Charity pressures councils over million empty homes

Councils should sell or let properties at a discounted rate to help reclaim the one million empty homes in the UK for families in need, a charity says.

Empty Homes has urged the government to pressure local authorities to create more affordable homes. 

Two million families need a home and 100,000 more new builds are required each year, statistics show.

More here from the BBC website...

Architects say new houses are 'shameful shoebox homes'

Unfortunately developers in West Sussex have been cramming people into smaller homes for years. Just look at Eden Park in Littlehampton - not a lush green welcoming place as the name suggests and you can bet your bottom penny 'greedy' Gleeson are already looking at altering the Courtwick Lane plans to see if they can cram in some more of these shoe box homes.

Read on...

New town at FORD could ‘ease’ Chichester housing pressure

Apparently a new town at Ford might be the answer to solving Chichester and Arun housing problems, it has been claimed. The city council’s planning and conservation committee agreed to urge Chichester District Council to start talks on the idea with neighbouring Arun – with Ford mentioned as a possible location for thousands of new homes.

Here we go again... Read more...

Arun District Council slash housing targets!

Here's some good sensible news for residents in Arun - ADC voted overwhelmingly to set its annual housebuilding rate for the next 17 years at 400 homes per annum, well below the previous government-imposed target for the district.

Read more here...

Ford reconsidered as a New Market Town?

These people just won't give up! Just when we thought we'd stopped the Eco Town - here comes the same proposal re-painted as a Market Town consisting of 5 villages!

They have simply re-hashed the failed Eco Town plans and bumped it up to 7,705 houses.

All the downloads are here http://www.audacity.org/035-Ford.htm

Here is a link to the plans (30MB pdf file)

Tomorrow is Decision Day

There is a strong possibility the application Y/81/10 will be moved forward on the agenda - so I would advise those wishing to attend arrive promptly.

The Development Control Committee will be held in the Council Chamber at the Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, on THURSDAY 26TH MAY 2011 at 2.30 p.m.

Provided we can get a signal in the chamber we’ll be posting updates on www.twitter.com/yaptonrag for people unable to attend.

Development Control Committee Meeting

A meeting of the Development Control Committee will be held in the Council Chamber at the Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, on THURSDAY 26TH MAY 2011 at 2.30 p.m. On the agenda is planning application Y/81/10, the proposed development comprising of the construction of 173 new properties to land north of Burndell Road.

I have condensed the PDF of the Planning Application Report to only include the application Y/81/10 which can be DOWNLOADED HERE.

It is important over the next week Yapton and Ford residents kindly remind Councillors of the reasons to oppose this application.

Back in January Councillor Ricky Bower, was asked whether the council would reject a 99.99 per cent vote against housing, in an official parish referendum, Mr Bower paused, before replying: “It would be extremely unlikely.”

If you would like to speak on behalf of residents please contact us 07515 396 183.

Arun housing plans in the hands of the people

People power could spell the end of large-scale housing developments in villages like Yapton, an Arun planning chief confirmed.

Councillor Ricky Bower, the district council’s cabinet member for planning, was speaking at a consultation evening in Yapton called to debate the issue of how many homes should be built in Arun over the next 17 years. More here...

APPLICATION NO: Y/81/10/

I am able to inform you that I have received an amendment to the above application dated 24th January 2011 relating to:- Substitute plans - Amendment to allow for provision of 40% affordable housing

If you should wish to make further representations as a result of this amendment you should do so by following the link below and clicking on ‘comment on this application’ by 24th February 2011. The amendments can be viewed by clicking on ‘documents’ in the top right corner of screen. www.arun.gov.uk/planning

Public Meeting Monday November 15th

A meeting to discuss the Gleeson planning application for 173 houses will take place at Yapton & Ford Village Hall on Monday 15 November at 7.30pm.

It will be open to public and will provide an opportunity for local residents to air their views on the application before the Council determines its response.

See you there...

178 new homes for Yapton

Do they have it in the bag?

From the Bognor Observer website - Residents’ protests have failed to stop a firm seeking to build almost 200 homes in Yapton.

MJ Gleeson Group has decided to go ahead with its proposals for top-grade farmland on the north side of Burndell Road despite near-unanimous objection to its proposals.

Only two of the 102 villagers who responded to its informal consultation backed the intended development. The other 100 were firmly against the idea. Read more here...

Looks like someone is telling fibs, the headlines says '178 new homes for Yapton', yet the planning application is for 173 homes... http://www.yaptonpc.gov.uk/planning-app/wlpa2010-43.htm

Remember, 'almost 200 homes'... Things could go from bad to worse for every village in the country if this gets the green light...

Yapton RAG needs you!

Yapton RAG is setting up a committee to fight the Glesson Planning application in Yapton Village - Interested? See http://yaptonrag.tumblr.com/

A new development...

A planning application has been submitted by Gleeson homes for 173 properties on land north of Burndell Road. The application will have a significant impact on the residents in Goodhew Close, Burndell Road, Fordwater Gardens and Downview Road. This application is a departure from the development plan and also falls within the parish of Ford.

