URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE SCOTTS MEADOW

URGENT: a public meeting has been called for Monday evening (October 10) as Torbay planners are to decide on the future of Scotts Meadow despite pleas to delay the application until new Government legislation and the new Torbay Local plan are agreed.
We will give details of new changes to plan to put up to 200 houses on the lovely meadows off Riviera Way and how you can help.
St Andrews Methodist Church, Monday October 10, 7pm. All welcome.
Torbay planners will be meeting on Monday October 17, 2pm, at Oldway Mansion to decide whether to let the bulldozers on to the meadow. All telephone calls to councillors, letters, placards, banners etc welcome.
For more details ring Martin or Tina Edgell on 01803 615604.

Susie Colley's Support

We have written to all the Mayoral candidates asking for their support.
We welcome this response from Susie Colley, Independent.

Thank you for writing to me last week, seeking my support as a Mayoral Candidate ,  regarding your ongoing fight to retain Scotts Meadow in its natural state.

When I attended the Community Partnership meeting in January 2011, I saw for myself the strength of feeling that people from all over the Bay felt regarding the proposals by Cavanna to develop this site.

It concerns me that despite the decision upheld by a High Court Judge regarding protection of these meadows in September 2003, Cavanna Homes have challenged the judgement.

Having spent many years in Torbay, Scotts Meadow for me represents the natural beauty that attracts visitors to this part of the country.  To contemplate destroying this “Gateway to the Bay” is to my mind an act of vandalism. I understand that you have communicated with those involved with the Torbay Green Infrastructure Strategy asking for the Meadows to be officially recognised as green space in the ward and  that you will press for continued protection in the new Local Development Framework and any Neighbourhood Plan.

As the Elected Mayor of Torbay I will give unequivocal support to all your efforts to retain these meadows, leaving them untouched and unscathed for future generations.

At the Business Forum meeting on the 11^th April, I spoke against any new houses being built in Torbay in the foreseeable future, until there has been an assessment of all the empty housing stock and all that currently approved by planning. If necessary I will challenge the “quota” that has been suggested by the Government, under the Localism Bill. Developers would be addressing environmental issues more empathetically if they modernised and revitalised these properties instead of building on and destroying yet more of our green space. I will also try to ensure that planning officers inform developers to build on any brownfield sites that they own before coming up with plans for greenfield sites. I fully recognise the need for housing those who are not fortunate enough to have their own property, but we must act responsibly and give careful thought to how we use the land as it is an inheritance for our children and many generations to come.

I should welcome the opportunity to visit the meadows at your convenience as it is many years since I have walked on that area. Perhaps you could contact me at your earliest convenience to facilitate this visit. Thank you on behalf of all of us who live and work in Torbay, for your continued efforts to retain Scotts Meadow in its natural and beautiful state.

              Yours sincerely

Mrs S Colley, SRN

Managing Director

  

RESIDENTS REJECT PLAN TO BULLDOZE SCOTTS MEADOW

A PACKED meeting of the Shiphay with Willows community partnership overwhelmingly rejected the proposal for 200 homes on Scotts Meadow.

It was standing room only in the Farmhouse Tavern and our thanks go to the 100 plus residents who turned out to support us.

Ian Pugsley from Cavanna made a presentation on the scheme, and Martin Edgell from the group outlined why we believe the application should be rejected. 

The local community having shown how strongly it feels over a project by the show of hands, we hope and expect the council to listen. Among the crowd were several Tory councillors as well as our ward councillor Lib Dem Colin Charlwood. Both Colin and former deputy mayor Cllr Chris Lewis pledged to convey the outcome of the meeting to the planning department.

PLEASE NOTE: Torbay planners have confirmed the deadline for objections has now been extended a further two weeks to February 11.

Please continue to write in with your objections (see letter to residents below), every letter counts

We have been fighting for ten years to save these meadows, we want to save them for the enjoyment of everyone who lives in Shiphay with the Willows as well as everyone who passes through and future generations.

