Residents from Oakhurst who attended the planning committee meeting expressed sadness and disbelief about the decision taken this evening. They found it odd that councillors didn't agree with what the developers were proposing in the application but still said it should go ahead. Priory Vale councillor, Toby Elliott, recommended Tadpole Farm for approval seconded by councillor Dale Heenan.
There will be a three month extra negotiation period for the S.106 agreement but the Head of Planning made it clear that 45% of the site's traffic and £60,000 to mitigate the harm was a fair deal. This is less than the amount of money that the developer paid to put the application through the Council system.
The Labour Leader, Cllr Jim Grant, challenged Crest Nicholson to do better and appealed to their better nature. He said that they needed to put an improved package in place in consultation with the residents.
Cllr Vera Tomlinson made the point that only the St Andrews councillors should have any say over the negotiations about the S.106 money because Tadpole Farm sits entirely within that ward. However, a plethera of councillors challenged her on this issue and now all the north Swindon councillors will have an opportunity to find a way forward.
In all the discussions about how to improve the S.106 package none of the St Andrews or Priory Vale councillors mentioned speaking to the community to find out about what they would like to see. They thought that the developer consultation was not very good but did not express a need to share their decision-making role with the local residents.
Now the Oakhurst residents will be left to deal with the hundreds of extra cars down their local road with two minor crossings to deal with the impact.
