August 8th. 2009

The final report of the Housing Needs Survey has been received and can be found here

July 17th. 2009

At the Parish Council meeting last night, a petition containing 100+ signatures against the Parish Council's support of the 'School Site' affordable housing development was presented to the council by Nicky Thomas, a Parish resident. The petition and the Council's response to it will be debated at a special meeting to be held in August, date/time yet to be decided.

As detailed below, there are now two applications pending for affordable housing: Next to St. Gabriel's with St. Mary's school and on the corner of Picken End. The council's preferred site is next to the school. We would repeat our advice that anyone who has a view on the subject, either for or against, should register their opinions with the MHDC planners (easily done via their website www.malvernhills.gov.uk). The planning references to use in the search are: 09/00681/FUL for the site next to the school on Welland Rd., and 09/00564/FUL for the site on the corner of Picken End.

June 19th. 2009

At the Parish Council meeting last night, the Council agreed unanimously to object to the application for affordable housing on the Picke End site. The text of the objection sent to the MHDC Planning office is show below.

West Mercia Housing, the housing association connected with the application to build 11 dwellings on the 'school site' will hold a public consultation at the village hall on July 8th. from 3:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.. Please go along and discuss any concerns you have with the staff of West Mercia Housing who will be in attendance.

Text of the objection to the 'Picken End' site:

To Rosalyn Kirby, Planning Officer, MHDC

09/00564/FUL

Development of Site to provide 13 no affordable houses

Land at Picken End Hanley Swan

Oakfield Developments

The Parish Council has met and dicussed the above application. The decision made was to OBJECT to this application for the following reasons:-

1. The Parish Council is concerned that there is an absence of a social landlord and this would not give the community the confidence of how the site would be allocated and managed. The application does not describe in detail how it would address the requirements of Policy CN2 Section 2 by entering into an agreement to provide the requisite housing in accordance with an Affordable Housing Scheme. This is a rural exception site and the application does not state clearly the requirements of Policy CN3 section (c).

2. Highways issues:-

a) There are no footpaths in Picken End thus the increase in traffic would make this road more dangerous. If footpaths were to be laid it would narrow the road substantially which would reduce the width to a roadway wholly unsuitable for any cars to park outside the existing properties. This would restrict the free movement of two way traffic.

b) There is an absence of a flooding report so there is no information as to what development would do to the water level on this area. Gilberts End which runs adjacent to Picken End was subject to flooding in 2007 and therefore Policy DS16 Section 2 may be required.

c) The junction is wholly inadequate for the increase in traffic that the development would bring.

d) The traffic increase would add to the risks to schoolchildren walking to school and would necessitate a formal road crossing.

3. There is no evidence of an Environmental report.

4. There is no evidence of a biodiversity report as required in Policy DS1. The Location of development section d) Development within the open countryside (beyond settlements as defined on the Proposals Map) will be strictly controlled. Development will be limited to those exceptions established within the Local Plan, which can only be located within the open countryside and which maintains or enhances the landscape character and biodiversity of the area.

5. The visual amenity on entering the village is totally out of character and is not in keeping with the design and architecture of the village

6. The water supply and pressure level in Picken End and Winnington Gardens is already known to be wholly inadequate and this would increase the problems.

The pipes are not wide enough to provide adequate pressure and this would most likely lead to having the whole supply replaced.

7. There is no evidence of a landscape plan and therefore the application cannot be compared to the requirements of Policy QL21 Landscaping Sections 1 and 2.

8. This site was not the preferred site when proposed to the electorate during public consultation on an affordable housing scheme.

9. The design brief is not detailed enough and does not conform to Policy QL1 Sections 1 and 2.

10. The building design is out of character with the architecture already existing and does not support the requirement in Policy DS2 Sustainable Development section d) being well related to existing patterns of development. The design does not adhere to Policy QL24 Landscape Character Sections (a) and (b).

11. The development does not comply with Policy DS3 of the Local Plan General Development Requirements.

Sections (b), (c), (e) ,( h) ( i ), (k), (l), (o)

 

At the same meeting, the Parish Council decide to support the proposal forthe development on Hanley Rd., between the primary school and Westmere. The text of this is as follows:

09/00681/FUL

Erection of affordable houses, Land adjacent to St. Gabriel's' School, Hanley Swan, Worcester

Applicant Miss Kat La Tzsar , West Mercia Housing

The Parish Council has met and decided to support this application .