Meeting Monday January 24 7.30pm

Don't forget the meeting of the Shiphay and Willows Community Partnership will be discussing the new Cavanna Application from 7.30pm at the Farmhouse Tavern on Newton Road.

Torbay Urban Forum

We had a very positive meeting with the management group of Torbay Urban Forum who have offered their support. Check out their website http://www.torbayurbanforum.org.uk/

CAVANNA GO TO PLANNERS

CAVANNA Homes have now submitted their application for around 200 homes at Scotts Meadows.
We are sending the following letter to local residents to help us persuade planners to reject the application.
Please help us stop the bulldozers moving into these lovely meadows.

HELP SAVE SCOTTS MEADOWS

CAVANNA HOMES have submitted an application for around 200 homes on Scotts Meadows off Riviera Way. We only have until January 27 to respond. The only way we can protect the meadows is by continuing to lobby councillors against bulldozers moving in and ripping into the flowers and wildlife.

If we as a community can’t save Scotts Meadows for our children,

then no green field in Torbay is safe from development.

THIS SITE IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR HOUSING, IT’S STILL A LANDSCAPE PROTECTION AREA AND WITH THE ELECTIONS AHEAD IN MAY, YOUR LOBBYING CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO SAVE THIS OPEN SPACE.

The details we have obtained under Freedom of Information clearly show that Torbay Council would find delivering this site for housing “problematic”, that they are aware of residents’ “huge resistance to development”.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please attend

The Shiphay and Willows Ward Partnership public meeting at 7.30pm, on Monday January 24 at the Farmhouse Tavern, Newton Road   when the application will be discussed.

Please send your objections to the planning department on its consultation website  http://www.torbay.gov.uk/newpublicaccess/, or by email to planning@torbay.gov.uk or snail mail to Spatial Planning, Roebuck House, Abbey Road, Torquay TQ2 5DP. Please telephone councillors, particularly those on the development management committee, to let them know how strongly you object to this proposal. Their details are on the www.torbay@gov.uk website under “your council”. The Reference Number to quote is: P/2010/1388.Letters to councillors can be sent c/o Torquay Town Hall, Castle Circus, TQ1 3DR, email individual councillors whose addresses are all composed in the same way, such as  Gordon.Oliver@Torbay.gov.uk  or  Neil.Bent@torbay.gov.uk and Mayor@torbay.gov.uk. The development management committee members are chairman Christine Scouler, Peter Addis, Roger Carter, Alan Faulkner, Terry Manning, Mike Morey, Beryl McPhail, Ruth Pentney, David Thomas. Please also write to the editor of the Herald Express, Barton Hill Road, Torquay, TQ2 8JN.

For full details of the application see http://www.torbay.gov.uk/newpublicaccess/ ( then enter application reference P/2010/1388) or you can ask to see it at Roebuck House, Abbey Road, Torquay.

Tips on writing an individual objection letter.

1.            Make it clear you are lodging objections to application P/2010/1388 Area 4 South, The Willows. Please request a site visit.

2.            Please keep your letter positive, polite, community focused and not too long. It will help to include the points below, but please put them in your own words. Objection letters written exactly the same but signed by different people do not carry weight! Each household member is entitled to write a letter.

3.           The effect on property values and loss of view will not be considered by planners or councillors who will dismiss our efforts as NIMBYism.

Some suggested issues to include:

The application is premature because Torbay Council is still consulting on its new core strategy and the Government consulting on changes to planning law and environmental protection giving neighbourhoods a bigger voice. Scotts Meadows are still protected by landscape protection status in the existing local plan.

The main objection is the loss to the community in terms of loss of an amenity area for walking, recreational area/open space even though they have been fenced off, potential outside classroom for children/ quality of life issues and loss of the rich wildlife on a site. This will be worse when the area around Beechfield Avenue and the former Barton Tip are built on.

It is also over-development at the Willows - nearly 1,300 homes have been already been built on the green fields of Barton with 25 under construction and another 151 permitted. These remaining meadows should be left for future generations to enjoy.

