The hearing took place yesterday and explored all the aspects of the application, the reasons for refusal and the reasons why the appealant had called for the hearing. There were many points raised and took most of the day and the pattern was much as predicted. District Councillor was in attendance , myself and other interested nearby residents.
The appealant continued to cherry pick Policies in support and the Council argued that they were not relevant or of limited relevance. I have to say some of the reasons given for refusal looked a little thin but the point of the post is that there was a full hearing and all the points were noted by the Inspector.
I would hope that a decision will not be too long in being reached, and the day finished with a site visit. I would suggest that it is impossible to know who will win the day.
Thank you Julian Hall our local councillor for keeping us informed on all matters relating to all matters relating to the village,also I think it is a good idea to have a car sharing scheme for hospital visits and such.
This land appeal is longer than most people want and it must be stressful for all
The letter is Planning gobbledegook for 'revisit this please and come up with another scheme which will address the issues called a Planning obligation'
It clearly hints that the Appeal will be allowed and I will be very brief here. Why? well the Appeal was considered by the Planning Inspectorate who are an arm of the Dept of Communities and Local Govt. Their starting point is a presumption to allow any Planning development and where there is a reason to do so they will. They look at the wider picture and recognise there is a housing shortage. They are stuck with the Planning Guidance BUT constantly dream up work arounds whilst pretending to adhere ( smoke and mirrors) and a recent court case has raised the issue of Planning obligations, which in my view is simply another reason to look at the application again, tweak it and then okay.
Crucial to this was the unfortunate lack of 5 year Housing Land supply on account of the Planners using the wrong calculation, AND that there are enough houses here to provide some affordable Housing.
Whilst many other issues are relevant , poor drainage, lack of school spaces, dangerous junction etc etc etc and the site is quite clearly not sustainable I suspect the above two reasons will win the day.
Finally there is the New Homes bonus ( money ) which Local Authorities get from the Govt as a bung to build more houses. They can spend it where and on what they like.
So much then for logic and Localism. The Appeal has not yet been allowed but it does not look good and I genuinely feel for whoever gets to live here, if it is granted
Just a small point on the 'bung' from the gov. It is money which will be used to improve services in South Norfolk or to plug another funding gap, not for sports cars or other luxuries for the councillors or as a cash bonus to them personally (As a bung would suggest).
No one is suggesting the bung is for sports cars and luxuries for councillors, but rather the money generated from house development in Spooner Row just ends up in a big pot, in a non-transparent system and the money is not invested back in Spooner Row.
Any money that is put into council coffers effects the whole of the area,not just one place.All builders contribute to council funds from Kings Lynn to Hemsby and back.Any money that goes into their funds is not for luxuries it is for running our councils and like.If the extra homes are built we might get a shop and more buses and more trains stopping in the village.
Lets stop being negative and as my wife says "Its not over till its over" and it might never happen and the status quo will have not changed and the village will revert to its own world of peace and tranquility.
Second anon is spot on, perhaps Bung suggests corruption and bribe is equally emotive, but this is South Norfolk AND potentially every other Local Authority by the way, trying to increase their funding from Central Government which has been cut back and cut back to the point where services are simply failing and they are doing what they can to survive and do a job or work.
What is wrong is the spin that this is not affecting services when it blatantly is and the loss is localism. We have already seen this in the 1230 houses being built at Silfield with very poor infrastructure in place whre the Town voted against this only for the district to pass it as they could see a big wedge of money in terms of a section 106 'tax' coming there way and this has happened. The exact figure is about £1880 per house which for those of you without computers for brains is £2,312,400 That is quite a sum.
As suggested where and how this money will be spent is partially visible BUT for the new home initiative quite clearly says LA's can spend on what and where they like.
Of course you will all be aware that the Audit commission who checked these things has been abolished
Any money that is put into council coffers effects the whole of the area,not just one place.All builders contribute to council funds from Kings Lynn to Hemsby and back.Any money that goes into their funds is not for luxuries it is for running our councils and like.If the extra homes are built we might get a shop and more buses and more trains stopping in the village.
Lets stop being negative and as my wife says "Its not over till its over" and it might never happen and the status quo will have not changed and the village will revert to its own world of peace and tranquility.
Think positive
I think you need to get real. Far too many planning permissions have been granted here and when these houses get built without any forward planned improvements to the village, it will be changed for good. Have you considered that some people just want to be left to live in peace and tranquility without these problems forced upon them by the council and developers? As for council funds, what do we pay our council taxes for?
You're right, is there no end to the constant building permissions for this village, with no regard to what anyone says and no improvements to the infrastructure. Lots of money for developers.
The decision is clearly the wrong one but as predicted was always going to be this way as they , the Planning inspectorate are an arm of the Dept that decide Planning Policy. The inspectors report is contradictory in that it acknwledges that the school is full at para 33 but then says the number of car movements will be minimal because the children who live there can walk to school at para 35 Errrr.........?
There is no way the site is sustainable but apparently car journeys of 2- 3 miles do not count and neither does poor, ( to say the least) local public transport.
The building of the site will also boost the local economy by providing jobs ??? How many builders do we have in the village??
Conclusion :- Localism and the views of local people count for nothing and I genuinely feel sorry for the people who will get to live here.
The property has now been empty forever and with no 2 building 2 more homes,it looks like there will be new residents in the village soon.These new people will bring cash into the village,maybe the pub will start selling food again.
Not in my backyard that is the typical response from people who do not want change,lets see what happens.
Same old thing again. No one is against change, it is excessive development with new houses without improvement to infrastructure that concerns people. The new houses will look ugly and will add nothing to the village and destroy its character, as well as add congestion on a bottleneck junction. The pub has its own reasons why it is not selling food, I am sure that the development of Cantley Villas will not make any difference on whether food is sold at the pub or not. Why would the cash from a few new houses affect the pub when the pub caters for a larger area than just the village? 1 Cantley Villas is for 7 dwellings and not for 2 - you can't even get that right. The property has been empty for a while because the developers have no interest in the village and just see it as an opportunity to make money for themselves.
if you didn't want houses there you should have bought it yourself. You cannot moan when someone else tries to earn a living by taking some risk that you are not prepared to do.
Just wait until the pub is sold to be turned into flats. (Currently up for sale at just over what it would be worth as a house/development opportunity)
Why is it that those that are in support of the over-development of Spooner Row have quite an unpleasant and rude attitude towards residents. Things they have said include, moaners, move out of the village, nimbys, get yourself a shire horse and the like. This rude attitude reveals more about the developers and their supporters and who they are, than anything else.
If the pub is for sale, and I mean 'if', then I wish the current owners all the best for their future.