The planning application number is Y/81/10/
Comments are due by November 25th

You can view the planning documents here... http://www.arun.gov.uk

Land at the back of Goodhew Close

Gleeson have received approval to their Initial planning notice (submitted 23/09/10 ref Y/73/10/IN). The case officer is Mr D Patterson and I guess an application will be in very soon.

Will keep you up to date...

Voting on new home schemes 'could tear villages apart'

Government plans to hold local referendums on new housing schemes in England could tear village communities apart, rural campaigners have said.

They say plans to require 80-90% of local people to approve new building schemes in villages would create conflict and bring projects to a halt. More here...

'Garden grab' figures published

Plans to limit development on gardens in England have been backed up by new figures, a government minister says.

One in seven new homes between 1994 and 2009 were built on previously residential land, including gardens, the data shows. Read more here...

New Development...

Here we go again... It looks like Gleeson are planning on putting in an application for 200 homes on land North of Burndell Road. There have been rumours circulating, and now there is a leaflet doing the rounds... Download a copy of the leaflet.

They are asking for community input so lets show them what this community thinks!

Responses should be sent to gemma@planningpotential.co.uk

By post to:
Gemma Brickwood
Planning Potential
Magdalen House
148 Tooley Street
London
SE1 2TU

Or you can call Gemma on 0207 357 8000

Announcing YAPTON RAG

Yapton RAG (Resident Action Group), is in the early stages of setting up an online community for the people living in Yapton and surrounding areas who care about village issues. Yapton RAG aims to build a community that is thriving and fair. We want to tackle local issues head on, whether it be fly tipping, traffic calming, planning and many other issues the village now faces.

Please follow their tweetsYaptonRAG and yaptonrag.co.uk

Why not admit defeat?

One wonders if Dixon and Hall will ever admit defeat. This week they are proclaiming 'Council support for Eco-Town protest was unfair' - Oh really? As one of the many local resident I think I can judge whether we wanted an Eco Town or not.

Just for the record, a few facts...
10,000 people signed a petition...
Over 2,000 residents marched...
The government didn't back it...

Read their letter here...

Charley in New Town

This is a charming propaganda film from 1948 - yes 1948!!! I'm surprised it wasn't adapted into "Charlie in New Eco-Town" Enjoy, and Merry Christmas everyone!

Proposals for a second wave of eco-towns.

The government has announced proposals for a second wave of eco-towns. Housing minister John Healey said today that a further nine local authorities were considering plans to develop new communities to eco-town standards. This could bring the number of new eco-settlements - “sustainable” developments of at least 5,000 homes - to more than 13 after four locations were given the green light in July.

The new schemes include reviving eco-town proposals at Shoreham Harbour in West Sussex and Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, where the department for communities said there was “an opportunity to redesign elements of existing projects to meet even higher sustainability standards”.

Five authorities and partnerships, covering ten locations in Taunton , Yeovil, Leeds, Lincoln and Coventry are using eco-town planning rules to decide whether an eco-town is “feasible and deliverable”. And councils in Cornwall and the Sheffield City Region are using the concept to carry out a broader survey of potential sites.

Healey said the expressions of interest would be backed with up to £10m to help develop the schemes. He said: “The further nine areas are looking at proposals to design and develop to the tough new eco-town standards. "This signals real and radical momentum to change and to re-think how we design our towns and homes for the future.

"In July, I encouraged councils to be at the forefront of Britain 's green revolution and use government backing to investigate eco-town potential for mainstream developments." Healy added that the announcement put government back on course to encourage the development of up to ten eco-towns by 2020.

The first wave of sites, in Hampshire, Norfolk , Cornwall and Oxfordshire, are currently developing masterplans for local planning approval. Whitehill-Bordon in Hampshire was the first to publish its draft masterplan for public consultation last month.

Empty homes back in use

Hello again - long time no blog, so lets have some good news...

HOMES which have stood empty for more than 40 years are among dozens of vacant properties now giving families a roof over their head once more, thanks to a council campaign. Read more here...

Housebuilders look to raise cash

Two of the UK's largest housebuilders have announced plans to bolster their finances by raising cash through selling more shares. Barratt Developments wants to raise £720.5m through a rights issue, while Redrow is aiming for £150m. Click here for more...

I took note of this sentence, 'Mr Clare added that the cash from the rights issue would also be used to develop a number of existing sites and to buy land if opportunities arose'.

Friday September 4th - Yapton & Ford Village Hall

Unfortunately its not my Scarecrowday... But you are invited to a gathering at Yapton & Ford Village Hall where there will be a few speeches, some music and a chance wind down after the last 18 months... The format is bring a bottle and glass - there may be nibbles... We start at 6.30 - hope to see you there...

Have a great August... Mr G and the team...

Make every town an eco-town

Jonathan Glancey architecture critic for the Guardian... There’s no point bulding tokenistic, half-baked fake communities for New Labour clones while we’re still wedded to motorways, airports and superstores. Read more here...