Roll up, roll up...

The Newton St. Loe Conservation Group is holding a public meeting to inform and raise awareness about B&NES' urban extension plans for 2000 new houses between Twerton and the Globe roundabout. For some background information please refer to our post below, headed 'Nothing to say?'.

The details are as follows:

Date: Tuesday 3 November 2009

Place: Corston Church

Time: 7.30 p.m.

All welcome.

CPO objection e-mail

Due to the postal strike, the Government Office for the North East has said objection letters to the BTP CPOs may be e-mailed through. Click here to open a new e-mail message pre-addressed to the designated contact.

Please refer to the post below for guidelines.

How to object to a CPO...

As mentioned in the post dated 24 September 2009 headed 'Time's running out' B&NES Council has to complete and purchase the land under compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) before the next round of the funding application.

B&NES Council has, to date, spent at least £3.5m of local taxpayers’ money on the BTP. In addition, it will need to find in excess of £7m to implement the CPOs. There is no guarantee this money will be recovered as the central funding has not been confirmed. This is a complete waste of money on an unsustainable proposal that will only add congestion and pollution to our City. Click here to read B&NES' information on the different CPOs.

We have compiled some information on how to object which may be viewed here. Please note: these guidelines are not intended as legal advice. For those who wish to object, this must be done in writing and arrive at the address given before Friday 23 October 2009.

Anyone can raise objections as a non-statutory objector. Those whose land is under a CPO, and those whose property value will be adversely affected by work carried out on CPO land are classed as statutory objectors and have the right to speak at any CPO inquiry if they wish.

Same old, same old...

It has just been announced through GoSW that the Secretary of State will not be holding a public inquiry into the Newbridge or Bathampton planning applications.

This is obviously disappointing but not unexpected. Today's report in the Chronicle on line quotes Dave Jones, GoSW planning manager, from letters sent to Bath Council as saying:

“The Secretary of State has considered carefully .... relevant planning issues raised by this proposal. He acknowledges that this application has raised issues of controversy both from the representations received by B&NES Council and those persons who have taken the trouble to write directly to him.

However, he is satisfied that the planning issues raised do not relate to matters of more than local importance or amount to regional or national controversy, which would be more appropriately decided by him rather than the local planning authority.

He has therefore concluded that the application should be decided by B&NES Council.”

No controversy? We think not!

It does pose the question - which government body is willing to act impartially of behalf of the people?

Here we go again!

As mentioned in the post below documentation on the proposed CPOs in relation to the BTP was distributed to certain areas of Bath. In our neck of the woods we received the 'Statement of Reasons for Making the Order' on the Newbridge park and ride. Click here to read this report.

We have been through the entire fifty page document and now offer a commentary which is too lengthy to reproduce in this piece, but may be viewed here.

Secret squirrel

Recently a number of Bath residents received hand delivered packs from the Council regarding the fifty-nine CPOs due to be implemented in connection with the BTP.

The accompanying letter offered a contact name and number of a legal officer who would clarify any queries. The CPO situation is extremely complex and it must have been anticipated that many would need help. Unfortunately, those who rang the legal enquiries helpline were stone walled. Click here for an account of what happened.

It is a mystery why B&NES included the contact details when there was no intention to answer any questions.

Nothing to say?

For members of the public present at the B&NES Full Council meeting on 1 October 2009, in The Guildhall, it was surprising that no legal advice or information was passed on to Councillors concerning the context of their debate on the Bath Core Strategy document, which was approved for public consultation.

On 25 September 2009 GoSW wrote to all Chief Executives of Local Authorities in the region. GoSW announced a stalling of the SW Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) in the light of the High Court’s judgement against the East of England RSS, which it found had failed to test reasonable alternatives for two of its proposals.

The Core Strategy is, in effect, Bath’s own development plan, reflecting regional areas of search for strategic housing, business and transportation, all of which are highly controversial; and in the case of the Bath Transportation Package, increasingly under pressure as unsustainable.

Under European law, certain types of public plans and strategies must be accompanied by a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and it has to be demonstrated that all reasonable alternatives to proposals and policies contained in the plan or strategy have been fully tested. This is why GoSW has now decided there is a need for greater clarity on how its Areas of Search perform in sustainability terms, although it expects this re-assessment to be ‘properly tested’ by the start of 2010.

Opponents to proposals for park and ride sites on green fields at Bathampton Meadows and Newbridge, along with the Bus Rapid Transit, will be working in partnership to submit alternative proposals to both GoSW and B&NES, for consideration during the review process for the RSS and the consultation on the Bath Core Strategy document which carries a deadline of 11 December 2009.

Global warming, carbon emissions and heightened environmental awareness mean modes for the mass transit of people, such as heavy rail, must be considered. In the west a new Newton railway station and bus interchange, together with a bus lane for the A4, and enhanced usage of Corsham station for those living east of Bath, have been ignored as viable alternatives by B&NES.

The need for low cost housing and new well paid jobs must lead to a revision of plans for the development of Western Riverside and its part of the BRT, trailing CPOs before destroying vital green corridors and people’s gardens. Plans for a mini town at Newton St Loe before consideration of the infrastructure is not sustainable and gathering opponents will be looking seriously at a legal challenge given the precedent set by the East of England RSS.

To see the local paper's report on the meeting click here.