Local Democracy (Debate)
| Jim Clemence |
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Mon 25 Dec 2023, 08:45 John! Happy Christmas! And Happy Christmas Ian. So much for my promises to myself and my most important people not to post on the Forum. At Christmas?!?! But with this thread and some thinly veiled and pretty significant personal accusations perhaps heading to the ‘Debate’ area soon do I have a real choice? I hope no one reads this until after Christmas. I doubt many will read it at all because it is long! Because of the date the developer submitted the application the consultation (link at bottom) expires on 28th December. I’d just like to post some unfake facts and observations that actually have something to do with this development and consultation for people to think about after Christmas if they so choose: At the planning committee in December 2017 Liz Leffman countered arguments that The YDUK facility at Rushy Bank was not viable. She told the meeting and the public: “I do not buy the argument that this is only going to become a care home. It won’t. I know this because I have sat in meetings with Cottsway. They’re not interested in building a general care home on that site, there is absolutely no reason for them to do so. They want it to be a dementia home. It will be a dementia home.” The planning committee was sufficiently concerned to put a requirement in the section 106 agreement that work could only start on site if the Young Dementia facility was going ahead. There is no home at all proposed now. There are seven 1 bed bungalows which might support some assisted living, if the location was suitable. The developer appears to have clearly breached the section 106 commitment and repeatedly tried to start work to cement its right to develop this site. WODC has failed to enforce the protection. This is fundamentally why there is legal action underway backed by a wide group of local people. In 2018 Cottsway withdrew from the project and there has not to anyone’s knowledge been any viable plan to deliver the Young Dementia facility since then. This was not disclosed to the public or the planning committee which met in October 2018 by either Ian, the officers or Andy Graham who all spoke in support of the project at the committee which went on to reapprove it. Cottsway’s withdrawal only emerged in 2019 after the Committee had rubber stamped the development. At that committee in 2018 speaking on behalf of his development company Ian opened his presentation with “This project is by members of our community for members of our community.” Even though the planning system should not treat applications by local people any differently to those by anyone else the planning officer made repeated references to this in summarising the purported benefits and merits of the project. Since then Rushy BP has sold its interests to Harper Crewe and Launcelot investments. It’s not by local people any more. But that should never have mattered. In 2021 the town adopted a Neighbourhood Plan which contains a lot of commitments to protect our environment and the Evenlode valley in particular at the same time as trying to meet housing need in the town. It marked out the station area specifically as an area which would breach the plan’s objectives and would not comply with a reasonable interpretation of the West Oxfordshire Local Plan either. I understand Emily’s and the Town Council’s desire to see affordable housing delivered in the town. The Neighbourhood Plan sets our very clear policies on where the town can do this while preserving the town’s environment. But it was also very clear that sites around the station would not achieve this and would be particularly harmful. Because of all the history the Town Council has decided that it is prepared to see the project go ahead in breach of those policies. I understand that Liz and Andy also still want to see it go ahead. Not everyone feels this historic commitment to this project, particularly those who thought the Young Dementia facility was unviable and a Trojan horse in the first place. So again for after Christmas the link to the consultation is |