WELCOME TO FELSTED

By 2017 Uttlesford District Council is required to produce a Local Plan, which will identify areas for future housing development. The initial consultation phase, looking at overall strategy for the plan, is now closed and you can read the comprehensive Felsted Parish Council response here.

As part of the next stage, the locations of c400 sites across Uttlesford, put forward by interested parties  for possible development in response to the ‘call for sites’, have been released.

An interactive map of all 400 sites can be viewed here.  By zooming in you can view the 28 locations within the Parish of Felsted. A separate list of all areas can also be viewed here.

It is recognised by Uttlesford District Council that releasing this level of detail is likely to generate concern within communities. However, it is a part of their Local Plan process to make public all sites being offered for development, irrespective of the likelihood of any specific site being adopted.

There is at this time no consultation stage to respond to, nor does this stage of the Plan generate any specific planning applications on which residents, or the Parish Council, can comment. The Plan process does not however preclude individuals from submitting a planning application at any time in the usual manner.

The next stage in the Plan process is for Uttlesford District Council to published a draft of the  Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA).  The Council can only conclude whether a  proposed site is suitable once the Council has reached a view about the overall development strategy for the District. It is anticipated that the SLAA assessments will therefore be finalised once the draft Local Plan strategy is published, hopefully in autumn 2016.

The District Council will then open a further consultation phase on the interim assessments. Comments made will be reviewed against each assessment and used to adjust the conclusions as necessary.

Felsted Parish Council remains vigilant and closely engaged with the Local Plan process. We have responded to the initial consultation phase and are a part of a cross District group of Parish Councils from Uttlesford and Braintree, established to share information, specifically in responding to the potential for a large scale development to the north of Felsted village (area 9 in the consultation). 

Separate from the Local Plan process, the Parish Council will continue to publicise and review any planning applications received, against Planning Policy, the principles established in the Felsted Parish Plan and those being defined within the emerging Neighbourhood Plan.

Following on from our earlier news item about the Uttlesford Local Plan, and the possibility of 10,000 houses being build on agricultural land adjoining the Parish, we have been asked to provide some additional guidance to help people respond to the consultation.

Documents:

The web page with all information can be found here.

The detailed consultation document is here.

The word document to insert your responses can be downloaded here.

How will Felsted Parish Council respond?

We are finalising our detailed response to the consultation. This will be finalised for approval at the full council meeting on 2nd December. Key to our response will be the following points:

In response to question 10, we believe that the principle of Uttlesford building one or more new settlements of up to 10,000 houses in providing for the future development needs of the District is wrong.

Following on from this, and in response to question 16, we shall be objecting to the single new settlement, as outlined in ‘Scenario A’, and supporting ‘Scenario D’, where smaller developments are sited around the District to support local housing needs.

Central to our submission is our response to Q11, detailing why we believe that building a garden village in Area 9, adjoining Felsted Parish to the north, would be wrong.

We will highlight that  Area 9:

• Potentially joins on to a site identified as a part of the Braintree Local Plan ‘call for sites’. If both are adopted then Felsted would be in the shadow of a major development and joined to Rayne by a new Garden Village.
• Will irreparably damage the cultural and unique heritage of Felsted, destroying what makes it an attractive place to live
• Will result in increased traffic and congestion in Felsted Parish and village
• Has poor access to rail networks via Braintree and Chelmsford
• Has limited access to the A120 due to a restricted access junction
• Has grade 2 agricultural land that should be protected
• Will require more infrastructure, specifically GPs, of whom there is both a national and local shortage
• Will not deliver the necessary employment opportunities. Despite statements that employment will result, it is likely that most residents would commute to existing centres of employment. This could result in Felsted centre being used as a commuter route into Chelmsford.

What can you do?

Your Parish Council has a voice in the consultation, and so do you.  It is vital that we all add our individual responses to make sure we are heard. If we, as residents, don’t spend 30 minutes to add our personal responses, then we cannot guarantee that we will be heard.

If you agree with the Parish Council, please do not simply copy the above points, as multiple ‘copy and paste’ responses risk being viewed as a single submission.

Remember, whilst the word document asks many questions about different aspects of the Local Planning process, you do not need to answer every question. If you have a single point to make on a single question then you can submit just that point, simply leave the other boxes empty.

Please download the word document above, add your comments and send to this email address: ku.vog.drofselttuobfsctd-308ce7@ycilopgninnalp.

It is your Parish, have your say.