More Residents' questions have been put to Swindon Borough Council Planning Department. The answers are below:
Q: Please can you tell ORA what planning documents will be used to determine any application at Tadpole Farm. Are you working to the Local Plan 2011? I see that there is a draft LTP (Local Transport Plan) but are you working to the old one. As there is no outline planning permission, is an outline specification in the public domain? Cllr Tomlinson alluded to this specification at our recent meeting and SBC must be working to some kind of outline with the developers (as discussions are well under way). Please can we have a copy?
A: If an application was to be submitted now, we would determine it principally against the Structure Plan and the Local Plan, as they are the extant Development Plans for the Borough. The Structure Plan requires 1,000 dwellings to be built 'West of Swindon'. The Local Plan notionally expires in 2011, though key policies have been 'saved'. Accordingly, the emerging Core Strategy will be given material weight in the decision making process, with the weight afforded to it increasing as it moves through the production process.
No 'outline specification' is in the public domain as far as I know. The strategic requirements of any development fo the site are set out in the draft Core Strategy. That said, Crest's response to the last draft of the Core Strategy in September 2009 submitted an illustrative scheme, however I understand that the developers are revising this in light of additional work.
Q: Isn’t it a little strange that Tadpole Farm could have been approved/started by the time the Core Strategy is approved by SBC? You will be consulting on a document that will be out-of-date before residents have had an opportunity to discuss its planning merits. A bit back to front!!
A: Not necessarily. You will note that Commonhead is to be determined by Planning Committee next month. This is result of having to stall the earlier draft of the Core Strategy, whilst the current national policy 'vacuum' encourages developers to submit schemes in advance of the Localism Bill. We are moving ahead as quickly as we can to put a strategic framework in place to guide these developments.
Q: Has an EIA (Enviromental Impact Assessment) been carried out on this site? Are you planning on doing one?
A: The site has been subject to strategic assessment of constraints as part of the JSA work. The developers will have to undertake an EIA as part of the application process. This detailed EIA will determine the masterplan which will form part of the outtline planning application.
(N.B. JSA = A working group of Councillors/Council Officers from Wiltshire and Swindon who identify areas for development that sit close to their shared boundaries.)
(N.B. JSA = A working group of Councillors/Council Officers from Wiltshire and Swindon who identify areas for development that sit close to their shared boundaries.)
Q: Cllr Tomlinson has told ORA that SBC will be paying for an independent traffic management survey. Is this correct?
A: The traffic survey data previously provided in James Jackson's response were commissioned by Swindon Borough Council. This data has been provided and will be used to compare with any data provided by the Developers.
Q: Will the proposed link road up to the A419 be a permanent road? What will happen to it when the site is finished?
A: Any access to the 'old' A419 will be permanent, and adopted.
Q: Have SBC considered alternative transport routes other than using Oakhurst Way? What are these alternatives? As this one of the biggest contentions with the residents is there no other way around the problem?
A: Addinsel Road was previously considered as an all vehicular route and the addition of the Chapel Farm link has been incorporated to mitigate the concerns over the Oakhurst Way link.
Q: Can you give us some idea of how long discussions have been going on with the developers at Tadpole Farm? What are their current timescales? When can we expect to see representatives of the developers in the community? Sarah Foster has been very slow at getting in touch with residents’ groups, what are the developers planning to do to improve relationships with the community?
A: Tadpole Farm was first submitted as a suitable site for development by Lennon Planning in their representations to the Local Plan in 2002. The site was not needed at that time and they did not appear at the Local Plan Inquiry to defend it. Since then discussions, initially about the strategic suitability of the site, have been ongoing through a Structure Plan EIP and latterly in terms of the developers keeping us informed of their intentions. As far as I know, they will submit an application once the outcomes of public consultation and whatever outstanding work they feel they need to do are complete. This should be in the late spring. I would expect the community engagement to start imminently, if it has not yet. You need to direct your last point to the developers via Sarah Foster.
Q: After the Leader's comments in the paper yesterday is there anything standing between the communities here and the developers?
A: As I said, I understand that the developers are \ will be undertaking community engagement directly. Sarah Foster is the developers representitive.