Their importance in the local landscape, as a buffer between Shiphay and the Willows, was recognised in their designation in the Local Plan as an Urban Landscape Protection Area. Councillors voted 27 to 4 in 2003 to preserve the meadows with officers’ backing. This was upheld by a High Court hearing in 2004. With their important gateway position they are an asset to the resort’s International Geopark status.

The meadows are part of the Bay’s outstanding beautiful local landscape, part of the reason why tourists visit the English Riviera. They will provide a welcome buffer to the  development that will take place along the new A380 South Devon Link Road if built.

Scotts Meadows are considered especially important to the community since the loss of the meadows at Edginswell Business Park, and the proposals to build 750 houses in fields alongside Hamelin Way. This is an area within the ward where housing need can be met.

There are also proposals to build up to 500 homes at White Rock, 220 at Yannons Farm Paignton (for Cavanna Homes), 365 at Great Parks, to replace holiday parks in Brixham with 230 house at Wall Park, 110 homes at Riviera Bay. Cavanna Homes also have the former B&Q building in Torre which remains an eyesore.

As they have not been farmed for two decades Scotts Meadows are species rich unimproved meadows which are increasingly rare nationally. Our councillors have a responsibility to protect our environment and quality of life for future generations.

The Government says consultation is about listening to the community so make your voice heard. Ensure the council receives your letter by January 27 and join our protests at the planning committee when it is held.

ANY DONATIONS TO THE SCOTTS MEADOW PROJECT GROUP WOULD BE GRATEFULLY RECEIVED. For further details phone chairman JIM PROWSE 615922 or email savescottsmeadow@yahoo.co.uk.

CAVANNA CONFIRM NEW PLANS

"DEVELOPERS have unveiled new plans for homes at the gateway to Torquay.

But while Cavanna Homes say they now have the balance between homes and open space right, campaigners fighting the scheme say they are still unacceptable.

Under the project, 200 homes would be built at Scotts Meadow, beside the main road at Edginswell, with public open space also included.

The plans have been revised in the past six months, and they will be handed to council planners next month."

See the Herald Express today for confirmation of Cavanna's Plans to submit a planning application before Christmas.


http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/news/new-plans-scotts-meadow/article-2943903-detail/article.html?cacheBust=VHf0GC6qsmtu&success=true#community

Cavanna reveal new plans

Cavanna Homes have revealed in a private meeting that they plan to submit an application before Christmas for some 200 homes. We will be lobbying to preserve the meadows for wildlife and the community.

Support from Marcus Wood, Torbay Conservative candidate

I have always made it clear that I believe the Government target of 15,000 new homes for Torbay is unneccessary, unwanted interference by Government and against the interests and wishes of local residents.

A Government target of this nature puts undue pressure on local planning committees to find new sites for development which in turn encourages town planning officers to consider permitting urban creep onto remaining green space. These are areas that would otherwise almost certainly never get planning permission for development; and which, once developed are lost for ever.

I support Conservative Party policy to return control of these issues entirely back to local people and because if elected next week we intend to abolish targets as a matter of priority, I have urged Torbay Council to wait until after the election before making any long-term decisions on housing numbers.I successfully lobbied them not to write the 15,000 homes into the ten year structure plan proposals.

Local planning decisions must remain the preserve of locally elected politicians that residents can hold to account. As a local resident I also believe that good quality open green spaces, of which Scotts Meadow is a prime example, are already at a huge premium in Torbay and what space we have left should be preserved at all costs.

Kind regards

Marcus Wood.
Parliamentary Candidate Torbay Conservatives.

PLANNING APPLICATION FOR SCOTTS MEADOWS: CAVANNA HOMES CONSULTATION

CAVANNA Homes are holding a consultation event on TUESDAY MAY 4 at SAINSBURY'S car park, Torquay between 3pm and 7.30pm.

Their project team will be there to discuss their proposed planning application.

They say: "The site has been identified by Torbay council as a potential location for future housing growth. Cavanna will soon be submitting a planning application for a residential scheme that includes: 

• High quality housing in a range of sizes and styles
• A substantial provision of high quality public open sapce
• A new entrance feature to welcome people to Torquay"

Before the application is submitted they would like to hear your views.

