Agenda item

A.   Anne Morgan-Smith, representing Sutton Courtenay Action, made a statement and presented a petition raising concerns about the cumulative impact of development, both commercial and residential, on the village of Sutton Courtenay.   

On behalf of the group she congratulated the council on gaining clearance for the Local Plan and welcomed the firmer control on planning development this will provide. In particular, she welcomed the end of speculative developments across the Vale. She called on the council to address some of the perceived anomalies that had arisen and take a holistic view across the district on the cumulative impact of all the developments and find ways to address them.

She referred to a recent march by approximately 150 villagers from Sutton Courtenay to the council offices to highlight the difficulties facing the village, to express their anger and to call for a fair deal for Sutton Courtenay. She welcomed the recent change of attitude of the council and Councillor Matthew Barber’s suggestion of setting up a Sutton Courtenay Forum to address their concerns.

She stated that Sutton Courtenay is unique in facing the cumulative impact of a wide range of industrial and housing developments on an inadequate sewerage and highways infrastructure with traffic gridlocked by a narrow bridge over the River Thames. She also referred to the lack of planning condition enforcement (relating to sewage) and concern regarding a recent planning condition that requires traffic lights at the junction with the River Thames crossing.

She asked for the voice and concerns of all those communities which are facing development not just to be heard, but to be listened to and that the cumulative impacts of development and the risks they pose are analysed in the holistic context and measures are put in place to ameliorate them, so the district remains a pleasant place to live and work. 

The Chairman thanked her for the petition and advised that it would be dealt with in accordance with the council’s petition scheme. 

B.   Dr Les Clyne asked the following question of Councillor Matthew Barber, Leader of the council: 

“The Leader told me in answer to my question to Council earlier this year that the Section 106 agreement for the Grove airfield development would be signed by the end of December 2016 and he hoped it would be signed by the end of October 2016. Assuming that the Vale local plan still relies on the realisation of the Grove airfield development what is the current situation concerning the signing of one or more Section agreements for all or some of the 2500 housing units ?.. If no Section 106 agreements have yet been signed what is the expected date when the first Section 106 agreement will be signed by all parties, and how many of the 2500 units will it cover?”

In response Councillor Barber stated that the Council has been in on-going discussions with the developers throughout this year and they have been keeping the council up to date with their active discussions with the landowners of the site. He hoped the Section 106 agreements would be signed by 31 March and anticipated that one agreement would cover all the units.

C. Julie Mabberley, Campaign Manager of the Wantage and Grove Campaign Group, asked the following question of Councillor Matthew Barber, Leader of the council: 

“A number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by governments including the UK Government at the UN General Assembly in September, 2015.

No 3 explicitly relates to health—to “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”.

A related statement suggests that when supported by strong public health policies and with aligned efforts across social, economic, and political domains, primary health care has a central role in achievement of sustainable development.

The National Planning Policy Framework Paragraph 7 states “There are three dimensions to sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. These dimensions give rise to the need for the planning system to perform a number of roles:

·                an economic role – contributing to building a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth and innovation; and by identifying and coordinating development requirements, including the provision of infrastructure;

·                a social role – supporting strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by providing the supply of housing required to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by creating a high quality built environment, with accessible local services that reflect the community’s needs and support its health, social and cultural well-being; and

·                an environmental role – contributing to protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment; and, as part of this, helping to improve biodiversity, use natural resources prudently, minimise waste and pollution, and mitigate and adapt to climate change including moving to a low carbon economy.

Planning Guidance further states that “Local planning authorities should ensure that health and wellbeing, and health infrastructure are considered in local and neighbourhood plans and in planning decision making.”

Given that the Health Centres in Wantage, Grove and Faringdon are already running at overcapacity and can’t expand further, what evidence is there that the District Council is “considering” the lack of Health facilities in their planning policy and planning decisions?”

In response Councillor Barber undertook to provide a written response setting out what the council is doing and stated that the adoption of the Local Plan would have a significant impact on the situation.