Still small voice of calm

 

 

 

Here's what Bolosver Council own plannikng policy officer has to say on their proposals to build a supermarket on a public park.

 

They wouldn't listen to me, they wouldn't listen to residents, will they listen to him? I expect not, but I think it is now dawning on them that a Government appointed planning inspector will.

 

 

Impact on Open Space provision

A substantial part of the proposed development site is currently designated as

public open space on the adopted Local Plan Proposals Map.

Local Plan Policy CLT 6 (Existing Outdoor playing Space and Amenity Open

Space) will only allow development on open spaces as shown on the

proposals map in the following circumstances:

·

Replacement open space is provided

·

A facility of equivalent community benefit is provided

·

The development results on an overall improvement or enhancement

of the existing facility for the benefit of the local community.

This proposal does not meet any of these criteria. Firstly, no replacement

open space is being provided for the loss of most of the existing area (a net

loss of around 1 ha). Secondly, a facility of equivalent community benefit is

not being provided. Thirdly, although the applicant intends to enhance that

part of the green space known as Stretton Memorial Garden, this would not

represent an overall enhancement of the whole green space.

With regard to Paragraph 74 of the NPPF a similar, yet differently worded

policy needs to be met, as follows:

“Existing open space, sports and recreational buildings and land, including

playing fields, should not be built on unless:

·

an assessment has been undertaken which has clearly shown the

open space, buildings or land to be surplus to requirements; or

·

the loss resulting from the proposed development would be replaced

by equivalent or better provision in terms of quantity and quality in a

suitable location; or

·

the development is for alternative sports and recreational provision, the

needs for which clearly outweigh the loss.”

In respect of the first requirement neither the applicant or the Council has

undertaken an assessment of open spaces that clearly shows which open

spaces are surplus to requirements. The Council has, however, undertaken a

quantitative analysis of open space that found that Bolsover Town has 2.66

ha of formal green space per 1,000 population which meets the minimum

standard set in the Green Space Strategy (2012) of 2.4 ha per 1,000

population

The area of amenity open space at Sherwood Lodge grounds is 1.22 ha.

From the plans submitted, only two areas of 0.28 ha and 0.21 ha would be

large enough to be counted in the green space totals (a minimum site area of

0.1 ha is required to count as green space). Therefore, only 0.49 ha would

remain including the Memorial Garden, representing a net green space loss of

0.73 ha.

The loss of 0.73 ha of amenity green space at Sherwood Lodge, would mean

that Bolsover Town has enough green space as a settlement to meet the

minimum Formal Open Space standard. However, this fact on its own is not

sufficient to indicate that the Sherwood Lodge grounds, or any other green

space in Bolsover is surplus to requirements. Such an assessment must be

informed by the current and potential uses of the green space, its location in

relation to residential areas and to other green space provision in the

 

immediate locality or neighbourhood. None of these considerations suggest

that the green space is surplus to requirements. In addition, Sherwood Lodge

grounds received a quality standard of 68% when it was surveyed by Leisure

Services in August 2006. It could not therefore be argued that the quality of

open space is so poor that the space does not provide any useful green

space function.

With regard to the second point the applicant argues (at page 28 of the P and

R statement) that a commuted sum could be provided to improve the quality

of the Memorial Garden “as an alternative location for open space and

recreation for town centre users”. I am not quite sure what is being argued

here. In my view whilst such a proposal would help to mitigate the loss of

open space, it would not replace the loss.

The proposal does not meet the third point because it does not propose

alternative sports and recreational provision.

The Green Space Strategy includes a policy that states that all residents of a

town should be within 400 metres of a formal or semi-natural green space

which is larger than 0.5 ha. The Sherwood Lodge green space constitutes

such a space. However, loss of this space would not result in any new

pockets of inaccessibility within Bolsover when judged against the above

standard. This is mainly due to the proximity of Dykes Field and Hornscroft

Park."

He goes on to conclude that the development breaches both local and national planning policies.

 

 

 

One nation? You're having a laugh.

As Bolsover Council embarks on its big consultation over who will suffer most from Council tax benefit cuts, their own lavish refurbishment of Clowne Arc, (their new stately home and former college), continues unabated. Have a look if you're down that way; the number of skips and the frequency they are being emptied is testimony to the priorities of this Council, spending £5.8M (which is nearly £200 per household) looking after number one

At a Committee meeting on Tuesday only one member of the Labour group was willing to break ranks, and ruin his "career" prospects by voting with me to oppose the closure of all three Community houses in the District. The other Labour Councillors wouldn't even wait for the finance staff to tell them how much money they cost to run before rushing to close them. Community houses that hadn't been staffed properly (or indeed at all) were described as "underused", whilst other centres with a thriving mix of activities were labelled as "victims of their own success". Heads you lose, tails you don't win. Even when the Domestic Violence Worker told them that a Community House was the safest and most discreet place for women suffering domestic abuse they decided that she didn't know what she was talking about and voted to close it anyway.

