ORA were invited to attend the developer's community feedback meeting concerning development at Tadpole Farm this evening. Representatives from community groups, Haydon Wick Parish Council, Blunsdon Parish Council, ward councillors, a Borough officer and two representatives from the developers were in attendance.
The main concerns arising from the consultation in April were highways (55% of respondents), need for 1,700 additional houses in a stagnant market,
infrastructure first not last and amenities (schools being the most urgent).
The developers came with no solutions to residents' concerns and very little room to manoeuvre. The core strategy was the key defence to the routing of estate roads and the ward councillors put in no objection to this planning policy document in the meeting despite the huge impact this development will have on Oakhurst.
In fact, Cllr Tomlinson's focus was the Redhouse Village Centre. This consumed quite a bit of time in the meeting. Forget the impact of traffic on our community which was our main concern. The community centre at Redhouse took centre stage. If the Village Centre wasn't complete then the developers should beware that the application wouldn't be taken seriously at Planning Committee.
When it was suggested that Oakhurst might not be 'bought' by a few pieces of silver the same ward councillor made it clear that residents' groups would not be involved in negotiations about S.106 money. That was the Borough's job. When the question was asked whether this money would go Borough wide like the Haydon 3 money the response was that the rules had changed. However, none of the ward councillors was prepared to elaborate on what the rule changes are.
ORA are sad that we're burning to keep Redhouse warm!!