The Parish Council would like the following comments to be noted:-

1. The Parish Council would welcome Public Consultation at the earliest possible date so the Parishioners are able to discuss fully the details of the development and also contribute any ideas that might be supported by the applicant. This would be helpful in adherence to Policy QL24 of the Local Plan where it is essential that the development “does not have an adverse impact on visual amenity”

1. That as many trees as possible are retained, particularly along the roadside boundary, so that the area remains as unspoilt as possible. (Policy QL22 (b) Local Plan)

3. That some planting on the Northern side of the development should be included to provide privacy both for the houses Spring Cottage and Marrisco and the new development.

1. That the applicant work with the Highways Department at Worcestershire County Council to provide traffic calming, such as flashing lights and a 20mph speed restriction, from the new development to the school, bearing in mind the new development's close proximity to the school entrance.
2. That the entrance to the development is of full highway width, 7.3metres.
3. That the applicant undertakes to contribute towards the maintenance of the verge outside the site.
4. That the applicant ensures that Policy QL21 of the Local Plan is observed and that landscaping, and the maintenance of, is adhered to.
5. That consideration is made of the fact that the school playing field floods on a regular basis especially around the large oak tree in the boundary fence. Also that due care should be taken to prevent exacerbating the problem as required by Policy DS16c) and that the drainage is suitable Policy DS16 h). It may be required that Policy DS16 (2) should also be considered.

The applicant has now confirmed that Public Consultation will take place at Hanley Swan Village Hall Wednesday July 8 th 2009 from 3.15pm to 7.30pm

 

June 11th. 2009

We have now received two planning applications for the contstruction of affordable housing in our village. These relate to two different sites: the original 'school' site (i.e. between the primary school and Westmere) and on the south corner of Picken end where it meets the main road. The applicant wishing to use the 'school' site is West Mercia Housing Association: this is a re-invention of the original application (which was withdrawn at the last minute) which follows the recommendation of the Rural Housing Enabler's most recent Housing Needs Survey and is for 11 dwellings of mixed size. The 'Picken End' applicant is - as far as we can tell - a speculative developer who does not as yet have a relationship with a housing association, though this could change at any moment, of course. They have applied for 13 units (more than the RHE's recommendation) on the land which was considered as an alternative to the 'school' site when all this started off. The village was asked at an exhibition and a public meeting which was the preferred site. The majority favoured the 'school' site, mainly because of the fact that children living there would not need to cross the road to get to the primary school. Another reason was that it was felt that the 'Picken End' site would cause further congestion on the single lane road that is Picken End. At a subsequent Parish Council meeting, the PC decided to endorse the 'school site' for these (and other) reasons.

At our meeting on 18th. June, the PC will debate the two applications and pass comments back to the planners regarding them. It should be noted that as a Parish Council, our comments are not binding upon the planners: they can choose either to listen to or ignore them - we have no right of veto.

It is important that any member of the public that has something to say about either of these applications should make their feelings known to MHDC's planning department. This can be done on the MHDC website (www.malvernhills.gov.uk), by email or by good ol' fashioned ink on paper.

Members of the public are welcome to join us at our meeting on the 18th. June, 7:00 p.m., Hanley Swan Village Hall. The plans in question will be available for inspection and there will be adequate time at the start of the meeting for questions to be asked and concerns to be raised.

May 22nd. 2009

At our Parish Council meeting last night, the Council agreed unanimously to support the Affordable Housing scheme proposed by the Rural Housing Enabler. This decision was reached due to the assurances and explanations received from Peter Newman, MHDC's Housing Enabler. Mr Newman had been (a) presented with an extensive list of points and questions compiled from a list of parishioner's and Council member's feedback, (b) met with the Council to thrash out the detail face to face, and (c) confirmed the outcome of hypothetical scenarios involving local applicants for affordable housing. The questions issued to Peter Newman, and his responses to them can be found here. The summary notes transpiring from our meeting with him on 18th. May, in which he confirms important points, can be found here. Incidentally, 's106' in the body of these documents refers to 'Section 106' which is a set of legally-binding conditions which accord to the local connection criteria (or Rural Letting Policy) explained below, These are to be applied to tenure of the properties to be built, meaning that they will - in perpetuity - be allocated to people with a local connection to the area before being avaialble to anyone else. RSL = Registered Social Landlord or Housing Association

You will note from the scenarios offered in the 'confirmation' notes above that ANY person with a local connection (definition: see below) who considers that they qualify, stands a chance of being allocated a housing unit. The final result will depend the number of applicants and the relative levels of need in the 'queue' but you can see from Peter Newman's response to our meeting summary that even local people with a 'simple' desire for accommodation will rank BEFORE anyone from outside the Parish with a 'greater' need. So, even the young, single person who wishes to 'fly the nest' will be able to apply and be considered for a unit.

