Coombes Farm to go to Judicial Review? UPDATE 15th September

Colonnade's last throw of the dice? Full info on campaign website (click on title of this post)

Now the application for 163 houses at Stambridge Mill has been submitted and, given the location is on brownfield and has Council support, is likely to get approval, the nightmare scenario of nearly 500 new homes in a small area moves another step to becoming reality.

But stepping back from a moment I have to remind myself what the judicial review process involves. It's not about questioning the decision the Planning Inspector made when refusing development at Coombes Farm, it's about the process she followed to get there.

Therefore if you accept that the decision was correct - basically, refusal due to there being no exceptional circumstances allowing re-classification of Coombes Farm as green belt - and it is only process that is found at be at fault then the judicial review is far from guaranteeing Colonnade, the developer, success.

It may be that the process has to be reviewed, but the same decision is reached.

It may be that this is indeed Colonnade's last throw of the dice and the Judge throws out their application for review.

It may of course be the first step towards Coombes Farm being concreted over but I remain optimistic, but frustrated and disappointed that Stambridge and Rochford residents, who have been united in their opposition to these plans, have to endure the agony of a further protracted period of uncertainty.

In the meantime the Council continues with its attempts to get its "core strategy" signed off by a Government Inspector, and other planning applications such as Stambridge Mill and Brays Lane will no doubt be shortly decided upon.

For Coombes Farm, perhaps the longer the application for Judicial Review takes, the better. Much time in the Planning Inquiry was devoted to affordable housing, or rather Rochford's lack of. This was presented by Colonnade as a strong reason for agreeing the development. If other developments come forward, in sites which are less controversial, which address the affordable and overall housing targets this may help to defend Coombes Farm if a further Court hearing has to take place.

The ifs and buts continue...

UPDATE 15th September

22nd October could be a key date for the Coombes Farm saga. A completely separate housebuilder, Cala Homes, has succeeded in obtaining a fast tracked judicial review hearing in respect of their plans to build a few thousand homes in Winchester. Their plans were refused partly because Eric Pickles wrote to Councils advising that they no longer were bound by the previous Government's house building targets. Whilst the Government plans to reinforce this with a new Act of Parliament probably in 2011 (the "localism bill")the issue at stake is whether Eric Pickles' letter can be given "material weight", ie can it be relied upon in a legal sense when planning decisions are made by Councils, Government Planning Inspectors, etc. The Government has sought legal advice and believes it can, but Cala Homes' legal advice is obviously different which is perhaps hardly surprising since they are represented by the same QC as Colonnade, Peter Village.

The relevance to Coombes Farm? Given the Inspector based her decison largely on green belt legislation you would think very little. However, as I've mentioned earlier in this post, the application for Judicial Review isn't about the decision it's about the process to get to the decision. In the Grounds for Appeal, Colonnade cite the Inspector's reference to Eric Pickles letter. They reckon the letter is unlawful and the Inspector should not have even referred to it in her decision making. If Colonnade are right, the Cala Homes Hearing will, if it succeeds, give them the precedent they need. But as I've stated at the beginning of this post they're still a long way away from getting the decison changed.

The New Ship

Work seems to be progressing, albeit slowly, to refurbish the New Ship and restore the facade to its original 19th century glory when there was a central front entrance, and none of the strips of timber along the edges. The plan is for it reopen as a pub with a restaurant on the first floor, surely a welcome addition to the food and drink offerings in central Rochford.

More controversially, however, are plans by the New Ship owners to build flats on the former car park adjoining the pub, Old Ship Lane and East Street. You can view the planning application by inputting 10/00412/FUL into the planning application database on the Council's wesbite (clicking on the the Title to this post, and you will then be able to post comments about the application, etc.)

It does seem odd for a new business trying to attract new custom to sacrifice valuable parking places in this way. It's also a conservation area, whilst there has been new build on the south side there has been no precedent on this, west, side. I guess the Council will consider this application at Development Control Committee in September so watch this space.

UPDATE 20th August - Council recommending refusal of application.

