"There is nothing in this application to support it being refused and I am very sad to say this, but like Cllr Tomlinson, I am a realist." Planning Committee - 12th June 2012
"It shocked me how many people were against it and reading the application there are so many things that are wrong with it for the people that already live in the area." North Locality Meeting - 7th June 2012
Cllr Mary Friend (St Andrews) is a new councillor to Swindon but she was previously a colleague of Cllr Tomlinson at a Council in the Midlands. Cllr Friend spoke after Cllr Heaton-Jones.
"The application to build 1,700 houses on Tadpole Farm will have a huge impact on the existing residents of St Andrews and these are the people that I am concerned about. The people that live in St Andrews now will bear the brunt of the impact that this development will have on their community. The infrastructure to support 1,700 more households doesn’t exist at present and I am not confident it will be in place by the time people could be moving into the new development.
There will be huge pressures on the roads, schools and health services and because of this I am against this development as it stands.
However, in a previous life, I have been a member of a Planning Committee in another authority, and I have to reluctantly agree with all that Cllr Tomlinson has said. There is nothing in this application to support it being refused and I am very sad to say this, but like Cllr Tomlinson, I am a realist.
And if we lost on appeal, and it is very likely we would, we would lose all control over this development. And residents would then get the very worst deal. Crest’s reputation is not at all good and so, in light of all this, I will repeat my agreement to Cllr Tomlinson’s proposal to this committee - to vote for Officer’s recommendations but to include ward councillors in their negotiation so that you can get the very best deal for all our concerned residents. Thank you."Questions that ORA members may wish to ask:
If the infrastructure to support 1,700 more households doesn't exist at present why were there no grounds to refuse the application? Aren't residents getting the very worse deal when their local councillors break their promise to get the application refused? What are the residents going to lose when the S.106 agreement appears to be comparable to the Haydon 3 agreement that was lost on appeal? What happened between the North Locality meeting on 7th June 2012 and the planning committee on 12th June 2012 that appeared to change Cllr Friend's mind?