What was it  the one nation Miliband said "Have you ever seen such an incompetent, hopeless, out of touch, U-turning, pledge-breaking, back-of-envelope writing, make-it-up-as-you-go-along, miserable shower than this". Well now you come to mention it Ed.............."YES"............. It's the Council where the members take the highest basic allowances of any District Council in the country and pay for it by closing public toilets and community houses; reducing opening hours of contact centres and selling off our green spaces for supermarkets, come up and have a look sometime.

All Animals are Equal

The Orwellianly named “Optimisation Developments Ltd” (who are actually a subsidiary of Morrison’s) has just submitted an updated assessment along with some pretty minor revisions to both development proposals for Bolsover. I don’t know if they ever bother to check what they write but they state:

•      “In summary, the proposal will result in the demolition of an ‘Undesignated Heritage Asset’ within the Conservation Area and the development of an area of Identified Open Space. However, this will not impact on the special character and appearance of the Conservation Area and it will not prejudice the overall provision of open space in the town.

It’s the old smoke and mirrors act; here’s a green space; here’s a development on it; and....... abracadabra....... here’s a town that has not lost any green space. (Pause for applause and swooning). Who are they trying to kid? Some Councillors may be taken in but if the Secretary of State gets to appoint an Inspector he, or she, will expect to see slightly better reasoning than this desperate attempt to magic away a fundamental breach of the National Planning Policy Framework.

More interestingly in their rush to justify the sacking, sorry, development of Bolsover, they let slip that they produced designs back in December 2011 which kept both the Green and Sherwood Lodge. Obvioulsy they weren’t going to do anything so foolish as to share them with the public.

And the reason why they concluded they had to tarmac the green and demolish the lodge?......As we have said all along without their precious petrol station the site would be uneconomic. Their justification for which is on a par with the one that my children used to use.......”Tesco’s have one at Clowne”. Apparently it’s not enough that the store will be bigger than all the independent shops put together, they want their petrol sales as well. Next they’ll be demanding that the traffic is diverted to pass through the store as seems to have happened in Clay Cross I notice. Is this the society you want to live in where all the shots are called by big business and the elected Councillors simply go along with them?

However they have cleared up one little fact for us how many trees would be lost. And I’m the first to admit I got it wrong. Counting all the little circles on their map I made it 100 trees......in fact now they have been asked outright they have been forced to come clean and admit its 130. By a strange coincidence if the Caroline Spellman the former Minister is right every tree in an urban area confers £38,000 of economic and social benefits  http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jun/15/caroline-spelman-interview-green-growing-rio20?newsfeed=true It means that far from investing in the town they are not only taking out a million pounds a year if profit for their City shareholders, and the felling of 130 trees will at a stroke take another £5Million in benefit.

As for the other minor amendments it’s a little like being told, we’re going to shoot you, but we’ve heard that you don’t feel very good about it so we thought we’d consult you over the design of the gun we’re going to use. It makes very little difference

At the end of the day just like the banks Morrison’s are simply trying to make as much money as they can and to tilt the pitch completely in their direction. The purpose of an elected Council is to balance their interests with those of the residents and traders in the town and to avoid all the problems that occurred with the banks from being replayed here in Bolsover. However for some people, as Orwell observed, “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”

"Take a slice of your town centre, add it to our profit ledger"

Says is all really - from an excellent CD called Supermarket (of course) from Neil Phillips.

It prompted me to calculate just how much filthy lucre Morrison's will be hoovering up from the residents of Bolsover and passing over to support the exorbitant lifestyles of their executives and shareholders.

Although their profits are dipping Morrison's still made some £450M on sales of £8.9bn which is about 5%. Derbyshire County Council calculate the turnover from the store in Bolsover would be £21M a year.

That means that over £1M will be going from families in Bolsover straight back as profit to shareholders and investors in the City of London. This is what they mean by an "investment". Contrast this with the local shops they will put out of business when the vast majority of any profit they make is kept locally.

It used to be the Conservatives who supported market economics and the Labour party who supported co-operatives and social ownership. But it seems that Blue Labour in Bolsover is as enthralled by big business as George Osbourne in London. Good job there is still one party offering a genuine alternative to the Coalition.

Pig in a Poke

Pig in a Poke

I hear that the emails have started to light up between Morrison’s, Sharp Communications (sic) and Bolsover DC. Back in the spring when they concocted the scheme behind very thick, and much closed, doors it all seemed so easy.  Sharp Communications were “tasked” with getting the Civic Society on-board and sweet talked them in an exclusive preview to which everyone else (especially myself!) was barred.  They probably got the idea from the Council themselves who even one year later have not released any details of the process that led to the selection of Morrison’s in the first place or of the other offers made.

