[The council website is: http://www.southhams.gov.uk/]
On this page you can raise local matters concerning the South Hams Council. Currently the proposal for sites for new housing is cause for concern. To post a comment, simply click on the link to the comments page below, then follow instructions.
New houses in Harbertonford
News at 25 August 2010
The SHDC has now released the commented version of the DPD, showing housing proposals for the rural areas. The comments are predictably few, given the bureaucratic complexity of the online comment system. However, one person has written many comments, with robust criticism of the entire exercise. There are 3 comments concerning Harbertonford, all by one person, though I believe several people have written comments in traditional media, such as typewritten paper. Anyway, the digitally delivered comments can be read here:
http://consult.southhams.gov.uk/portal/pp/sa_dpds/rural_areas_site_allocations_dpd
The process for allocating housing land is proceeding. It is now too late to make a representation about the allocation.
The minutes of the meeting with Bridget Green of SHDC, at the school on 1 July 2010, gives the present state and future direction of the selection process.
The history of the affair continues on this page.
The latest version of the document which describes the SHDC plans for enlarging Harbertonford can be downloaded from a link on this page: http://www.southhams.gov.uk/index/business_index/ksp_development_and_planning/ksp-development_and_planning-forward/sp-forward_planning-local_development_framework/sp-development_and_planning-allocations.htm
You then need to click on the link 'Rural areas site allocations' to download the document. The Harbertonford section starts on page 60.
For your convenience the Harbertonford webmaster has extracted the Harbertonford pages into a smaller pdf file. He has also extracted the introduction and Harbertonford pages from the Princes Foundation report.
It is now too late to comment to the SHDC but you can still send comments to the Parish Council. You are welcome also to copy your opinion to the housing comments page on this website: Comments page for the housing debate. There will be a hearing by an inspector at a date not yet specified.
The current plan differs from that presented in January 2010 in the area allotted to area 18, which is now much smaller, but with the same number of houses. The map is shown below, the description is in the pdf document linked above.
Summary:
RA 17: 10 dwellings and footpath to village centre.
RA18: 50 dwellings and footpath to village centre, 0.1 Ha business, 0.1 Ha playspace, 0.15 Ha other public space.
Previous events in the process
A brief account of the presentation by Bridget Green at the Parish Council Meeting, 9 February, and the subsequent debate.
by Tim Padfield, 9/2/2010
Bridget Green of the Forward Planning department of South Hams District Council explained that a map drawing error had led to her appearing to present the revised plan and to announce an extension of the deadline for comments to the end of the current week. After that, new plans will be prepared and published in March, followed by a further window of opportunity of 6 weeks to comment.
You are invited also to comment on this website:
Comments page for the housing debate
This presentation was followed by a lively debate. Here are some of the points raised.
Flood risk: It was not entirely clear whether the environment agency has been consulted on the danger of flooding through increased runoff from the proposed built up areas.
Safe access: The next set of plans, to be published in March, will show access points.
Public spaces: The allocation of public space should take account of the needs of the whole village, not just the added houses.
Housing need: The Totnes area has the highest demand for housing. 36 of the 60 dwellings will be 'affordable'. Harbertonford is close to Totnes, has buses, shop, school and garage (but read on), so is a favoured site for building, but its topography and narrow roads make this difficult. Therefore it is not included in the first stage of building up to 2016.
The proposed area RA18 includes the petrol filling station, which may be demolished. Or maybe not!
A sugggestion that the Old Mill site RA17 be redeveloped earlier than 2016 met with general approval but Bridget Green said that this could not be done because the owner could not be found. If you know who owns the old Mill, tell Forward Planning! Compulsory acquisition was said to be slow, expensive and complicated. No-one asked how it would become simpler after 2016.
It emerged that the parcels of land considered for housing were offered by owners, rather than identified by SHDC as suitable. This however, does not influence the final decision on which land is most suitable. No-one asked how the Old Mill came to be on the list. It is difficult to catch illogical statements in the middle of an active debate!
