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EASTON-IN-GORDANO & PORTBURY PARISH COUNCILS
Please reply to:
The Clerk, Easton-in-Gordano Parish Council, 1 Monmouth Road, Pill BS20 0AY,
Tel/Fax 01275 374442, e-mail eigparish.council@btinternet.com ; and/or
The Clerk, Portbury Parish Council, c/o/ Portishead Business Services, 1st Floor Office Suite,
114B High Street, Portishead BS20 6PR, Tel 01275 815012, email
portbury_parish_council@hotmail.co.uk
7th December 2006
Right Hon. Liam Fox M.P.
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Dear Dr Fox
As you are aware, the process for adopting the North Somerset Replacement Local Plan (RLP) is in its final stages. Easton-in-Gordano and Portbury Parish Councils had very serious concerns that the plan would include the removal from the Green Belt of an area, including Courthouse Farm and land either side of the A369 that provides the last buffer between Royal Portbury Dock and the two parishes.
As was feared, North Somerset Council (NSC) has moved to adopt a version of the Replacement Plan that includes this Green Belt deletion as far as the land within the parish of Easton-in-Gordano is concerned. We understand that a proposal to retain Green Belt status for the part within the parish of Portbury is to be included in one final round of consultation, although the officer recommendation to delete the whole area from the Green Belt will still stand. Following this final consultation it is anticipated the RLP will be formally and finally adopted early in the New Year. Assuming that the final adopted plan will still include the deletion of some if not all of the land referred to from the Green Belt, we intend to write to the Secretary Of State via the Government Office of the South West to ask her to enable this aspect of the plan to be rejected, and would welcome your support.
The Councils feel that it may prove helpful to you to have an overview of the development of the situation, which now follows.
1) In 2003 there was an Inquiry in Public into the Royal Portbury Dock’s appeal against North Somerset Council’s refusal to grant planning permission for the development for dock-related purposes of land at Shipway Farm, which land was then designated as land that was to be treated as if it were Green Belt. Following the recommendation of the Inquiry Inspector, the then Secretary of State agreed all of the Inspector’s findings as to need and harm and rejected the appeal. In particular, the Inspector found that the RPD had failed either to demonstrate a need for further development land or to achieve an appropriately intensive and efficient use of the existing port area.
2) A draft version of the RLP was the subject of an Inquiry in Public in August 2005. The version of the plan that was considered at that Inquiry proposed both the retention of the Courthouse Farm and adjoining land in the established Green Belt, and the redesignation of the land at Shipway Farm into the Green Belt, the latter being a matter that had been presaged by the previous Avon County Structure Plan, with only the precise boundaries being a matter for the RLP.
3) The Parish Councils were therefore both surprised and outraged when, without prior public warning, North Somerset Council introduced at the RLP Inquiry a proposed new RLP Policy E/5a, together with associated material. This new policy in essence suggested that, should a need for further development land by the RPD be demonstrated, it would be preferable for it to be taken from the land at, and adjoining, Courthouse Farm land, rather than that at Shipway Farm.
4) At this stage the Councils made strenuous representations to the Inquiry and to NSC objecting both to the policy change, and the manner of its introduction. Documents A and B are copies of letters from the Chairs of the Parish Councils[1] and their planning representative[2] to NSC and the Inspector respectively. Of the objections raised that that stage, the following are of most significance:
Ø The absence of any indication, prior to the Inquiry, or in the modified draft deposit local plan, of a change in NSC’s approach to the issue, thus precluding the opportunity to make formal representations of objection to the Inspector at the Inquiry. The new approach was therefore not subject to any formal public consideration, in conflict with the process of RLP adoption laid down by PPG 12.
Ø The lack of any material evidence which would change the conclusions reached by the Inspector in relation to the profligacy of the present land use after the 2003 Shipway farm Inquiry referred to above.
Ø
The Parish Councils contend that
port development of Courthouse Farm, directly adjacent and linked to Easton-in-Gordano village, clearly would be detrimental to the community’s environment
and local traffic conditions. Similarly development of the area proposed for
deletion alongside the A369 would adversely affect the amenities and
environment of local communities and seriously harm the green approach to
Portishead.
These issues were pursued by the Parish Councils
with NSC during the autumn of 2005, but without any conclusion that was
satisfactory to them.
5) Despite these representations, the Inspector duly recommended that the new Policy E5/a should be incorporated into the RLP.
6) Extensive representations were made to NSC in the early summer of 2006, both by the Parish Councils and by the general public. A petition with about 900 signatures was handed in, and NSC received a large number of letters objecting to the policy change. Documents C and D are copies of the text of the petition, and of the Parish Councils’ press release about the matter. Document E is a further letter[3] from the two Parish Councils to NSC about both the process and content concerned.
7) A revised draft RLP was then published for consultation by NSC. Document F[4] provides our objections to Policy E5/a.
NSC now appears ready to adopt a version of the RLP including the deletion from the Green Belt of at least part of the land referred to above, and for it to be designated for dock use at some future date. The Parish Councils believe this is contrary to the present thrust of government policy to empower local communities to a greater degree, particularly since the recently published Easton-in-Gordano Parish Plan, following a detailed community consultation, revealed 81% of the community strongly supporting the retention of the present Green Belt boundaries. NSC having continued to disregard our objections to the change relating to Courthouse Farm and the adjoining land we understand that the two alternatives are:-
1. for any party to mount a legal challenge to the Plan when it is finally adopted;
2. for the Secretary of State (with responsibility delegated to the Government Office of the South West) to “direct” North Somerset to amend the Local Plan.
It is the second of these that we are asking to be undertaken, and for which we are asking for your support.
In the meantime, we should be pleased to meet with you in order to clarify any matters that require it or deal with any questions you need to have answered.
Yours sincerely
Julie Smart
Clerk of Easton-in-Gordano Parish Council
(on behalf of Easton-in-Gordano Parish Council and Portbury Parish Council)