DCLG/Parkridge Consultation Meeting
Thursday, 19 June 2008
at 6.30pm
at Bodicote House
Present:
Henry Cleary (DCLG), Roger Sporle (Parkridge Holdings), Matt Jackson (BBOWT), Tim Hallchurch (OCC), Norman Machin & Tony Henman (Weston Front), representatives
from local villages and Cherwell DC.
Henry
Cleary chaired the meeting and introduced it by explaining that the purpose was
firstly to explain the process and secondly to discuss arrangements for future
consultation. There were criticisms from the audience that the meeting
had been called at very short notice, with no agenda, and that the government
appeared to be promoting the scheme - not least because Henry Cleary was
sitting at the front table with the Parkridge representatives.
Henry
Cleary explained the background to the eco towns programme, which had its origins in the housing green
paper. He explained that the initial stage of consultation ran until 30
June and that there would be a 2nd stage finishing in October which would cover
the draft planning policy statement and sustainability appraisal. In
October the government would be naming locations that had the potential to go
forward as an eco town. It would then be up to the promoters to put in
planning applications. Roger Sporle of Parkridge indicated that he thought they were at
least eighteen months away from the submission of a planning
application.
Matt
Jackson of BBOWT pressed quite hard on a couple of the key questions: How
could the government claim that a locationally specific PPS did not effectively bypass the normal development plan
process? Why was the government not bringing forward eco towns as part of
a revision to the SE Plan (and other regional spatial strategies)? Henry
Cleary claimed that the PPS will be only one consideration in determining any
proposals and, somewhat disingenuously, that the local development framework
was likely to be the primary consideration in determining any planning
application. Matt Jackson said that Weston Otmoor ought to have been ruled out on ecological grounds; apparently in the late
1970s/early 1980s the government had budgeted to buy the site as a national
nature reserve (Philippa Lyons of BBOWT has
subsequently sent me some further information on this - attached).
In answer
to a question about whether eco town numbers could be used to offset housing
allocations elsewhere, Henry Cleary said that some offset might be possible,
but only in the context that overall numbers were likely to be going up anyway.
In answer
to Tim Hallchurch, Henry Cleary said that he didn't
envisage the Homes and Communities Agency fast tracking proposals for eco towns
without local authority support. He also said that if an eco town
application was turned down by a local authority on planning grounds he didn't
think that the government would overturn the decision. (I don't think I
was the only one who was sceptical about this
answer!).
Norman Machin and Tony Henman of Weston
Front both pressed on the fact that they had had no response to their freedom
of information request of the 14 May asking for details of the criteria used to
select the short list of 15. Henry Cleary undertook to look at what could
be released.
There
were questions about who had been invited to the meeting last night. Parkridge had invited only the four parish councils
directly affected by the proposed eco town. Henry Cleary said that he
would be happy to talk to other parishes at the 2nd stage of consultation.
On the
consultation process:
They do
not propose to have open public meetings. However, in response to a
number of objections to this, Henry Cleary undertook to think further about
possible meetings.
Tony Henman asked for details of the letters of instruction and
briefs being given to the various consultants conducting studies. Henry
Cleary said that he would be happy to send a letter setting out broadly what
the studies were covering and said that the reports would be published, but
when pressed again said that would see what he could do about providing more
detail.
There was
further discussion about the proportion of affordable housing likely to be
provided, the level to which houses were likely to be built under the code for
sustainable homes (picking up on the Times report that Caroline Flint had said
this might have to be compromised). There were also some questions about
the transport proposals, and specifically about the extent of free public
transport, to which Parkridge responded that public
transport would be free for all travel within the site.