We all owe Keep Kempton Green (KKG) and Lower Sunbury Residents’ Association (LOSRA) a debt of gratitude for their diligence in uncovering details of a long series of meetings from 2013 onwards between Spelthorne councillors and officers and the Jockey Club, who want to build 1500 homes in the Green Belt at Kempton Park. The official SBC position is that there are no plans, which is technically true as no formal planning application will be made until at least after the elections. But a great deal of negotiation has taken place, and the Jockey Club have identified Redrow Homes as their preferred development partners.
Kempton Park cannot be built on while it is classified as Green Belt in the Local Plan. KKG and LOSRA have further discovered the existence of a Local Plan Working Party and the intention to review the Local Plan and significantly increase housing targets across the borough.
There are legitimate reasons for SBC to review the Local Plan, principally the pressure from government to increase the number of houses built. The previous Local Plan was part of a structure under the South East Plan, which allocated new housing according to capacity, so that full-up places like Spelthorne were allocated smaller housing targets than boroughs with lots of spare space. The South East plan has gone and local authorities now have a duty to meet housing needs in full, whatever that means in an area like this where new housing will be snapped up by people moving here to escape London house prices. A local authority without an up-to-date Local Plan is vulnerable to pressure from developers. Unfortunately a new Local Plan will not be approved by government unless it contains inflated housing targets, so careful planning backed up by sound evidence will be needed to produce a Plan which is acceptable to government and least bad for the local community.
An initial (not final) figure of 400 new homes a year is under consideration. This is more than twice the current figure of 166, and over the 20 year Plan period will amount to 8,000 units, a 20% increase in the borough’s housing. The impact on residents would be enormous, in terms of loss of open space (are parks safe?), increase in traffic congestion, noise, pollution and carbon emissions, pressure on schools, health facilities, drains and other infrastructure, and changes to the whole look and character of our communities. We have expressed outrage that something so important to our lives has been kept from residents.
Spelthorne BC is clearly under great pressure, from national planning policy and the need to generate income. The New Homes bonus of about £6000 per new house built, the Community Infrastructure Levy on new residential development, and significant profits from specific sites including Kempton Park and Bridge Street, will be very welcome. We may speculate on the content of the new Local Plan. Will those policies restricting high-rise development and protecting the environment be omitted? Will part of Kempton Park vanish from the Green Belt? We have joined LOSRA, KKG and other residents’ groups in urging that local people be fully involved in the development of the new Plan.
Recent Comments