We have today been advised that Colonnade have withdrawn their appeal against the planning refusal at Coombes Farm. Technically, there are now no current oustanding planning matters at Coombes Farm and if Colonnade, or another developer, want to try again they will have to start afresh. The Council is adamant that, apart from Stambridge Mill, it does not want any significant house building in this area so let us hope that today's decision is a harbinger for a positive final resolution.
Why did Colonnade withdraw their appeal? My view is that it was a combination of three factors, national - a High Court decision (Cala Homes)recently has not helped their case, local - the Council have taken steps to avoid their core strategy being found unsound which helps to ensure Colonnade haven't got another hole to exploit, and thirdly, by avoiding the risk of a further refusal, they are perhaps in a better position if they want to try again. Given all above, I would be surprised if we see any activity for some time however.
I'm sure this will come back in the future, but for now, we can take a breather!
This is great news.
ReplyDeleteMaybe now we residents of Rocheway and Mornington Avenue can group together and buy the fields from Colonnade. That way we can be sure this will never happen again.
If we can get 100 local residents to contribute, and own a 1% share each, that seems like a good Big-Society solution to me!
Well done for all your efforts that contributed to Colonnade withdrawing their appeal.