If you cannot make it and would like to know more you can write to 

AREA 4 SOUTH

CAVANNA HOMES

RIVIERA PARK

NICHOLSON ROAD

TORQUAY

TQ2 7TD

The Scotts Meadow Project Group is keen for as many people to attend as possible.

Please let your friends and neighbours know about this exhibition.

Thank you

Support from David Pedrick-Friend Torbay Labour Party candidate

I support the Scotts Meadow Project Group and your campaign to preserve Scotts Meadow for future generations.
 There is a need for affordable housing in Torbay, but I feel that the vast majority should be built on brown field sites, not green-field sites.
 Good luck with your campaign, please keep me updated with all developments.
 Kind regards
 David Pedrick- Friend

Support from Julien Parrott Torbay UKIP candidate

THERE is very little space for housing development in Torbay, without taking away what little green space we have, but the EU has demanded that the government force us in Torbay to build 15,000 (yes, fifteen thousand) new homes here. 

   Small wonder, given that the EU rules mean that we are currently allowing 5,000 more people to settle in the UK each week. That is the equivalent to a new city the size of Southampton every year. This is a simple issue of space and economics, and Torbay does not have the room or the money to support such madness.

    We are not talking here about illegal immigrants, but those allowed in through the open door policy of the EU, where anyone in any EU state (we no longer are a country) has the absolute right to settle in any other EU state.

  Some 40 per cent of all new homes in the UK are for immigrant families. UKIP says enough is enough: we have to leave the EU to get back control of our own borders.

   It is only policies such as UKIP's that will have any prospect of saving such beautiful sites as Scott's Meadow.

 All best wishes,

 Julien Parrott

Parliamentary Candidate for the UK Independence Party, Torbay

Fenced off!

LAST DECEMBER fences were erected around Scotts Meadow prompting fears that they are about to be developed. The Herald Express carried the following story:
FENCING PROMPTS MEADOW DEVELOPMENT FEARS

DECEMBER 12 2009

RESIDENTS have sounded alarm bells after mesh fencing and concrete posts were installed at an unspoilt wildflower meadow in Torbay.

There have been fears in recent years about the future of Scotts Meadow, with site owner Cavanna Homes not ruling out development of the beauty spot.

The site, which is at the gateway to Torquay, could be among those earmarked for housing as part of the Government's call for 15,000 homes to be built in Torbay.

Cavanna workers have been at Scotts Meadow in recent days, installing restrictive fencing around the perimeter and flaying the site.

Jim Prowse, chairman of Scotts Meadow Project Group, said: "These meadows still have Urban Landscape Protection Area status in the local plan, which runs until 2011.

"Increasingly rare wildflower meadows like Scotts Meadow should be the last to be developed.

"Scotts Meadow was not identified in the proposed core strategy as a specific housing site for approval, but as one of a number in a range of growth options on which the council was consulting.

"In any case, Torbay Council has sensibly said it will delay publication of the draft core strategy following the public consultation because of the prospect of a General Election next spring.

"We would urge the council to reject any application for this site, and to at least defer any application until the new core strategy has been finalised and adopted by the council."

Ian Pugsley, Cavanna's head of the planning and technical department, said there were no plans to build on the site — yet.

He added: "Depending on the General Election outcome, we may want to put in an outline planning application, but that's in the future.

"We currently maintain Scotts Meadow on an annual basis, as we have for five or six years, on advice from our ecology expert.

"To keep it up to scratch, from an ecology point of view, we flay it twice a year. We've put a more secure fence there because we were getting trespassers."

A Torbay Council spokesman said there are allowances for fencing on private land, subject to height restrictions.

He added: "We will look into reports that fencing is being put up at this location, to check that it does not require planning permission.

"We have not had a planning application recently to develop Scotts Meadow.

"The site is not currently allocated for housing, but is an Urban Landscape Protection Area where the policy in general terms is that landscape considerations take priority in considering development proposals.

