UPDATE on erection of 14 new dwellings together with change of use of agricultural land to form public open space at Swimbridge Glebe Field
The NDDC Planning Committee took place on Wednesday 27th February at the Civic Centre, Barnstaple to discuss the Glebe Field. Jean Watkins at Planning Dept gave a very clear and concise presentation on the history of the project and the planning application. The outcome from that meeting was that both the planning applications for 44902 and 45152 have been deferred for negotiation. The Planning Authority will negotiate with the Developer and will look in particular at:
the access: to try and reinstate vehicle access through the housing estate as the vehicular access opposite the school has some serious visibility issues and if it is moved further up the hill will have a large cost impact as the drop from the road to the field is very steep.
affordable housing - the Planning Authority would ideally wish to secure 7 affordable houses, not 4 as indicated on the Plan (the 5th is the large Diocese house which is under question as being classed as affordable).
boundary of housing development area is outside development boundary and encroaches onto the playing field area, which in turn means the difference of the village having (or not having) an adult sized pitch and cricket pitch (the current plan shows the adult pitch vertically and the cricket pitch to the side, but the reality is that this would not work. The pitches need to be placed horizontally due to the logistics of the flood plain and steep slope). Swimbridge Parkland's case for horizontal pitches was endorsed by the Inspector in his report in 2002.
physical play area to meet the needs of the community - the Councillors were in favour of meeting the needs of the village.
flood risk assessment.
After the deferred negotiations, if our Ward Counsellors; David Luggar and David Butt are happy that the negotiations achieve the requirements of the Planning Committee a decision could be made. If negotiations are not successful Members of the Planning Committee may be asked to visit the site. I'm afraid it's another "watch this space ..." but it was probably the best that we could hope for because the existing plan is not acceptable as it stands as there is no suitable access to the site. The North Devon Journal wrote an article on page 7 of the Thursday 6th March edition with a picture of John, Janine, Callum and Adam Bartlett, (three generations of the Bartlett family) and Ian Godfrey of SNAP. Unfortunately Ray Liverton could not be in this photograph as his wife Sheila was unwell. We wish her a speedy recovery.