First filmed meeting sees councillors support Bumpstead Road objectors
Wednesday, 13th August 2014.
Around 30 members of the public attended the first Haverhill Town Council committee meeting to be filmed last night, most of them from the Bumpstead Road area objecting to a planning application.
Under new legislation, the public are entitled to film town and parish council meetings and the monthly session of the town council's planning committee was the first since the legislation came in.
Ther meeting had to be held in the bistro at Haverhill Arts Centre, rather than the council's usual home of the studio, to accommodate the number of residents wanting to attend.
Most were there to object to a planning application by Kenneth Dobinson to build up to nine new homes with garages and parking on land behind Bumpstead Road.
Mr Wilkins read out a statement on behalf of all the residents, from Bumpstead Road, Ashlea Close and Beaumont Vale, in which he cited a series of grounds of objection, and urged the town council to reject the plans.
The development, he said, would be overbearing, out of scale and have a disastrous effect pn the area. The land was not included in the Vision 2031 planning document creating guidelines for development in Haverhill over the next 20 years.
He said it would destroy the unique character of Bumpstead Road and devastate the quietness of the area on which residents placed great value.
It was an area which had remained largely unchanged for 100 years. The land concerned was a wildlife corridor with slow-worms, pipistrelle bats and lizards being seen in residents' gardens.
It was also subject to flooding, and the proposed access road was too close to an existing bungalow.
One of the houses was used by Barnardiston Hall School for accommodation of autistic children, who would suffer a detrimental effect from the new development.
Cllr Clive Turner explained to residents that the town council could only put forward a view, or make an objection on planning grounds, but it was St Edmundsbury Borough Council which would determine the application.
He proposed the town council support the residents'objections, and raise objections in its own right on planning grounds.
These were identified by Cllr Roger Andre as overdevelopment, land contamination issues, flooding risk, access and being generally out of keeping with the area.
Members all agreed with several councillors urging the plan should be rejected out of hand, particularly as it aws nothing like the sort of proposal they had been led to believe might come forward at a meeting with the applicant.
Under new legislation, the public are entitled to film town and parish council meetings and the monthly session of the town council's planning committee was the first since the legislation came in.
Ther meeting had to be held in the bistro at Haverhill Arts Centre, rather than the council's usual home of the studio, to accommodate the number of residents wanting to attend.
Most were there to object to a planning application by Kenneth Dobinson to build up to nine new homes with garages and parking on land behind Bumpstead Road.
Mr Wilkins read out a statement on behalf of all the residents, from Bumpstead Road, Ashlea Close and Beaumont Vale, in which he cited a series of grounds of objection, and urged the town council to reject the plans.
The development, he said, would be overbearing, out of scale and have a disastrous effect pn the area. The land was not included in the Vision 2031 planning document creating guidelines for development in Haverhill over the next 20 years.
He said it would destroy the unique character of Bumpstead Road and devastate the quietness of the area on which residents placed great value.
It was an area which had remained largely unchanged for 100 years. The land concerned was a wildlife corridor with slow-worms, pipistrelle bats and lizards being seen in residents' gardens.
It was also subject to flooding, and the proposed access road was too close to an existing bungalow.
One of the houses was used by Barnardiston Hall School for accommodation of autistic children, who would suffer a detrimental effect from the new development.
Cllr Clive Turner explained to residents that the town council could only put forward a view, or make an objection on planning grounds, but it was St Edmundsbury Borough Council which would determine the application.
He proposed the town council support the residents'objections, and raise objections in its own right on planning grounds.
These were identified by Cllr Roger Andre as overdevelopment, land contamination issues, flooding risk, access and being generally out of keeping with the area.
Members all agreed with several councillors urging the plan should be rejected out of hand, particularly as it aws nothing like the sort of proposal they had been led to believe might come forward at a meeting with the applicant.
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