Cheadle Hulme School: No SIXTEEN BERTH coach park on our GREEN BELT field
The Issue
RE: Plans for a new Coach Park on Green Belt land off Hulme Hall Road; Cheadle Hulme. Planning application DC/054582.
We, the local residents and concerned environmentalists from further afield, implore you to reconsider your plans to construct a sixteen-berth coach park on the present site of a field, on Green Belt land just off Hulme Hall Road, Cheadle Hulme. We understand that school buildings and facilities must evolve and advance but wish to voice and explain our substantive concerns and acute distress about aspects of these plans. We appreciate that the school has significant parking problems1, but we consider that this coach park will exacerbate rather than solve them. If constructed, the coach park will be just feet away from the windows of residents of the Sheltered Accommodation which you neighbour. Many of these residents are elderly and already have respiratory problems.
We are very upset that this area of field and 'green corridor' for wildlife will be lost. This field provides walkers and dog walkers from the surrounding residential areas with green space to exercise their dogs and to enjoy for themselves, it provides wildlife with an increasingly rare habitat, and it provides calming and beautiful views for the 40 more senior members of our community who live in the Sheltered Accommodation on Hulme Hall Road. We implore you to reconsider your plans given the negative effects that this coach park will have on residents of the local area, and we ask you to appreciate the importance of Green Belt land. Such land was designated Green Belt for a reason2 and we were appalled by your ill-publicised 2011 application to remove the Green Belt classification from your entire site3.
The Green Belt protects the land from urban sprawl, and maintains areas for agriculture and wildlife. This land stops built-up areas merging into one another; protects the character of communities; protects the countryside from encroachment; and offers urban populations access to open space, room for outdoor activities and access to clean air. We have all been lucky enough to enjoy our local fields for many years4, and we hope that these fields can be preserved for the benefit of future generations. We have already seen the Green Belt breached with the construction of houses off School Lane, and we are incredibly concerned that your Ten Year Strategic Plan5 contains proposals which will breach this precious Green Belt yet further. Private schooling is accessible only to the privileged few, yet these precious fields are for everyone to enjoy at this time of economic austerity. They should be preserved.
Planning Policy Guidance 17 (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002) specifically mentions “promoting health and well-being” amongst the multiple functions of urban open spaces. The National Audit Office’s Report on Enhancing Urban Green Space (Comptroller and Auditor General, 2006) points out that “access to green spaces improves people’s quality of life, reducing stress, encouraging relaxation, and providing a sense of freedom”. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s Report on The Urban Environment (2007) states that there is “convincing evidence of the positive benefits to be gained from both active and passive involvement with natural areas in towns and cities”6.
The construction of the coach park will also involve cutting back hedgerows which can be seen on the Tithe Map of Cheadle Hulme from 1844. These hedgerows therefore pre-date Cheadle Hulme School and are protected under the 1977 Hedgerow Regulations, which recognise that Hedgerows are distinctive features of the countryside and contain a great diversity of plant and wildlife species7. Furthermore, replacing the grass with tarmac will increase surface water run-off, thus increasing the likelihood of flooding at the Hesketh and Claremont Road railway underpasses.
Not only will the field be lost forever, but it will be replaced with coaches which are highly likely to run on diesel fuel. Health concerns about diesel exhaust emissions relate not only to cancer, but also to other health problems such as stroke, lung and heart diseases8. Diesel engines are a major source of fine-particle pollution. The elderly and people with emphysema, asthma, and chronic heart and lung disease are especially sensitive to fine-particle pollution. Multiple studies have also linked elevated particle levels in the air to increased hospital admissions, emergency room visits, asthma attacks and premature deaths among those suffering from respiratory problems9. This is particularly disturbing as the proposed site neighbours sheltered accomodation for the over 55s.
We consider that these plans are incredibly concerning, given that the coaches will still need to drive into and out of the surrounding area, and the roads surrounding the school in all directions are very small and narrow. We consider that constructing a larger parking facility will ultimately increase traffic and are very concerned about this. These roads are heavily used by people of all ages attending Cheadle Hulme Health Centre on Smithy Green, people going to the nearby Bridge Chemist, school children attending at least four local primary and secondary schools, and the more senior members of our community who live in the aforementioned sheltered housing. The increased traffic, vehicle noise, and vehicle emissions which will result from this coach park are very concerning and pose genuine risks to the safety and quality of life of residents and visitors to the area. We consider that a SIXTEEN BERTH coach park will exacerbate the already significant congestion on Hulme Hall and surrounding roads.
