The Warren Road Access and the local Elections

Hi, as you are all aware, I have been campaigning against the Warren Road Access for years. Although the Warren Road Access campaign is not related to the proposed Sandleford housing, the points below are equally as relevant to our campaign.  Although I have no ties with any political party, after dealing with West Berkshire Council it has become clear that we are at the point where it is very important that we vote in local Councillors who are willing to fight against the proposed Warren Road Access and support other local concerns. Hopefully the letter below is helpful to you in your candidate decision making. Thank you, Julie

Say No to Sandleford Campaign, Local Elections Update:
 
As you are all no doubt aware, this Thursday 2nd May is the day of local elections in the area.  Due to changes in the ward boundaries to reduce the overall number of Councillors in West Berkshire Council from 52 to 43 we get a total of 9 votes in Wash Common: 6 for Newbury Town Council and 3 for the District (West Berkshire) Council.

I won’t go into what I think of the boundary changes however this newsletter is only concerned with the District elections to West Berkshire Council where we get 3 votes, as it is here that the fate of Sandleford will be determined.

Below is a summary of where we are with the campaign, how the local elections impact the Sandleford issue and the position on the development of each of the parties standing in the  elections.

BACKGROUND

We thought it important to lay out the options being placed before you with particular regard to Sandleford, as this election could be the last opportunity we have to stop the development completely.  We have done the research and confirmed our findings with the West Berkshire planning department and are assured that it is possible to reverse the decision made in 2012 where the Core Strategy was adopted by the Conservative Council with Sandleford named as a Strategic Housing site for the development of up to 2,000 homes in South Newbury just to the south of Monks Lane.  

The building work was due to start in 2016 delivering 100 homes per annum for the next 20 years and was West Berkshire’s housing banker in ensuring that unwanted developments were not permitted elsewhere as West Berkshire Council would be able to demonstrate a continual 5 year housing supply, critical in planning considerations as without it it becomes nearly impossible to refuse developers plans to build where they want, such is the state of our planning laws.

However the Council’s plans almost instantly started to unravel as it had to admit that the plans put before and approved by the Planning Inspector did not pass muster in handling the traffic that would be generated from such a huge development and that two exits to Monks Lane and a bus only route out of Warren Road would be a nightmare as our campaign has argued all along.
Almost immediately they revised the Supplementary Planning Document, the document that sets the parameters for delivering the Core Strategy, to take into consideration two further exits: one to the A339, and the other to make Warren Road accessible to all vehicles from the development.  And this is where it has become stuck.  Who pays for these revised exits and are they acceptable in terms of traffic management and the resultant further deterioration to air quality along Andover Road, Monks Lane and Essex Street at peak times?

As a result attempts by developers to get outline planning permission have been tied up in ongoing negotiations with West Berkshire planning department for years and in spite of revisions made in Jan 2018 when new applications were made, they still have not progressed sufficiently to give confidence for the planning officers to give a recommendation for consideration by Council.  We understand now that sufficient changes have been made to the current plans so that while they are still not acceptable to planning officers they will require a further round of consultation before they can be put to the Council for determination either way.

Meantime with Sandleford stalled the Council went through a period where it could no longer demonstrate it had a five year supply of new homes in development and so on appeal one of the alternative short listed sites to Sandleford has gained outline planning permission for an initial 400 homes which is North Newbury. So Sandleford, which was suppose to stop the need for other sites around Newbury to face large scale development failed in its first objective, and now we could face the prospect where we lose not just one but two green field sites around Newbury.

In other words the Core Strategy has been shot to pieces and to be frank the whole situation is a total mess with local residents in limbo with planning blight constantly threatened but not being implemented near their streets.

So where does that leave our campaign?  The answer is that this election represents our best and possibly last opportunity to stop the development in its tracks through overturning the original Core Strategy as number of factors have come to light that would enable the decision to be reversed on technical grounds.  This includes levels of pollution and air quality around our schools, inadequate means to mitigate the traffic impacts which were underestimated in the original decision, the lack of new sports facilities from the development, new rules on the protection of ancient woodlands and its impact on schools especially Park House, which have still to be adequately mitigated.  Warren Road is especially contentious as it was decidedly rejected by the Planning Inspector as an all vehicular route and the Council gave repeated assurances during the public hearings that it would be a bus only route.

However for there to be a review of the Core Strategy we need to ensure that we elect councillors who would support such a review so where do the parties stand on Sandleford?

THE PARTIES POSITION

The Conservatives: Fielding 3 candidates for each of the District Council seats: Stuart Davenport, Adrian Edwards and Anthony Pick.  The Conservatives voted through the Core Strategy and its amendments with Adrian Edwards voting for both in the District Council and Anthony Pick a vocal proponent from his then seat on the Town Council.  They are crystal clear that once adequate mitigation measures are in place to cope with the increase pressures on Newbury’s infrastructure that they support the development of up to 2,000 homes on Sandleford.  If the Conservatives win the election Sandleford will be developed it is then just a question of how many homes and what can be done to minimise its impact.

The Green Party: Fielding 1 candidate, David Marsh.  The Green Party have been consistent in their opposition to Sandleford, and would seek a review of the Core Strategy to see how best to deliver sustainable, affordable housing fit for the 21st Century.  Sandleford meets none of their criteria given that it is totally reliant on the car for its residents.

The Labour Party: Fielding 3 candidates: Julie Wintrup, Andrew Wallace and Peter Tullett.  Labour have come out in opposition to Sandleford stating “Newbury needs a step change in house building to provide well built, zero-carbon, affordable homes.  Sandleford as planned is not the answer”  Separately they have told me they would support a review of the Core Strategy.  In this regard it is important to judge the candidates on their individual merits and not cloud the issue with what is going on nationally.

Liberal Democrats: Fielding 2 candidates:  Adrian Abbs and Tony Vickers.  The LibDems have been staunch supporters of our campaign (indeed they initially founded the campaign group) however recently their position has become more nuanced where they state they accept that Sandleford is a done deal, and like the Conservatives are keen to see that it is developed correctly and its impact mitigated as far as possible as laid out in their Sandleford Update Letter.  I challenged them on this and pointed out to them that there is nothing to state that a Core Strategy cannot be reversed to which they acknowledged and told me that if this was the case they would support a review of the Core Strategy.  However we have seen nothing publicly that reverses the position they put out in their Sandleford Update letter.

SO HOW SHOULD YOU VOTE?

For many of you it will be a no brainer and you will vote for your usual party in the knowledge that they oppose Sandleford, or will vote tactically to support the candidates you think most likely to unseat the Conservatives.  

We also know that many of our supporters are traditionally Conservative voters who are equally passionate in their opposition to Sandleford.  To those voters we would urge you that if you cannot vote for one of the other parties then to abstain.  However do not just stay at home, get out to the voting booths and spoil your ballot paper with the words “I WOULD HAVE VOTED CONSERVATIVE BUT OPPOSE SANDLEFORD”.  This will count as a spoilt paper but importantly the Conservative teller will go through the spoilt papers to see if any can be turned into a vote and so will get to know how many of their voters oppose Sandleford.  However in doing this it is really important that you do not put a X for any of the candidates as otherwise it might be counted.

For my part, as a long term critic of party politics especially at local level I will vote for a rainbow coalition so will split my vote between the three opposition parties.

Please forward this to everyone you know who has a vote in the West Berkshire elections.  Remember if you want to stop Sandleford you need to make your vote count.

I hope this is helpful.
 Peter M Norman
Spokesperson
snts

peter@saynotosandleford.org.uk
Newsletter edited & published by Tony Hammond - SNtS committee member - tonyhammond@waitrose.com