"In making any decision, however, the council would have to weigh up this issue as a 'material planning consideration', together with others such as the need to provide housing to meet the requirements of the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy."
http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/news/Fencing-prompts-meadow-development-fears/article-1600142-detail/article.html

Herald Express December 12 2009

RESIDENTS have sounded alarm bells after mesh fencing and concrete posts were installed at an unspoilt wildflower meadow in Torbay.
  There have been fears in recent years about the future of Scotts Meadow, with site owner Cavanna Homes not ruling out development of the beauty spot.
  The site, which is at the gateway to Torquay, could be among those earmarked for housing as part of the Government's call for 15,000 homes to be built in Torbay.
  Cavanna workers have been at Scotts Meadow in recent days, installing restrictive fencing around the perimeter and flaying the site.
  Jim Prowse, chairman of Scotts Meadow Project Group, said: "These meadows still have Urban Landscape Protection Area status in the local plan, which runs until 2011.
"Increasingly rare wildflower meadows like Scotts Meadow should be the last to be developed.
"Scotts Meadow was not identified in the proposed core strategy as a specific housing site for approval, but as one of a number in a range of growth options on which the council was consulting.
"In any case, Torbay Council has sensibly said it will delay publication of the draft core strategy following the public consultation because of the prospect of a General Election next spring.
"We would urge the council to reject any application for this site, and to at least defer any application until the new core strategy has been finalised and adopted by the council."
   Ian Pugsley, Cavanna's head of the planning and technical department, said there were no plans to build on the site — yet.
He added: "Depending on the General Election outcome, we may want to put in an outline planning application, but that's in the future.
"We currently maintain Scotts Meadow on an annual basis, as we have for five or six years, on advice from our ecology expert.
"To keep it up to scratch, from an ecology point of view, we flay it twice a year. We've put a more secure fence there because we were getting trespassers."
   A Torbay Council spokesman said there are allowances for fencing on private land, subject to height restrictions.
He added: "We will look into reports that fencing is being put up at this location, to check that it does not require planning permission.
"We have not had a planning application recently to develop Scotts Meadow.
"The site is not currently allocated for housing, but is an Urban Landscape Protection Area where the policy in general terms is that landscape considerations take priority in considering development proposals.
"In making any decision, however, the council would have to weigh up this issue as a 'material planning consideration', together with others such as the need to provide housing to meet the requirements of the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy."

BAY 'MUST ACCEPT' GREEN FIELD BUILDING

HERALD EXPRESS DECEMBER 17 2009

TORBAY residents have to face up to the fact the resort has to grow and some development on green fields is inevitable, says the head of planning.

Residents' groups in Paignton and Torquay have been up in arms at suggestions of building hundreds of homes on green fields.

But at a meeting to discuss the quality of landscape around Torbay's urban fringe — including some of the sites listed for potential housing — planner Les Crump said: "You do have to be realistic about growth."

The executive head of spatial strategy told the meeting at the Grand Hotel that Torbay has resisted Government proposals for 15,000 new homes, which has yet to be confirmed, and that the 10,000 figure supported by Torbay Council is over a 20-year period.

Mr Crump said: "We are hoping to get something like 7,000 in the urban area. It is a bit like burying your head in the sand to suggest there won't be growth, and it is unrealistic to expect there will not to be some green field land take.

"If you are a house builder — and house builders are fundamentally important to our economy — having green field opportunities means perhaps we can maximise the opportunity for affordable housing which is a fundamental requirement of our community and means we can provide them much more easily."

The meeting with councillors and interested bodies discussed the findings of specialist consultants who have categorised different areas of Torbay's 'countryside' according to a nationally recognised system.

The consultants, Enderby Associates, have identified eight types of landscape, from rolling farmland to open coastal plateaux within the Bay boundary. These replace previous designations such as area of great landscape value and urban landscape protection area.

A second document is being drafted to rate some 80 landscape areas area on how 'sensitive' they are to change.

The sites being looked at include Collaton St Mary, Yalberton, White Rock in Paignton and Edginswell Valley, Scotts Meadow and Maidencombe in Torquay. These were suggested as potential housing sites in consultation this autumn on the new look local plan.