It is most upsetting that plans such as these, which significantly alter the character of an entire area, can be passed with a period of only a month for local residents to formally respond to the Planning Committee; and it is unfair that those who propose developments have the right to appeal a rejection by the Planning Committee, whilst interested third parties have no such right of appeal. We effectively have no voice. Please listen to our concerns and protect this field.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr Philippa Tomczak (Ph.D. (Manchester), M.Sc. (Oxon.), M.A. (Oxon.), B.A. (Oxon.)).
1Please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmITmczH-uk&autoplay=1; https://www.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=p9DmdUlC2Ys&app=desktop. Accessed 24/07/2014.
2Please see: http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/policy/achieving-sustainable-development/delivering-sustainable-development/9-protecting-green-belt-land/, http://stockport-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/pp/extalt/extaltspd?pointId=1259322189347. Accessed 24/07/2014.
3Please see: http://stockport-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/allocationsdpd/issuesandoptions?pointId=ID-1836008-ISSUE-BRAMHALL-AND-CHEADLE-HULME-SOUTH-ISSUE-12&do=view. Accessed 24/07/2014.
4Please see: http://www.cheadlehulme.net/village/mainpics8.htm. Accessed 24/07/2014.
5Please see: http://www.cheadlehulmeschool.co.uk/ten_year_strategic_plan. Accessed 24/07/2014.
6Please see: http://www.green-space.org.uk/downloads/articles/urban%20green%20space%20and%20mental%20health.pdf. Accessed 24/07/2014.
7Please see: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/pins/hedgerow__guide_part_1.pdf. Accessed 24/07/2014.
8 Please see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32024727. Accessed 25/03/2015. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/pollution/diesel-exhaust. Accessed 24/07/2014.
9Please see: http://oehha.ca.gov/public_info/facts/dieselfacts.html. Accessed 24/07/2014.
The Issue
RE: Plans for a new Coach Park on Green Belt land off Hulme Hall Road; Cheadle Hulme. Planning application DC/054582.
We, the local residents and concerned environmentalists from further afield, implore you to reconsider your plans to construct a sixteen-berth coach park on the present site of a field, on Green Belt land just off Hulme Hall Road, Cheadle Hulme. We understand that school buildings and facilities must evolve and advance but wish to voice and explain our substantive concerns and acute distress about aspects of these plans. We appreciate that the school has significant parking problems1, but we consider that this coach park will exacerbate rather than solve them. If constructed, the coach park will be just feet away from the windows of residents of the Sheltered Accommodation which you neighbour. Many of these residents are elderly and already have respiratory problems.
We are very upset that this area of field and 'green corridor' for wildlife will be lost. This field provides walkers and dog walkers from the surrounding residential areas with green space to exercise their dogs and to enjoy for themselves, it provides wildlife with an increasingly rare habitat, and it provides calming and beautiful views for the 40 more senior members of our community who live in the Sheltered Accommodation on Hulme Hall Road. We implore you to reconsider your plans given the negative effects that this coach park will have on residents of the local area, and we ask you to appreciate the importance of Green Belt land. Such land was designated Green Belt for a reason2 and we were appalled by your ill-publicised 2011 application to remove the Green Belt classification from your entire site3.
The Green Belt protects the land from urban sprawl, and maintains areas for agriculture and wildlife. This land stops built-up areas merging into one another; protects the character of communities; protects the countryside from encroachment; and offers urban populations access to open space, room for outdoor activities and access to clean air. We have all been lucky enough to enjoy our local fields for many years4, and we hope that these fields can be preserved for the benefit of future generations. We have already seen the Green Belt breached with the construction of houses off School Lane, and we are incredibly concerned that your Ten Year Strategic Plan5 contains proposals which will breach this precious Green Belt yet further. Private schooling is accessible only to the privileged few, yet these precious fields are for everyone to enjoy at this time of economic austerity. They should be preserved.
