Publication Draft

Object

Representation ID: 66201

Received: 24/07/2014

Respondent: Drs Thornton and Mr & Mrs Vernon et al.

Number of people: 10

Agent: Dr Paul Thornton

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

(1) The Local Plan Village Housing Options and Settlement Boundaries Consultation document published in November 2013 contained some serious factual errors in the information upon which the site selection process was based. As a result of these errors the site selection process was unsound.

(2) As a result of the errors contained in the Nov 2013 document, the Public Consultation which followed its publication was flawed to the extent that it should be considered invalid
(3) There is no explanation of the method by which WDC took account of the results of the Public Consultation in the formulation of the Publication Draft version of the Plan. Also, the errors relating to Burton Green in the November 2013 document are repeated in the Publication Draft, despite being highlighted in our Consultation submission. This suggests that WDC failed in their duty to consider our Consultation response.
(4) WDC have belatedly published a revised site assessment matrix subsequent to the Publication Draft. In respect of our site [Land off Hodgetts Land and Cromwell Lane], some of the errors have been corrected, as a result of which our site now compares favourably with the Preferred Option site. There has been no amendment of the Publication Draft to take account of those now acknowledged factual changes in the evidence base, which should have been recognised much earlier in the process. The Publication Draft is not justified.
(5) There is evidence to suggest that some of the information used in the site selection process has been selected or presented in such a way as to favour the Preferred Option Site at the expense of other sites. This casts doubt upon the soundness and justification of the selection process, and further undermines the validity of the Public Consultation.
(6) The deliverability of the Preferred Option site is very much in doubt as a consequence of the construction and operation of HS2. WDC have demonstrably failed to examine or properly take account of the evidence relating to the Burton Green area published by HS2 Ltd.
(7) Despite Burton Green being classified as a Growth Village, WDC have arbitrarily reduced the Housing Allocation from the original 70-90 dwellings down to 60.