Redhouse Cafe Culture Sold Out for Housing

The Swindon Advertiser posted a picture for the Tomlinson family album as mother and son posed together in the foreground of a promised land. 

Why they look so proud of their achievement is questionable.  The gang of four are at it again.  Bulldozers and building is all they understand and, though many promises were made to Priory Vale residents about the state of the art Village Centre, residents now find that a back door application has been processed to build 33 extra houses.   

Not one in the gang of four called it into planning committee for consideration thus sealing the fate forever of the cafe culture that residents were promised. 

It appears that the developer, Crest Nicholson, is being blamed for the fact that it was asking for a fair market price for its land holdings.  Surely, Conservative councillors would support free market, striving businesses? 

Therefore Crest Nicholson, as developer, has only done what is expected. Yet, Justin Tomlinson MP tells us that developers would not try to take advantage.  How can an MP say one thing about development in an article one day and then contradict himself the next day in an article in the same newspaper. 

People in Priory Vale have expressed dismay that there is a definite possibility of a maybe that at some point in the future there could well be a community building of sorts.   

What we do know, that is definitely happening, is that there is no doctor’s surgery, nursery provision, retail units or a pub being built on that site.

Now that’s outrageous and it’s scandalous that our local politicians have done it again so soon after Tadpole Farm and Mouldon Hill Country Park.

 

News from the Doorstep - School Place Consultation

The Oakhurst residents are showing a level of anger over and above that of Tadpole Farm, when the gang of four said that they were against inappropriate development and then proposed and voted for it.

Second time around and the residents are still in no mood to forgive or forget.

ORA have been offered lots of help, advice and news concerning the school place consultation.  Residents have also offered to fund the leaflets and deliver them; such is the depth of anger over the consultation of obfuscation. 

 

ORA would like to thank residents for their generous offers but we already have enough people to deliver.  However, we would appreciate it if they could speak to their neighbours as promised.

Other groups are also contacting us about matters in North Swindon. Redhouse are surprised to hear about the 30-odd houses being planned for land adjacent to the village centre; especially as they tell us that there will be no improvements to Redhouse Way.

If there are any spare school places in Blunsdon then they are very likely to disappear because of pressure from the developments at Broadbush, Abbey Stadium and on the land between the A419 and Blunsdon.

The Old One Two: Rapid Transit Link planned for the East?

Talk about groundhog day.  Residents in Oakhurst are still stunned from the u-turning punch landed by the gang of four on Tadpole Farm's green and precious land when the next punch has already been landed on the East.  The East has fallen victim to the knockout punch of the Old One Two aka Heenan and Bluh.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Which School Site is Fairest Of All?

Oh dear.  Why has the fairy tale of a good boast evaporated for local politicians in the North?

Residents in Oakhurst know that some politicians enjoy putting party literature, that comes out of the blue, through their letter boxes.  What motivates them?  Keeping the leaflet business ticking over or actually informing residents what's important in their locality?  Are some politicians determined to follow a leaflet, bald of facts, with a dose of disingenuiness on the doorstep?

The Gang of Four Strike Again - Mouldon Hill Consultation

 

It was with some bemusement that residents have read the recent leaflet from the local ward councillors and MP about their need for a school at Mouldon Hill.   Residents are puzzled because they are under the impression that they are taking part in a consultation with Swindon Borough Council’s education department.

We now have a situation where four politicians have waded in.  Are they trying to skew the outcome?  Was the Oakhurst consultation an afterthought after residents had raised concerns that Mouldon Hill was the only option being given to them?

Tadpole Farm is being mentioned on Oakhurst doorsteps

During bouts of heavy rain tonight Oakhurst residents got together and went out to speak to fellow Oakhurst residents.  Though people were busy on a Saturday night they took time to talk to their neighbours from Oakhurst.  We are grateful for the time they spent talking to us and it was obvious that the local Conservative councillors had actually created more questions after their visit.

ORA was able to answer these questions and hope that more interventions like this do the same.

Justin Tomlinson, MP uses a term, it's being mentioned on the doorsteps.  If he continues to promote the capitulation by Cllr Elliott, who proposed Tadpole Farm for approval, then people will react in a way he may not have seen before.

It is good that the local Conservative councillors and MP are aligning themselves to their actions and attempts to reassure local residents are failing.  If they had been aiming at a target then today they would have missed it by a country mile.

Tadpole Farm - North Locality Meeting 7th June 2012 - What's in a Minute?

On 7th June 2012 the North Locality meeting went ahead and Tadpole Farm was on the agenda.  We have put the minute up from the Locality Lead and have contrasted this minute with ORA's.

ORA note that the Northern Development councillors who attended the meeting spoke against development at Tadpole Farm but at Planning Committee recommended it for approval or left it up to the Planning Committee.

Cllr Vera Tomlinson says:

"I would like to respond to David [Cllr David Renard (Haydon Wick)] and I am sure he knew I would. It is a bit of a defeatist attitude, that one. We are fighting for something that means an awful lot to an awful lot of people that live in the area which we are talking about and who will be affected most. It is not a done deal if we turn it down, if this Planning Committee turns it down, that the inspector will also turn it down. We have the right to speak at that appeal and if our arguments are good then the inspector will agree with us. So don’t think that if it is turned down it is going to cost you all a lot of money. Not necessarily so. And, in my opinion it is a fight worth fighting. We have to do it, it concerns so many people and it is such a bad application..."

On the night, Cllr Tomlinson recommended the committee to approve the planning application.

Why did the Tomlinsons and the Leader attend information sharing meetings with Tadpole Farm developers?

ORA would like to extend its thanks to www.talkswindon.org for enabling a big conversation to occur online for people with an interest in the issue of development at Tadpole Farm.  In particular, ORA would like to thank the person who signs himself/herself as Mellon who today, brought to our attention the following statement:

“Why would he need to go to the planning committee?  He has already attended an official unofficial meeting with developers while he was PPC on 25^th January 2010 with Vera Tomlinson, Rod Bluh and Peter Greenhalgh.  And surprise, surprise no minutes were taken for the meeting.  There was a second meeting took place on the 3^rd December 2010 but Justin wasn’t there”.

There is correspondence on What do They Know.com FOI No: 101000244815.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/north_swindon_developments#incoming-133223

No Quote at Planning Committee - Mr Tomlinson, MP

It does not appear that Mr Tomlinson, MP is mentioned in the planning officer's committee report.  A text search of the electronic copy of the report (over a hundred and twenty pages long) does not seem to find a single reference to him.

Mr Tomlinson did not attend the planning committee but the planning officer reports a letter as follows:

Tadpole Farm - Back to the Future?

On looking back through our records we came across this item. Isn't it so relevant now?

In February 2011, yes 2011, ORA sent a leaflet out to the whole of Oakhurst.

Developers and MP reveal their disastrous proposals for Tadpole Farm!

On Friday, 25^th February 2011 a meeting was hosted by the North Swindon MP for the developers and ORA.  The purpose of the meeting was for ORA to gain a better understanding of the developers’ proposals for Tadpole Farm.

The outcome of the meeting is that ORA are now a lot clearer about the position of our political representatives – with both the MP and the ward councillors appearing, to all intents and purposes, to be batting for the developers against the residents of Oakhurst.