Plymouth City Council are still not listening to community concerns or valuing our trees.
Eighteen months after the reputation-trashing act of eco vandalism carried out by Plymouth City Council (PCC), where they cut down more than 100 trees at night, it seems that no lessons have been learned by our decision makers. The council might be a different colour but the approach appears to be disappointingly similar. Last month a planning committee approved an application to build a tiny number of homes on a much-loved community green in Plymouth.
The application received over 50 objections from members of the public, many of whom pointed out where the development did not comply with local and national policies. This small but important piece of land is the only green space residents have near to where they live, and is the only space children have to play on in half a mile in any direction, the alternatives being on the other side of busy roads.
The development will not only deny residents their last place for a kick about, but will also require the felling of five mature trees which are situated on part of an ancient hedgerow. One of these trees is a category A oak tree and others ash trees, which were said to be of “high landscape value” but conveniently marked down in the original tree survey, not because they have ash dieback, but because they might catch it in the future.
And it gets worse, the planning committee and officers appeared unconcerned by the fact that their ecologist calculated that it will result in a biodiversity net loss of 47 per cent!
A crowd-funder has been launched, which I very much hope that people will support, to challenge this decision which sets a dangerous precedent that all other policies can be trumped if housing is short.
Please donate here if you can.
We all understand the seriousness of the housing crisis and the need for social and affordable homes. But surely pushing through inappropriate developments which breach key policies is short sighted and something we will live to regret. Policies are put in place for good reason, to ensure social and environmental well-being. In this case the benefit is small but the impact to the current residents and the environment is significant.
The Chair of the planning committee, Cllr Stevens, made a worrying prediction that he is, “expecting an awful lot of sites to come forward for development which will be tricky and it will cause controversy”.
Unfortunately, not only do the councillors not appear to be particularly weighed down by making controversial decisions, they also don’t seem overly interested in planning policies either.
PCC planning officers deemed this public space “surplus to requirements” in their 2019 “Strategic Land Review”. How this was determined is unknown because residents were not consulted and no community use assessment was done. In fact, residents had no idea about the planned sale of the land until the decision had already been signed off. PCC say they complied with the relevant process by publicising the decision via two notices in the back of the local paper. Not only does it seem to me as though this process is wholly inadequate at the best of times, but this was during the COVID pandemic. The government actively discouraged us from going out and I have been told that during this period, our local papers’ sales dropped by over half. Unsurprisingly the disposal received no objections from residents.
The PCC are now refusing to share their ongoing Strategic Land Review, which raises questions over whether they are trying to keep other residents in the dark about land being flogged off elsewhere.
The plan to cram three houses and two flats into this third of an acre site is madness and the first planning application was rejected, in part due to concerns over the loss of green space. The estate it falls within was developed in the 80’s and this space was, presumably, left undeveloped for a reason. People need green space; children need green space.
The importance of natural, open space is becoming more and more evident, with study after study clearly showing that nature and space are vital for our well-being, social cohesion, wildlife, flood mitigation and our mental health.
With the current drive for housing, it’s more important than ever to fight for the green space we have.
One local resident said of the application, “When we were made aware of the original plans a couple of years ago, we understood the need for affordable housing but we focused on how this green space contributed to the health and wellbeing of the surrounding community.
“We spoke with residents and realised our green reduced isolation for the elderly and vulnerable and improved the sense of community overall, including for children.
“We are also aware there are several larger developments happening near our community, so we have never understood why such a small, valuable green community space was so important to develop on. We feel that losing this space will impact children, the disabled and the elderly in particular.”
As with the first planning meeting on the application, which was deferred, the ward councillors for the Wilmot Gardens’ residents did not show up to support them, despite one of them actually being on the planning committee. According to the Local Government Association, “A councillor’s primary role is to represent their ward or division and the people who live in it”. Not the ones who could live in it.
If planning committees are happy to wave through any housing applications which come in front of them and are not willing to properly scrutinise applications or uphold polices then perhaps it is, in fact, these committees which are surplus to requirements.
Please support the residents (Crownhill Local Area Residents’ Association, ‘CLARA’) and help to protect this space and spaces like this in the future.
