Letters
Who makes housing decisions?
GIVEN the unprecedented level of concern about the Core Strategy and Land Assessment housing plans, a village meeting was called by members of the community of Whiteparish.
This was designed solely to present such information as could be determined from the documents prepared by Salisbury District Council.
A mixture of dismay and concern with the proposals was evident and it was clear that very strong feelings are running throughout the village.
Concerns particularly relate to lack of sufficient consultation to date.
Villagers were completely unaware of the recent proposals until a couple of weeks ago, as were some parish councillors.
Nevertheless, everyone feels it is vital that we ensure our voice as a village is heard and listened to.
Many felt that the documents are impenetrable and factually incorrect - potential sites shown in the Whiteparish map on the SLHAA document do not include all the locations.
Some landowners were not even aware their land had been put forward.
A number of individuals highlighted this and asked: "What confidence does this give us in the planning process as a whole?"
There was a strong feeling that the villagers need to take ownership of and control the future development of Whiteparish by designing a coherent Parish Plan.
A meeting of the parish council on this issue attracted an unprecedented 150 villagers (usual attendance is about four).
Results of a village survey are in the process of being collated but there appears to be support for some modest growth provided that such limited growth does not significantly impact the existing character of the village.
A strong feeling is that this sustainable development should be judged in the context of the current status quo pertaining to Whiteparish - there is limited local employment, one small village shop, a primary school that has reached capacity, and woefully inadequate public transport.
HUGH FRANCIS, Whiteparish
ALAS for Councillor Clegg and other councillors who seem to find themselves in the same canoe but with no paddle in sight.
No, Mr Clegg, the city is not alone in having massive development plans foisted upon it - 6,000 homes in Salisbury alone, I understand.
The whole of the south west region is involved.
This is because of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), developed by the South West Regional Authority (SWRA) over the past few years.
The SWRA are the un-elected, for the most part ex-councillors, quislings and assorted stakeholders, whom the general public cannot be trusted to elect (in case we give the wrong answer) nor can we remove from office, since we didn't elect them.
They have a conclave in Exeter, where they meet in secret and discuss such things as the Regional Spatial Strategy.
You cannot stop this process, Mr Clegg, nor can any of the Councillors in Salisbury, or Wiltshire; our MP, however willing, cannot stop it.
Not even our MEPs can stop it. Why not?
Is it because the SWRA is operating under the direct orders of an office in the EU?
The RSS is paid for by the European Regional Development Fund, and is part of the grand one-size-fits-all Soviet of Europe and we don't want to stand in the way of progress, do we?
So Salisbury gets 12,400 new homes allocated, whether they fit into the landscape or not.
Bear in mind, also, that the EU has not had its accounts validated for the last 13 years, and ask whether you would want these people making plans for the local golf club, let alone the whole of the south west of England.
ADRIAN KIRKUP, Salisbury
SINCE moving to Winterslow in 1958, I have seen a considerable expansion of the village housing stock - much more than in other villages in the area - and now there is a serious council proposal to build a new settlement off the A30 comprising 2,500 new homes.
This equates to 20 per cent of the total being sought for the whole area and represents more than twice the number of houses currently in the village.
Why should Winterslow be targeted like this when, in many ways, it is already over developed?
I attended the Winterslow parish meeting, which was attended by our parish councillors, MP, county councillor, district councillor, a
representative from the Forward Planning Office of Salisbury District Council and the planning portfolio holder.
The meeting was jammed to the rafters and I heard not one voice raised in support of the plans.
We were told that the meetings were primarily a
listening exercise to hear what we thought and we were encouraged to send in our comments.
If these plans, as they stand, are ratified by the council and passed on to government for approval, there can only be one conclusion - democracy is dead in Salisbury.
TIM ELLIOTT, West Winterslow
I HAVE every sympathy for the Salisbury Wards, including my own in Amesbury, which are about to be engulfed with houses.
Amesbury, in particular, is no foreigner to this and is now woefully short of the necessary infrastructure to support large housing developments which have been built over the last 15 years.
This is in spite of the valiant efforts of the Amesbury Action Group and others, that appealed to our elected members for the need.
The developer's dream is Amesbury's nightmare.
Now, we have many of our elected members of the district and county council saying they are shocked and horrified by the predicted numbers of
houses which will be built in their wards.
Where were they in 2006? Draft papers for the Housing Market Area (HMA) were being prepared by the Southern Regional Assembly and the Regional Spatial Strategy members in Exeter.
How can they not have known about the agendas
covering housing, transport, environment, and employment, to name but a few?
I find this hard to believe when a Salisbury county councillor was the chairman of the Spatial Strategy Committee the then leader of Salisbury District Council and fellow district councillors were in attendance at these meetings.
Consultants, bureaucrats, quangos, and stakeholders all making decisions on our behalf. I do not recall voting for any of them.
MARGARET STRANGE, Amesbury
KEN Taylor, in his letter to Postbag of April 10, says that the area can only stumble into an unplanned and chaotic future if the Local Development Framework (LDF) and planning consultation continue.
In fact the opposite is true.
If the LDF is halted and the consultation process cancelled, in the absence of a planning policy, developers will take over and use their financial might and build houses wherever they want.
Either our locally-elected district council handles the process now or the unpopular and unwanted unitary authority on the other sided of Salisbury Plain will force through its own plans, irrespective of public opinion, in two years time.
CLLR CHERYL HILL, Harnham East Ward
12:16pm Thursday 24th April 2008
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