Stambridge Mill - UPDATE 15th September 2010

Work is taking place by the Environment Agency to shore up the sea defences at Stambridge Mill. At the same time, a formal planning application is due to be submitted shortly for approx 200 homes on this site. Whilst this will no doubt cause controversy, not least because of the added strain it will add to the ancient road system, something does need to happen at Stambridge Mill. The buildings are dilapidated and appear to be attracting vandalism. Whilst never exactly a beauty spot, there was something to appreciate in this post industrial landscape. Now it's just an eye sore. Inner London Group, who own the land, claim that they will invest in this river side location, improving public access and spending money to make it an atractive place for all to vist. I sincerely hope this is the case. A local resident told me she would like the area to become something akin to Battlesbridge. This is a wonderful idea, but harsh economic realities indicate this will not happen, though I wonder if it could be possible for the developers to set aside a couple of units for local artists or where antiques could be traded. I suspect any planning application will get an easier ride than Coombes Farm. After all the developers are contributing to essential sea defence work, and the land is not on green belt. But it should be possible to influence the final outcome...
UPDATE 19th August - Inner London Group are submitting an application for 163 units, a mix of flats and Exec houses. They plan to invest money in repairing the flood defences and generally upgrading the landscape for both future residents and visitors. My understanding is that the boundaries of the development will not stretch further than the existing site occupies but tbc - the full application is ready to view on the Council's website, which you can access by clicking on the title to this post and entering planning application reference 10/00553/FUL

UPDATE 15th September
It looks as though the EARLIEST this will be voted upon by Rochford Council is October and it may be later.

UPDATE 23rd October
Well it didn't go before the Council's Development Control Committee this month. I'll update as soon as I have a clearer idea of timing.

Rochford station rubbish - Update 5th August

I really don't want this blog to be a place for me to vent my spleen and act as evidence of me drifting into whingy miserable moany middle age. Perhaps it's too late for that! Anyhow, regardless, I will push on. What a mess Rochford station is, particularly the area of land adjacent to the west end of the Southend bound platform. Several times I've spotted rats there having a good munch. Anyhow, rather than simply moan about there is a terrific website where you can report problems such as this. It's called Fix My Street, and you can link to it by clicking the Title of this post. I'll let you know if it works!

UPDATE 5th August - Rochford District Council and National Express have both confirmed that Network Rail have responsibility for the land in question (I notice a mountain bike has been "left" there if anyone's interested) so I'll see if Network Rail will fulfill their responsibilities under the Environmental Protection Act, 1990!

UPDATE 8th October - I attended Rochford District Council's East Area Commitee meeting concerning the litter at Rochford, and recieved a lack lustre response. More successful has been my letters to Iain Coucher, Chief Executive of Network Rail. I have received a letter from Network Rail and a phone call confirming that a full scale litter clearance will take place, hopefully w/c 11th October 2010 or shortly thereafter.

The King's Head

What a shame to see yet another historic Rochford pub up for sale. The King's Head is yours for £275k ... freehold! The most recent owner tried hard to rid the pub of past problems, sometimes putting himself at risk in his efforts to bar troublesome punters. And in the past couple of years the pub became known as something of a music venue but sadly it appears the footfall numbers were not high enough. Certainly the pub has often seemed very quiet when I've walked past in the past year. And that's the point isn't it I guess, I walked past. Whilst recognizing the positive changes he was trying to bring about, and visiting once or twice, the offering wasn't sufficient to make me want to go back on a frequent basis.

Wouldn't it be great to have busy, friendly, thriving business back at The king's Head. Unless you like Indian or Chinese, the town centre could do with some more decent places to eat. Could this be an opportunity? I just hope Wetherspoon's doesn't buy it. Or, worse still, it just stands empty and forlorn for months and years ahead (although, I hasten to add, IT IS STILL TRADING.)

Coombes Farm

Yesterday we had some excellent news, we finally learnt plans to build on Coombes Farm have been turned down by the Government. I've been involved in a residents group, Residents Against Coombes Expansion, for the past 12 months, campaigning for this outcome. I got a call early Friday morning from one of the fellow campaigners, saying he'd received a copy of the Govt Inspector's decision in the post. Like a child waiting for the postman on his birthday I kept vigil at the front window anxiously waiting for my own copy to be delivered. After just a few minutes we couldn't contain our patience any longer (Julia, my partner, being equally ecstatic about the news) & she set off on her bike to raid the sorting office for our mail, and one item in particular!

