contained in this previous correspondence will not be repeated here, although they of course still apply. We would, however, continue to stress very strongly that the Public Inquiry held in 2003 dealt comprehensively with the Bristol Port Company’s claim of a need for more land and decided that this need had not been proven. This decision, and the reasoning, was supported by both appropriate Secretaries of State, who found that “long term storage of motor vehicles is not an efficient use of Port land”.

 

 

. . . / cont. 

 

-2-

 

 

 

Our further objections are as follows:-

 

• Easton-in-Gordano is the parish closest to the main area of activity of the Bristol Port Company, and has, since the opening of the Royal Portbury Dock, already suffered from a huge amount of encroachment, resulting in major adverse effects on the environment;

 

• The effect of the proposals would be to single out this parish for further damaging encroachment and further deterioration of the local environment;

 

• at a public meeting several years ago, prior to the establishment of the coal tip at the Royal Portbury Dock, attended by a large number of residents of the Parish, Mr Terence Mordaunt of the Bristol Port Company gave a public assurance that, once the coal tip was established, there would be no further encroachment by the Port on to land within the parish of Easton-in-Gordano. The protection of the piece of land in question for future Port use would represent a contradiction of this publicly given assurance.

 

We are aware that it has been pointed out on behalf of North Somerset Council that land between the Port and Portishead is now recommended for inclusion in the Green Belt, but this in no way benefits Easton-in-Gordano and cannot be used as any justification for a further damaging effect on this parish.

 

The Government is apparently keen to give local communities more opportunity to participate in planning processes and to ensure that local planning policy is underpinned by a local evidence base. A Parish Plan for the parish of Easton-in-Gordano has been published recently. It is based on the views expressed in responses to a questionnaire distributed to the 2166 households in the parish. Responses were received from 1311 households and 81% of those responding supported the maintenance intact of the existing Green Belt that currently surrounds the developed area of the parish. These responses taken with the large number of individual letters that you have already received are firm and the only evidence of local opinion on this matter – opinion of which, the Parish Council maintains, proper account should be taken by North Somerset Council in making a decision of such importance to the future of the parish.

 

We trust that our objections will be taken into account. However, should they not be met, it will be our intention to make the strongest representations to the Secretary of State, through the Government Office of the South West, for North Somerset Council to be directed to remove this modification.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Julie Smart

Clerk