Newsletters – Updates

We would like to thank you all for your continued support during our ongoing campaign so we thought we would keep you all up to date with a newsletter or two.

Hardingstone_Village_Action_Group_Newsletter_-_APRIL_14’_v3

 Hardingstone_Village_Action_Group_Newsletter_-Oct 13

We need your help once again, Northampton Borough Council are going to vote whether to Approve or Reject this planning application, so we urge you all to send an email immediatley to all the Borough Councillors named below and show your support once again and ask that the planning application is Rejected.

Hardingstone Action Group

STOP PRESS

These councillors below will either approve or reject the planning application N/2013/0338, Development of 1000+ houses at Hardingstone.

Please email/write to them all to register your Concerns or objections. 

Your protests really do make a difference.

Or write a letter to Northampton Borough Council The Guildhall St. Giles Square Northampton NN1 1DE

To make your life easier why not create a New Group Contact in your email account then add every Councillors email address into it, so everytime you want to send an objection email to all the councillors you can then just use the Group Contact.

Below are the instructions on how to create a New Group Email using GMAIL.

To create a contact group:

  1. Click Gmail at the top-left corner of your Gmail page, then choose Contacts.
  2. Select contacts that you want to add to a group, click the Groups button. , then Create new.
  3. Enter the name of the group.
  4. Click OK.

To add contacts to a contact group:

  1. Select the contacts in the Contacts list.
  2. Click the Groups button.
  3. Select the group you’d like to add the contact to, or select Create new to create a new group.
  4. If you have multiple addresses saved for a contact, you can choose which address should belong to the contact group by opening the contact and clicking the small arrow next to the group you’d like to modify.

Here are many reasons why this planning application must be rejected:

Reason 1:

The development is proposed on a prominent geological ridge, and the Northampton Local Plan saved policy E7 specifically protects the site because of this. The Northampton Landscape Sensitivity and Green Infrastructure study also confirms its high visual sensitivity. It cannot be acceptable to replace rolling fields with urban sprawl in such a highly sensitive.

Reason 2:

The development site has been identified as a potential area of regionally-rare acid grassland habitat in the Northampton Landscape Sensitivity and Green Infrastructure study. The proposal offers well-weeded allotments, garden lawns notorious for chemical control, and a few roadside verges which in practice will be kept tidily mown for safety and visual appeal around suburban roads. This high-density residential development is simply not a practical site for promoting significant areas of acid grassland habitat, so the application should be refused.
 
Reason 3:
 
The site is also on the eastern edge of a green infrastructure corridor of broadleaved woodland from Northampton to Salcey Forest (Northampton Landscape Sensitivity and Green Infrastructure Study), and the Joint Core Strategy policy BN3 seeks to enhance and create woodland. A high-density residential development is
unsuitable for supporting woodland, as cautious domestic insurance companies will seek the removal of trees as expensive causes of subsidence. instead Hardingstone’s fields should be saved, and the hedgerows enhanced to provide more broad leaved trees.
 
Reason 4:
 
The fields are close to the Upper Nene Gravel Pits Special Protection Area and the Barnes Meadow nature reserve. Nature being no respecter of human boundaries, wildlife species will also use the surrounding areas for habitat. The supporting habitat in Hardingstone’s fields must be protected.
 
Reason 5:

The site hosts endangered and protected species, including badgers, dormice, skylarks, fieldfares and house sparrows.  The habitat for these species must be protected and enhanced, making it attractive to other species too.

 Reason 6:

 The National Planning Policy Framework (paragraphs 116-117) and the Joint Core Strategy (policy S10) both require the protection, conservation and enhancement of the natural environment.  The Pre-Submission Joint Core Strategy SA Nontechnical Summary states that development at this site could lead to the loss of ‘optimal’ and ‘sub-optimal’ habitat.  The combination of environmental factors provides an opportunity to significantly enhance the environment, but if this development goes ahead we will lose 35 hectares of green space and achieve at best partial mitigation of unnecessary losses.  The planning application must be refused.

 Reason 7:

‘From Pittam’s Farmhouse the land falls to the south east, and giving good views of this farm complex and the wider agricultural context within which Hardingstone has become established. The land here is of some historic interest as a warren supplying rabbit meat in the mediaeval period, then (much later) being used as a quarry. A stone barn has recently been replaced by modern farm buildings. This area is a significant part of the wider setting of the village and accessible by public footpath.’ (Hardingstone Conservation Area Appraisal,p12)

http://www.northampton.gov.uk/info/200207/building_conservation_and_trees/1630/hardingstone_conservation_area

The development site is a very important setting to Hardingstone Conservation Area, contributing to its agricultural character and history.  The planning application mentions only that it will erect a visual barrier to protect the conservation area from the view of the development (which does not bode well for its design standards).  It does not attempt to address the loss of the fields’ positive contribution to the conservation area.  The negative impact on the conservation area means that the application should be rejected under the National Planning Policy Framework.

 Reason 8:

If this development goes ahead we will lose Hardingstone’s final link to its agricultural past, and the footpath will become a tarmaced road leading only to the backs of people’s houses, where our children will be at risk from passing cars. Our only access to the countryside will be by driving to where the green space hasn’t been destroyed, increasing the traffic on the roads as we go.

The application should therefore be refused under the following planning policies:

  • National Planning Policy Framework – paragraph 73 emphasises the importance of open space to health, and paragraph 74 resists development of existing open space.
  • National Environment White Paper 2011 – paragraphs 13 – 15 aim to reconnect people with nature, protecting local green areas.
  • Northampton Local Plan – saved policy E6 recognises the proposed site as ‘greenspace’, and states that development will not be allowed which would ‘unacceptably prejudice’ this function.  The Planning Inspectorate confirmed these policies by upholding the refusal for a development immediately to the north of the proposed site (APP/V2825/A/97/282945).
  • Joint Core Strategy – Policy RC2 states that the loss of existing community facilities, including open space, will be resisted.