When questioned why the second report was not available for public comment, Steve Turner, service manager for strategic management, said the technical report would be part of the evidence used to develop the preferred options in the new draft framework and would only be published with it. Publication has been delayed until after the General Election.

Mr Crump said: "This report will help us decide the most appropriate locations if we are looking at green field development. We are not ready to release that information. There is a public consultation exercise in which everybody's views will be taken into account."

Shiphay and Willows Community Partnership Meeting

A ward partnership held on Monday October 6, 2009, voted overwhelmingly to reject development in Scotts Meadows and Edginswell valley.
The following report was published in the Herald Express.

Letter published in Herald Express

The following letter was published in the Herald Express on Saturday October 10 2009
under the headline : COUNCIL MUST STAND UP AGAINST 15,000 NEW HOMES FOR BAY AREA.

WE WELCOME the pledge regarding the proposed imposition of 15,000 homes on Torbay by the Labour Government from Torbay Conservative Parliamentary spokesman Marcus Wood.
Mr Wood stated in his letter (HE, October 6) that it is his party's policy to abolish binding homebuilding targets for councils as soon as possible should they win the General Election.
Because of a legal challenge elsewhere in the country, the Labour Government has now delayed confirmation of the figures for the South West and Torbay until at least the New Year. Torbay Council and the regional assembly both rejected the figure for Torbay as far too high and damaging for the resort.
Torbay Council is currently going through the consultation process on its new planning blueprint on the basis of 15,000 homes and many potential greenfield housing sites have been identified in Paignton and Torquay in the five options being suggested.
These include 230 homes at Scotts Meadows off Riviera Way, Torquay, and 750 in the valley above Edginswell alongside Hamelin Way. Scotts Meadows feature in four of the five options.
A meeting of Shiphay with the Willows Ward partnership this week resoundingly rejected the designation of those meadows for housing and residents argued forcefully for Torbay Council to stand up to the current Government on the 15,000 figure.
Residents were concerned about further traffic congestion caused by 980 new homes, on top of the new Edginswell Business Park and expansion at Torbay Hospital. They asked where the jobs and community facilities were going to be created.
Our members are campaigning for Torbay Council to withdraw the housing proposals for Scotts Meadow in the new planning blueprint and to retain the landscape protection area status it has in the current local plan, which the council defended in a High Court hearing in 2005.
Perhaps Torbay Council could also give residents longer to understand and react to these radical and Bay changing proposals than Friday, October 23.
Anyone interested in supporting our Save Scotts Meadow campaign to preserve these prominent meadows at the gateway to Torquay for future generations can contact me on 01803 615922 or email savescottsmeadow@yahoo.co.uk
JIM PROWSE
Chairman, Scotts Meadow Protection Group

Letter of support from Marcus Wood

We have received this letter of support from Marcus Wood, the prospective Parliamentary candidate for Torbay.

Just to put on the record what we said on the telephone, I am happy to publicly support your campaign to protect green space in Torbay from being built on as a result of Government dictact for 15,000 new homes which local residents do not want.
Torbay has a massive amount of run-down and dilapidated property which could and should be redeveloped long before we consider building on what little amount of virgin space is left in the borough.
Even then, I can see no basis for building over any of the Scotts Meadow land and fully support your campaign to protect this space.
Local politicians will have the power to decide about these matters under a Conservative Government. This makes your campaign all the more vital as you have to ensure that local councillors are fully understanding of the wishes of their electorate, and if they are not, that they will lose the support of their residents at the next opportunity.
Although the power to enforce development targets will be abolished, councils will be given significant financial incentives to encourage building in areas where new houses are thought to be needed; councils like ours will have to be totally clear as to the strength of public feeling.
I will do what I can to support you and I am happy to meet you and discuss this with your members as soon as possible.
Yours truly
Marcus Wood
Prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Torbay Conservatives
www.marcuswood.org
tel 01803 557753
Office: 299 Torquay Road, Paignton, Devon.