Objection to UTT/22/2997/OP

An application for 350 houses to the north of Great Chesterford has been submitted, which is in an area the Parish Council has specifically and collectively identified as being unsuitable. The area is not connected to the village, making it very unsustainable, will be wholly reliant on hundreds of people using their cars to drive to the centre of the village and offers no meaningful facilities on-site. School children from the development will have to be bussed to Saffron Walden or will take the Primary School places away from the catchments it currently provides for. Most importantly, this area is part of our open countryside, has very special views and nationally significant Roman history; the setting of which will be changed forever.

The Planning Officers at Uttlesford quite rightly followed the lead from Historic England and strongly recommended refusal of this speculative scheme and the Parish Council were very pleased that the Neighbourhood Plan had done its job.

But, very alarmingly, UDC Planning Committee Members voted (via a narrow majority) against that Recommendation and were even heading towards approval. However, the scheme has not yet been approved. The decision has been deferred until 10 January 2024.

One of the issues raised by the Committee was the seeming lack of local objections to the application. 

Please can you find the time to sign this petition before Monday 8th January that objects to this proposed development that;

(1)    Conflicts with the Neighbourhood Plan. This is our plan, we spent years making it as a community and this development is contrary to policies 1, 2, 4a and 4b, 5 and 9 of the 2003 Neighbourhood Plan.

(2)    Conflicts with the UDC Local Plan. The proposal is in conflict with policies S3, S7, ENV 4, ENV 5 of the UDC Local Plan and should not be granted as a result.

(3)    Causes the loss of the best and most versatile agricultural land. This is in direct conflict with Paragraph 180 of Government Policy (the National Planning Policy Framework – NPPF)

(4)    Impacts on the setting of the 3 Scheduled Monuments – nationally protected and very important Roman and Anglo Saxon Sites where this development would sit right in the middle of them. Historic England strongly object to this proposal. It is a direct contravention of Chapter 16 of the NPPF.

(5)    Impacts on the environment and in particular on the landscape and the visual impact, including from key public footpaths which we all love using.

(6)    Is proposed in a area where there is a lack of water resources to support large-scale development. No evidence to suggest water sustainability.

(7)    Impacts further on the current poor sewer infrastructure and issues with water run-off/drainage.

(8)    Will create massive impact on the roads surrounding and within Great Chesterford – particularly the 4 main routes to the centre of the village which are all, in places, single-track.

(9)    Does not address the insufficient school places to accommodate the children and therefore impact on the road network taking children to school in Saffron Walden or similar. In addition, impact on surrounding villages catchment.

(10)  Has a complete lack of sustainability – very little on-site infrastructure. No cycle or footpath to the Genome Campus or Chesterford Research Park. No footpath or cycle path to the station.

The full application can be found on the Uttlesford District Council website using reference number UTT/22/2997/OP.

Signatories must be residents of Great or Little Chesterford