Reason 9: 

The Joint Core Strategy policy R1 states that developments in villages should be limited to no more than 12% of current housing stock, to make sure that they are sustainable.  Hardingstone is a village: its Conservation Area appraisal confirms that it remains a separate entity from Northampton and retains the character of a village.  With approximately 1,000 dwellings at the last census, development in Hardingstone should be limited to a maximum of 120 new houses.  The Hardingstone SUE development  proposes 1,000 housings, an increase of 100%.  This is way beyond an appropriate, sustainable level of development.

Reason 10:

Newport Pagnell Road is already congested, and cannot be upgraded. With up to 2,000 more cars from the proposed development, it would be gridlocked and the surrounding village roads of Hardingstone and Wootton would be used as rat-runs.

 The application does not take into account the new development of 58 houses at Scholars Place and the new Waitrose supermarket.  Even so, the application’s own traffic report predicts that the Department of Transport’s maximum loading will be broken.    The Queen Eleanor roundabout and A45 will be brought to a standstill; with knock-on effects further afield. 

 Reason 11:

The development will not be sustainable because it does not provide the necessary infrastructure.  Local secondary schools are over-subscribed and there are no proposals to build a new one on this site.  Where will local children go?  How will the local hospitals, dentists, doctors etc. cope?  Where are the social and cultural facilities to build a healthy, happy community?

 Reason 12:

The development would have an unsustainable impact on the environment.  The fields are part of a green corridor running from Northampton to Salcey forest.  They support protected wildlife species, including badgers, dormice, lapwings and larks.   If the development goes ahead, their habitats will be lost. 

 Reason 13:

Below is a photo of the High Street before the development which would double its size.  You will notice that cars are parked on both sides of the road which already makes it difficult for cars to manoeuvre through the village, imagine what it must be like for the bus drivers who also have to negotiate these village roads every day.

high street

Reason 14:

The development site has geological factors which are not shown in the high level reports.  The fields have natural springs and already flood in wet weather.  This proposal would increase flooding for the neighbouring houses, as well as the new houses.

The geology is made of layers of sand and clay which, exacerbated by the springs, will be liable to solifluction and ground instability.

 Reason 15:

Residents of Hardingstone village and the surrounding areas have grave concerns about the development and its impact on the local infrastructure. Local residents have shown their feelings by submitting in excess of 1300 letters of objection.  If localisim is to have any meaning, the local community must be heard.

 Reason 16:

If the planning application is approved then where will all the new residents go for medical assistance? Our local Doctors in Wotton Fields already has a year-long waiting list.

Reason 17:

If the planning application is approved, the lack of facilities to develop a new community will increase anti-social behaviour, and the policing costs will soar.  The peaceful character of the village will be lost.

Reason 18:

Residents of Hardingstone have conducted their own survey and spoken to many people who already use the field regularly and found that many people come from all over the county to enjoy this space and countryside and exercise their dogs.  It is not just a community resource, it is a regional one.

 field

Reason 19:

“Hardingstone’s fields are crucial to the setting of Hardingstone Village.  They provide a green buffer between Brackmills industrial estate and the village, keeping the identities of the settlements distinct and separating residential from industrial areas.  Northampton Local Policy E6 prevents building on these fields for this very reason.  If this development goes ahead, Hardingstone’s identity will be lost and the new residents will have no protection from the industrial activities at Brackmills.”

Reason 20:

The field has already been set and rapeseed oil will be produced from the field below next year, what will happen to our locally sourced products? Where will the crops be planted next year? We are running out of fields.

field 6

 Reason 21:

Here our local farmer is maintaining the wheat within the field, where will it be grown in 2015?

The fields are sited on a prominent geological ridge, and the Northampton Local Plan saved policy E7 specifically protects the site because of this.  The Northampton Landscape Sensitivity and Green Infrastructure (NLSGI) study also confirms its high visual sensitivity.  It cannot be acceptable to replace rolling fields with urban sprawl in such a highly sensitive site.

corn field

Reason 22:

Andrew Leadsom has visited our village twice and provided her support and backing to reject this planning application.

Reason 23:

Whilst I am aware that there are many grounds for objecting to this proposal, my specific one is based on the need to preserve this Local Green Space.

It is immediately adjacent to the village, acting as an open recreational area which many villagers, and indeed others from further afield, utilise as a necessary environmental asset for the well-being of their health, both physical and mental.

This last piece of open countryside that keeps the village a village, is a vitally needed local leisure resource.  Large numbers of people exercise their dogs here or simply come to stroll amongst the health-giving benefits of the natural environment.  The exercise provided by walking along the ancient and historic track-way is complemented by the sense of space and the uplifting views afforded towards Northampton, along the Nene valley and away towards SalceyForest.  Whatever the time of year, the many and regular users of this Local Green Space gain the invigoration of mind, body and spirit, that is so necessary to sustain their well-being in the course of their hectic modern lives.

Nothing needs to be added: it functions perfectly well as a community resource at the same time as providing ground of the growing of essential crops; and it must not be taken away from a community that depends on it.

I therefore urge you on behalf of all of us (and our dogs!”) to refuse the application.

Reason 24:

The planning application must be rejected, residents within the village have displayed their feelings by putting this image in their window.

 1000

Reason 25:

This is what could happen to the field and what our countryside will look like, please reject this application.

new houses

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