There was a proposal for a further debate to be organised by the Parish Council Meeting because the present plans were insufficiently detailed for informed debate. There was no definite response from the chairman.
Finally, in a separate debate about allotments, it was suggested that the land designated for building after 2016 could in the meantime be used as allotments. This suggestion was so radical and ingenious that no-one could think of a convincing response.
A history of the whole affair continues below
An important update of the housing development debate
Update 25 January 2010
Early this year a hawk-eyed citizen noticed a discrepancy between the map which formed the basis of the open debate at the school last summer about new housing in the village (figure 3) and the proposal by the SHDC issued in December 2009 (figure 2). Because the December proposal includes land not explicitly shown on the May 2009 map, the SHDC has opened the proposal to further public comment, as it has done for other villages. See:
SHDC has admitted that the original map was wrong, and has just (27 January) put Harbertonford on the list of villages invited to comment on alterations to the original site options. The new map of candidate sites is shown on this page (fig 1) and the current proposal for building sites is shown in figure 2. The full explanation is best viewed on the SHDC website:
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/harbertonford_jan_2010_consultation.pdf
You are invited to comment, if you wish, to the SHDC at the email address:
forward.planning@southhams.gov.uk
before 10 February 2010. Please also put your comments on this website so everyone can read them.
Figure 1. This is a revised (20 Jan 2010) version of the map of potential housing sites issued in May 2009 (fig 3) which is shown further down this page. Area 7 has been considerably enlarged and area 8 is new, added after the first consultation in June 2009. Note that the new area 7 is larger than the area enclosed by RA18 in figure 2 below, but does not include the petrol station, which is enclosed by RA18.
Important recent development (December 2009)
A new proposal for where to build houses has emerged from the South Hams Council:
Proposal RA17: Harbertonford Mills
Residential development is proposed beyond 2016 to include
• Retention of listed buildings on the site and protection of the
conservation area setting;
• About 10 dwellings; and
• Footpath access to the village centre.
Proposal RA18: Land to the north of the village
Residential development is proposed beyond 2016, to include:
• About 50 dwellings and 0.1 ha of employment land
• Footpath access to the village centre; and
• About 0.1 hectare of play provision and 0.15 hectare of other public
space.
Fig.2
(Website editor's note: A football pitch is about 0.8 hectare, so the promised play and public spaces are not so generous.)
To chase the entire (digital) paper trail you can follow this series of links:
The 'Forward Planning' part of South Hams Council website has a notice
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/ksp-development_and_planning-forward.htm
Which links to the agenda of the 17 December 2009 council meeting
report on housing.
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/administration/committee_agendas/council/17Dec09/agenda.htm
Item 10 of the agenda links to a summary report on housing plans:
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/administration/committee_agendas/council/17Dec09/item10report.pdf
which links to more specific details and maps:
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/administration/committee_agendas/council/17Dec09/item10_appA.pdf
Which has on page 34 a text and on page 35 a map.
The earlier proposal, May 2009
Alert! new houses on the way
The South Hams district council has identified areas around Harbertonford that could be used for housing. The areas have been chosen through issuing a 'call for sites' to the landowners. This is hardly planning, but the choice of suitable villages is based on 'sustainability criteria' which include a primary school and a shop.
The official explanation of how sites are chosen is here:
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/leaflet_04_method_for_site_selection.pdf
The result of this process is a map of areas ripe for conversion to houses:
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/totnes-2.pdf
Page 2 of this document is reproduced here:
Fig.3 Right click on image to save or display at twice the size
The criteria for appraising sustainability of developments are described in the SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL TRIAL OF PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
As background information here are maps of the conservation area boundary and also the boundary of the area of great landscape value, as defined on the South Hams District Council website.
The conservation area is in purple
The area designated as of high landscape value is marked in green.