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."