 However it hasn’t quite gone according to plan. In spite of the soft sell the Civic Society have objected to both scheme calling them unacceptable. Someone else who hasn’t learnt her lines is Joan Dixon the Labour County Councillor who by co-incidence works for an organisation that the Bolsover Councillor Leader Eion Watts Chairs. She has panned the designs as “brutalism” and “needless modern” and raised concern over the traffic impacts, it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall of her office. Meanwhile the Town Council have opposed the Middle Street office scheme intended to relocate the contact office and  Police; English Heritage have objected to the loss of the Green and Lodge; County highways have taken issue with the traffic report and requested further meetings and their archaeologist says that the applications have not been accompanied by the necessary archaeological reports!! All this wasn’t in the script.

But someone loves the Council, there is one solitary letter of support on the Council’s planning web-site. But it looks rather pathetic alongside the 80 plus letters of objection. It makes you wonder what Sharp Communications have been doing, but the real reason is that you can only sell a pig in a poke if the buyer is too scared to look in the bag.

It would be nice to report that Bolsover Labour Cabinet have come to their senses but they continue to throw good money after bad and have just deepened their financial hole by letting a contract to re-furbish the Council’s new white elephant, Clowne Campus. They haven’t even stopped to consider that in the post-Olympics euphoria the idea that the Council could asset-strip this site as well by selling for development the surrounding playing fields is becoming increasingly less tenable by the minute.

The good work in saving costs by sharing services with its neighbour in North Derbyshire has been undone at a single stroke by spending nearly £6M to buy and refurbishing Clowned Campus creating the farce of a Council with two HQs in Bolsover and man of its senior staff working based for long periods of time at a third office in Chesterfield or indeed the fourth depot and office at Doe Lea.

Almost makes you feel sorry for them, but this tragedy is all of their own making.

Facing the music

Firstly I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to come to Bolsover Council meeting last week to ask why Sherwood Green and Lodge has been chosen as the site for a new superstore. I had hoped that the members of the Planning Committee would also want to hear from local traders and residents but instead they chose to walk out of the meeting claiming that even hearing the questions would expose the Council to a legal challenge for predetermination.

The strange thing is that these same Councillors had just received training and should have understood the difference between an open and a closed mind. As Section 25 of the new Localism Act says “A decision-maker is not to be taken to have had, or to have appeared to have had, a closed mind when making the decision just because the decision-maker had previously done anything that directly or indirectly indicated what view the decision-maker took, or would or might take, in relation to a matter”.

There is no excuse for their actions. The law has made it very clear, they could, and should, have stayed and thus kept their mind open to what local people said. Their behaviour was not only discourteous but showed a lack of commitment to being “in touch” with the public.

 

Its in the Times

Here's my letter published in the Derbsyshire Times today

Last week’s letter writers gave a good insight into Bolsover’s dilemma.  Anne Wood wrote in support of a Morrison’s saying it would save her shopping bills whilst John Edwards wrote in opposition asking does anyone in Bolsover Council care about the obliteration of a fine Victorian building and public green?

The two views seem irreconcilable but they are not. Bolsover Council can satisfy both parties. If the petrol station was ditched and a smaller store positioned closer to Town End Road we could keep both the Lodge and the Green intact. Instead of treating our heritage as simply an asset to be exploited, such an approach would balance the need for development with the desire for conservation appeasing both. It could, and should, have been set down by the Council over a year ago in a Planning Brief for the site which would have considered everyone’s view.  Instead we have now learnt that the Council made a deal with Morrison’s behind closed doors where the size of the store, the need for a petrol filling station and the purchase price were all agreed long before bodies such as English Heritage, let alone the wider public, were consulted.

The consequences of this blinkered approach have been spelt out on your letter pages over the past weeks. It is a sad case of missed opportunities which has meant that many other ideas have not been explored. For example a retained Lodge would make a great Contact Centre avoiding the need to rip-up Market Street car park, and Morrison’s could have gone into partnership with the existing filling station rather than building a new one. Without the clarity that a planning brief provides it is also very difficult to see how the Council got the best price out of the prospective developers.

Fortunately there is just about still time for Bolsover Councillors to stop stoking the fire they have built before they themselves get burnt.  Anyone who takes a dispassionate look at the scheme soon draws the inevitable conclusion that it simply cannot overcome the planning, legal and financial hurdles it faces. If the Council blunders on it will be left  looking like “Two Jags Prescott” struggling with managing not one, but two, over-sized HQs in Bolsover and Clowne. The idea that in the middle of the deepest recession we have known they can simply rent out all this excess accommodation is as much a fantasy as the hope that they will sacrifice some of their own excessive basic allowances to make good the short-fall.

Up till now the public have spoken but we have heard very little from the elected representatives on Bolsover DC.  I think now would be a good time for them all to share their thoughts with your readers.