The scheme proposed is for 11 units of mixed size. This is a reduction from the 14 units proposed in the previous (flawed) scheme. Our Council is of the opinion that this smaller number should be easier to fill with local applicants. It is important to note that the Council is not against the principle, per se, of new families coming to live in our Parish but our over-riding philosophy is to satisfy as a priority the housing needs of our existing parishioners. This is how the scheme was put to us and we are adamant that this will be the outcome.

The criteria for the 'local connection' (copied from the MHDC website), or Rural Lettings Policy is as follows:

• Only those households that have a local connection to the District
  can qualify for new build homes built on exception sites. Depending
  on the allocation system, these applicants will either be considered
  by their Housing Need Team or they can bid for vacancies under the
  Home Choice scheme.
  
  This means that priority for vacancies in the smaller rural
  communities of the district will be given to households with a local
  connection to that particular town or village.
  
  A member of a household has a local connection to an area if:
  
  • They have permanent employment in the area
  • They are a resident or were previously a resident e.g. 6 out of
    the last 12 months or 3 years out of the last 5 years
  • They have a close family member e.g. parent, grandparent,
    child, brother or sister who are a resident
  • There are other special local connection circumstances e.g. a
    long term need to receive or give specialist local support

One major area of concern to us was the slightly diaphonous methods employed by the "powers that be" when taking registrations and allocating properties. We are not suggesting anything other than fair play but it has been mentioned to us that it has been the case that applicants have 'fallen off' the register without knowing about it and therefore have missed out on an allocation. We feel that this is an area which needs close monitoring and "championing" of applications made by local people. The Parish Council suggested - and Mr. Newman agreed - that he will contact all locally-connected applicants who have already registered as needing accommodation so as to advise them to (optionally) make their requirement known to the Parish Council. We will then maintain a watch on the situation and ensure that applicants (a) are advised of progress (b) warned about changes in the scheme and (c) do not accidentally "fall off" the application conveyer belt, so to speak. As we have a direct line of communication to the Housing Enabler, we feel confident that the usual mist of bureaucracy can be dispersed if/when problems are encountered. Naturally, all information provided will be treated with the strictect confidence. We believe that this gives us an important edge to ensure that the system will work as it is claimed by those in charge.

TO ALL RESIDENTS WHO NEED ACCOMMODATION UNDER THIS SCHEME!!!

IF YOU WISH TO BE CONSIDERED AS AN APPLICANT,
IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REGISTER YOUR INTEREST - NOW!

You can do this by registering on-line at the Home Choice Plus web site. Even if you register directly, we would encourage you to let us assist you in the process (in complete confidence) so that we can make sure that you are kept fully in touch with developments, hopefully in a more personal and interested manner than can be managed by the Housing Associations. Please make contact with any member of the Council (details here) to begin the process.

So, the next step is to agree the design of the scheme with the housing association and for them to apply for planning permission. Now that the scheme size has been reduced, it's back to the ol' drawing board and negotiations which have yet to take place. Of course, the whole scheme may yet be thrown out at at the planning application stage. We will keep you informed of progress but if you require any further information, please get in touch with one of our Councillors.

May 20th. 2009

Following the presentation of the Housing Need Survey report, we have had correspondence and a meeting with Peter Newman, Chief Housing Officer, MHDC, so as to clarify numerous points raised by residents and our councillors. The outcome of these happenings will be presented in a report to the council at the next meeting (tomorrow night, 21st. May). We believe we have covered all the issues raised and have received definitive answers to our questions. The council will debate the subject at the meeting and decide whether to support or denounce the proposed scheme based upon the information to hand.

