Policy FB13 - Hastings Garden Centre, Bexhill Road
Object
Development Management Plan Revised Proposed Submission Version March 2014
Representation ID: 5948
Received: 22/04/2014
Legally compliant? No
Sound? No
Duty to co-operate? No
Nine new sites added since Jan 2013 all granted planning permission. This means that the permission to include them as housing sites or not is pre-empted. The Inspector cannot do anything except agree. The way it was supposed to work was that the sites should have been allocated, consulted upon and then granted permission. It's a lot of new sites to add and does not comply with the Localism Act & Duty to Co-operate.
See attached -
Name: R Price
Submission dated 22.04.14 covering Reps 5941-5964 inclusive
Support
Development Management Plan Revised Proposed Submission Version March 2014
Representation ID: 5984
Received: 25/03/2014
The Garden Centre Group supports the re-introduction of Hastings Garden Centre as a residential site allocation within the Hastings Development Management Plan.
The Environment Agency has now confirmed, as a result of new modelling work, that there is a much reduced risk of flooding at the site such that it poses no bar to its allocation for housing purposes.
Subject to negotiation over the scale of the financial contribution referred to above, our client is comfortable that none of the policy requirements will affect the viability and therefore the 'deliverability' of the site for housing purposes over the Plan period.
I write on behalf of my client, The Garden Centre Group, operators of Hastings Garden Centre, Bexhill Road, St. Leonards on Sea to support the re-introduction of Hastings Garden Centre as a residential site allocation within the Hastings Development Management Plan.
Further to the site having been identified as suitable for housing purposes within earlier versions of the emerging Plan, concerns were raised as to the flood risk associated with the site and it was deleted from the Plan. The Environment Agency has now confirmed, as a result of new modelling work, that there is a much reduced risk of flooding at the site such that it poses no bar to its allocation for housing purposes.
The site is the subject of Policy FB13 which allocates the site for residential development with an indicative capacity of 12 dwellings. The policy requires development proposals for the site to:
* Provide 25% affordable housing on site
* The submission of an Ecological Constraints and Opportunities Plan and the incorporation of any recommended conservation and mitigation measures
* A financial contribution to local green space management and play provision
* Submission of a Historic Environment Record informed desk-based assessment and archaeological 'watching brief' during development works
* A Flood Risk Assessment and flood resilient design
* A Transport Report.
Subject to negotiation over the scale of the financial contribution referred to above, our client is comfortable that none of the policy requirements will affect the viability and therefore the 'deliverability' of the site for housing purposes over the Plan period.
The suitability of this urban, brownfield site to provide much needed housing in the Fisham Valley and Bulverhythe Focus Area has been well rehearsed in our earlier correspondence dated 28th February 2012 and 31st July 2012. Our client is satisfied that the Submission Version of Policy FB13 will facilitate a realistic and viable development of the site such that it should included within the Hastings Development Management Plan as a residential allocation.