Ruth and Steve met with the owner proposing development of the allotment site on Monday 12 Sept 2016, at their request.  He and his team presented revised plans for a development on the site.  You will recall that apart from the policy objection to building on the site, as urban green space, there were concerns about the design, layout and scale of the previous proposal; the layout and location of the public space; impact on trees and on biodiversity.  The developers have met with Council officers and received pre-application advice (which the Council is legally required to provide).

The main changes from the previous scheme are:

• a reduction in the number of houses from 9 to 8: four semis and four detached
• some design changes
• repositioning of houses, particularly at the access point
• removal of parking along the access road
• moving the allotments to the centre of the site, with the public open space beyond them
• meadowland as part of the open space.

They say the next stage is to email local residents and invite them to a site meeting to look at the site and the plans.  The owner is also interested in learning more about the history of the site, if anyone has details they would like to send them.

There is then likely to be a further planning application in a few weeks time.  When this happens we will send round a local Focus, to notify everyone.

We believe that the overarching principle of not allowing development on urban green space should be safeguarded which would mean that housing would not be allowed on this site. We are interested to know your views.

Ruth, Marlene and Steve