January 16th. 2009

At the Parish Council Meeting last night, Nigel Potter - Rural Housing Enabler - of Community First, presented the draft report of the Housing Needs Survey whose results- as mentioned below - were audited by two members of our Council. The Report was passed to the council for its consideration and its publication was authorised by Mr. Potter. The survey's conclusions are those of Mr. Potter and the Parish Council now has to decide whether to endorse the conclusions or form its own. Consequently, the council is publishing the report (download a PDF here) and invites comments of any sort from residents in our parish. These comments should be made either on the forum on this website or by email or in writing to our clerk (addresses here). Posting a comment on our forum requires that (a) you register successfully as a user and (b) implies that your comments will be in the public domain. Please note that comments from anonymous individuals will not be considered - if you wish to comment but not reveal to the public at large that you have done so, then you must write/email to our clerk who will respect your desire for privacy.

We will allow until February 28th. for comments to be submitted after which time we will assess the feedback and debate it at the next Council meeting. We will either agree with the RHE's conclusions or introduce our own and then decide on the next step.

November 2008

After much consultation, several meetings and associated to-ing and fro-ing, Community First agreed to allow two of our councillors to audit the results of the new housing survery. This was carried out by Cllrs. John Taverner and Dennis Wade (Cllr. Taverner is an accountant and well used to auditing information) at the office of community First. The two councillors have reported that they are satisfied with the survey results as produced by CF. Consequently, at the next PC meeting (15th. Jan '09), Nigel Potter (Rural Housing Enabler) will address the meeting and present the results to to PC and the public.

September 2008

After a meeting with most of the Parish Council, Community First have stated that they are most keen to ensure that their efforts are considered by us and our Parishioners to be be in the public interest and beyond reproach. They are to consider the method by which the Parish Council is to be allowed to verify the results of the most recent Housing Needs Survey. The Parish Council's position is that we need to be able to put hand on heart and state the we agree with the results of the survey. We can do this only if we are allowed to see the forms returned by those who expressed a (valid) need for affordable housing. Community First are reluctant to allow us to view the forms, citing confidentiality issues and this is the aspect of the verification procedure that they are debating. As soon as we have a decision, we will post it here.

July 18th. 2008

Since the last update, the PC has written a letter of complaint to Community First (CF), the registered charity which is the employer/manager of the RHE - the letter can be viewed here. A response was received, penned by Mrs. Elspeth Rolls, the then Director of Capacity Building and Service Development at community First - this reply can be viewed here. The opinion of the PC is that our concerns have not been addressed adequately in Mrs. Rolls' reply. There is virtually no correlation between our points raised; her reply contains a number of errors of fact and most of the issues raised by the PC have not been answered at all.

In the time between the above exchange and the next PC meeting (last night), we were contacted by Chris Whittington, Chairman of Cropthorne PC, who wished to exchange experiences, as his PC is currently enjoying the attentions of the RHE. Cropthorne was/is having a bad experience in the matter of an affordable housing scheme. Mr. Whittington raised in our minds the subject of the sources of funding of the RHE. Funds provided by Local Authorities and DEFRA were identified in CF's current operational plan, but there is an amount defined as 'other' which accounts for the majority of the funding applied to the office of the RHE. It needs to be borne in mind that the RHE is (according to DEFRA's guidelines) suppposed to be an independent broker acting for PC's and helping them interact with housing associations (HA's) so as to provide appropriate local affordable housing. However, it turns out that the position of Worcestershire's RHE, Nigel Potter, is funded by the following with 'other' being revealed as HA's:

Local Authorities

Bromsgrove District Council
Malvern Hills District Council
Wychavon District Council
Wyre Forest District Council
Worcestershire County Council

Housing Associations

Bromford Group
Bromsgrove District Housing Trust
Community Housing Group
Festival Housing Group
Marches Housing Association
Rooftop Housing Group Ltd
West Mercia Housing Group

Our PC can understand the funding provided by the local authorities but we consider that the money provided by HA's can produce nothing other than a confilict of interests. Consequently, we asked CF for the breakdown of the funding provided by the HA's. After asking five times, we were told that the information was not going to be provided - see the letter from Elspeth Rolls (now Deputy Chief Executive) here. However, enquiries along the same lines directed to the HA's are producing positive, friendly replies - it seems they are not so shy about the funding they provide to the RHE's position. We have had three responses so far and when all the data is in, we shall publish it in these pages. The reader is left to draw his/her own conclusions.