Planning Policy Guidance 17 (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002) specifically mentions “promoting health and well-being” amongst the multiple functions of urban open spaces. The National Audit Office’s Report on Enhancing Urban Green Space (Comptroller and Auditor General, 2006) points out that “access to green spaces improves people’s quality of life, reducing stress, encouraging relaxation, and providing a sense of freedom”. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s Report on The Urban Environment (2007) states that there is “convincing evidence of the positive benefits to be gained from both active and passive involvement with natural areas in towns and cities”6.
The construction of the coach park will also involve cutting back hedgerows which can be seen on the Tithe Map of Cheadle Hulme from 1844. These hedgerows therefore pre-date Cheadle Hulme School and are protected under the 1977 Hedgerow Regulations, which recognise that Hedgerows are distinctive features of the countryside and contain a great diversity of plant and wildlife species7. Furthermore, replacing the grass with tarmac will increase surface water run-off, thus increasing the likelihood of flooding at the Hesketh and Claremont Road railway underpasses.
Not only will the field be lost forever, but it will be replaced with coaches which are highly likely to run on diesel fuel. Health concerns about diesel exhaust emissions relate not only to cancer, but also to other health problems such as stroke, lung and heart diseases8. Diesel engines are a major source of fine-particle pollution. The elderly and people with emphysema, asthma, and chronic heart and lung disease are especially sensitive to fine-particle pollution. Multiple studies have also linked elevated particle levels in the air to increased hospital admissions, emergency room visits, asthma attacks and premature deaths among those suffering from respiratory problems9. This is particularly disturbing as the proposed site neighbours sheltered accomodation for the over 55s.
We consider that these plans are incredibly concerning, given that the coaches will still need to drive into and out of the surrounding area, and the roads surrounding the school in all directions are very small and narrow. We consider that constructing a larger parking facility will ultimately increase traffic and are very concerned about this. These roads are heavily used by people of all ages attending Cheadle Hulme Health Centre on Smithy Green, people going to the nearby Bridge Chemist, school children attending at least four local primary and secondary schools, and the more senior members of our community who live in the aforementioned sheltered housing. The increased traffic, vehicle noise, and vehicle emissions which will result from this coach park are very concerning and pose genuine risks to the safety and quality of life of residents and visitors to the area. We consider that a SIXTEEN BERTH coach park will exacerbate the already significant congestion on Hulme Hall and surrounding roads.
It is most upsetting that plans such as these, which significantly alter the character of an entire area, can be passed with a period of only a month for local residents to formally respond to the Planning Committee; and it is unfair that those who propose developments have the right to appeal a rejection by the Planning Committee, whilst interested third parties have no such right of appeal. We effectively have no voice. Please listen to our concerns and protect this field.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr Philippa Tomczak (Ph.D. (Manchester), M.Sc. (Oxon.), M.A. (Oxon.), B.A. (Oxon.)).
1Please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmITmczH-uk&autoplay=1; https://www.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=p9DmdUlC2Ys&app=desktop. Accessed 24/07/2014.
2Please see: http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/policy/achieving-sustainable-development/delivering-sustainable-development/9-protecting-green-belt-land/, http://stockport-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/pp/extalt/extaltspd?pointId=1259322189347. Accessed 24/07/2014.
3Please see: http://stockport-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/allocationsdpd/issuesandoptions?pointId=ID-1836008-ISSUE-BRAMHALL-AND-CHEADLE-HULME-SOUTH-ISSUE-12&do=view. Accessed 24/07/2014.
4Please see: http://www.cheadlehulme.net/village/mainpics8.htm. Accessed 24/07/2014.
5Please see: http://www.cheadlehulmeschool.co.uk/ten_year_strategic_plan. Accessed 24/07/2014.
6Please see: http://www.green-space.org.uk/downloads/articles/urban%20green%20space%20and%20mental%20health.pdf. Accessed 24/07/2014.
7Please see: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/pins/hedgerow__guide_part_1.pdf. Accessed 24/07/2014.
8 Please see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32024727. Accessed 25/03/2015. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/pollution/diesel-exhaust. Accessed 24/07/2014.
9Please see: http://oehha.ca.gov/public_info/facts/dieselfacts.html. Accessed 24/07/2014.
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Petition created on 24 July 2014