24 hours later (and a sore head, owing to a few too many celebrating in the Cherry Tree) it still hasn't quite sunk in. There is a very small chance Colonnade, the Developer, may appeal to the High Court but I think it unlikely. They have 6 weeks to do so, so we're hopefully almost at the end of a very emotional rollercoaster of a year.

Overall coordinating the Residents Group has been an extremely rewarding experience. When we moved to our present address just over a year ago we didn't know anyone in the locality. So when we, within days of moving in, learnt about the Coombes Farm plans I was determined to do something about it but didn't quite know what, or where to start.

I started by writing a newsletter, highlighting what could be about to happen on our doorsteps and saying we could do something about it if we pulled together. Delivering this to many of the roads nearby I soon got some very positive feedback and within days the Residents Group was formed.

12 months has passed, during which time we've held residents meetings at Rochford Methodist Church, produced newsletters, managed the campaign website, arranged publicity, including a extremely successful and well attended photo shoot at the entrance to Coombes Farm on 13th March. We attended and presented at two planning meetings - the first in November 2009 when the plans were unanimously rejected Rochford District Council, and then in April 2010 when we participated in a gruelling 4 day Government Inquiry in Rayleigh.

One of the most pleasing and tangible results of our efforts has been the posters. At peak, I reckon 80% + of properties were displaying our brightly coloured "Save Coombes Farm" or "Fight The Appeal" sheets.

At one stage we also put boards and posters up on street lights and pylons throughout the District, soon attracting the attention of the police! (I was also quite impressed that remarkably few got vandalised!) Threats of a substantial fine per poster displayed were sufficient to ensure that most were removed, though a number we happened to forget about and, on reflection, those ones were the responsibility of an unindentifiable third party.

I knew the posters were working when, one evening midway through the campaign, we were sitting in an Indian Restaurant in Rochford next to a couple vociferously moaning about the abundance of posters displayed across the town. "What chance do I have of selling my house with all these bloody posters everywhere!!" I hope that lady has now sold, and benefited from the added value of having preserved green belt on her doorstep.

But none of this would have worked if the strength of feeling from the Rochford and Stambridge community had not been there in the first place. I am proud to live amongst people who care so passionately about our beautiful semi rural neighbourhood. I have met many fantastic people I would not otherwise have done so, which also helps you to feel very much at home. And of course I am so very grateful for the support, which has taken many different forms - helping with leaflet deliveries, a verbal slap on the back, giving lifts to people so they could attend the planning meetings.

We've had 99.9% support all the way. As a sensitive chap, the somewhat negative and blatantly derogatory remarks from a few along the way did make an impact; it made us all more determined that we succeed. After all if you do nothing, nothing, generally, will happen, and I am convinced that we made a difference. After all it was the Residents Group that knew the area most intimately. This was made obvious when we joined Colonade and Rochford District Council on a site visit with the Inspector towards the end of the Inquiry - despite having maps in hand, neither Colonnade or the Council really knew where to walk or which paths to take!

And so, fingers crossed, Coombes Farm is protected for the forseeable future. Maybe we now need to look at how the path and environs can be better looked after. After all, the poo and the litter is still very much in place! I feel an open day litter pick could be the way forward !....

But many changes are taking place in sleepy Rochford. A planning application will shortly be submitted to redevelop Stambridge Mills - 200 houses, an application has just gone in for 150 houses in Brays Lane. A decision on that will be made in August. But the biggest potential fly in the ointment is proposals to blight Hall Road with 600 houses on prime, beautiful green belt. This is likely to be decided in early 2011. With the new Government's proposed changes to the planning regime it seems likely that District Councillors will assume greater powers as they could be the final arbiters of huge planning proposals, such as Hall Road. There are 39 District Councillors so I hope the lobbying has already begun !! More, no doubt, to follow.

Watts Lane Roach Valley Way

The two discarded mattresses at the Purdeys entrance have now been removed but despite a litter pick exercise there is still too much rubbish strewn along the path.

Hopefully a better advertised litter pick exercise later in the year will elicit a good turn out and address the issue.

I've heard that the ugly metal perimeter fencing on the Purdeys Ind Est boundary is going to be moved back a few feet. This has the potential to dramatically improve this pathway and restore it the beautiful, rural riverside walkway it once was. Watch this space.