At the PC meeting of last night, Elspeth Rolls and Chris Whittington were in attendance and a lively debate took place during public question time. The PC asked the direct question of Mrs. Rolls: "Do you, as Deputy Chief Executive of CF consider that the postion of the RHE is truly independent having regard to the funding of his position by the HA's?" to which the response from Mrs. Rolls, eventually, was "Yes". The PC put its position to Mrs. Rolls which is that all confidence in the independence of the RHE had been shattered by our findings and she was invited to take the views of the meeting and provide us with a statement which might help to recover the position.

A new housing needs survey form is being delivered to all parishioners right now. CF has agreed that we can audit the collation of these results, though Mrs. Rolls' letter of reply to our complaint hints at drawing back from that position. You may rest assured, dear parishioners, that we will continue to apply the pressure necessary to ensure that CF keeps its original promise of allowing our supervision of the survey analysis.

May 7th. 2008

At the planning committee meeting last night, there was a discussion over the intentions of the Rural Housing Enabler to conduct a new Housing Needs Survey, this being requested by the Parish Council. Various aspects of the survey form were discussed and a number of suggestions to improve clarity will be made to the RHE. Also, we have received a 'self assessment' aid to allow any resident to determine (in a rudimentary way) their eligibility to be allocated a property when and if the scheme proceeds. This document can be seen here. The survey form to which this document refers can be found here. Please note that these documents are as received by the PC and may well change in the light of our comments before being issued to our residents for completion. The RHE will be sent our comments in the next few days and we expect to hear quite soon as to when the new survey will be conducted.

The Parish Council is most upset by the manner in which the RHE has collated and presented the erroneous results of the last survey and will consider what further action, if any, needs to be taken on this subject.

April 24th. 2008

The Parish Council had a meeting today with the Rural Housing Enabler to review the outcome the recent events. A full report is given in the 'Housing Needs Survey' forum topic - here - but a quick summary is that we have had it agreed that there will be a new housing needs survey with results to be audited by the Parish Council

April 16th. 2008

The planning application (which was due to be determined by an MHDC planning committee this evening) has been withdrawn by the applicant (West Mercia Housing) pending further investigation of the Housing Needs Survey results

April 15th. 2008

The notes taken during the public meeting of the 19th. March are available here

April 9th. 2008

The HNS report is an item on the agenda of our next planning meeting, Monday 14th. April, 7:00 pm at Hanley Swan Village Hall.

Still no news on the requested deferrment of the application. No response has been received either to our original formal letter to West Mercia Housing, nor to several follow-up emails.

April 4th 2008

We have received the full results of the Housing Needs Survey but we have been denied the opportunity to collate the orignal responses ourselves. We are continnuing to push for this. The results are available as raw results in a spreadsheet and a report analysing the results. The report is in draft and errors are marked within it in red - these have been fed back to the report's authors.

We are still waiting to hear if the planning application is to be deferred.

March 25th 2008

At the Parish Council Meeting on 20th. March, the council agreed to

(1) request that MHDC's Rural Housing Enabler allows two of our council members to perform our own evaluation of the results of the housing needs survey from the original returned forms, of course maintaining any confidentialities as required by law.

(2) request West Mercia Housing to defer the planning application to allow us time to perform the evaluation mentioned above and consult with residents and others.

Letters were sent today to both parties making these formal requests. Responses will be posted here as they are received

March 20th 2008

The Public Meeting at the village hall last night was attended by about 90 residents and a lively debate ensued. The meeting was chaired by Tom Wells, County Councillor so as to maintain an independent sense of control to the meeting. Many views were aired objecting to the proposal and the scheme's proposers responded to all points, not necessarily to the satisfaction of all of the questioners. A few residents voiced their support for the scheme. The elusive full results to the housing survey were promised to be supplied within two weeks by Peter Newman, MHDC Housing Manager and will be published on this site when they become available.

The Parish Council is most disappointed that MHDC's planning Dept. declined to send a representative to the meeting despite being invited so to do by this council, Tom Wells and others.

March 11th 2008

March 10th 2008

There will be a public meeting to discuss the scheme on 19th. March 2008 at Hanley Swan Village Hall, 7:00 p.m. for a 7:30 start. Invited are West Mercia Housing, the MHDC Rural housing Enabler and an MHDC Planning Officer. The meeting will be chaired by Tom Wells, County Councillor.