Detailed plans for Site F not good enough!

A detailed planning application from Bloor Homes, for a housing development in Oxford Road, Thame (site F), has failed to satisfy Thame Town Council and some nearby residents. Before the council considered a report from its Planning Consultant Jake Collinge, Mr Barry Yates, who lives in Cuttle Brook Gardens, and is the Chair of the Oxford Road Residents Association, spoke about some of the concerns.

Last year’s flooding (Feb 2014) Ford bridge on Oxford Rd looking West across Cuttle Brook field towards Thame by-pass

At a meeting of Thame Town Council on Tuesday eventing (20/01/15), Mr Yates told councillors that whilst he personally had no major reservations about the plans, and felt that it generally fell within the context of Thame Neighbourhood Plan, residents of Town Farm Close were upset, and objected to Bloor Homes disregarding their request to move the allotments to behind their houses. He added that there were other concerns associated with flooding, sewerage, traffic and access and pedestrian crossings.

“These issues have been recognized by Bloor Homes in their Statement of Community Engagement items 4 & 5,” said Mr Yates. “But their responses, items 8 & 9, to justify their position are not wholly satisfactory, and need addressing by the District Council.”

FLOODING

He went on: “In their planning application S2, Bloor Homes state that there is NO flood risk elsewhere. Glanville’s Flood Assessment Risk concludes that the proposed SUDS (drainage system) takes into account climate change and will ensure the risk does not increase in the River Thame & Cuttle Brook. This is debatable and remains a concern for us residents living on the edge of Cuttle Brook flood plain, in Cuttle Brook Gardens, Chiltern Vale and The Renaissance, where there was flooding 12 months ago.”

SEWAGE

Sewerage is a major concern for people living at the bottom of Oxford Road, explained Mr Yates. The drains, he said, were already unable to cope with the extra demand placed on them in recent years, following the infill developments on Oxford Road, Jubilee Gardens, Town Farm Close and Town Farm. Illustrating his point with photographs, he said: “At times of heavy rain, sewerage covers become overloaded resulting in raw sewerage spilling out onto the path. Thames Water regularly has to pump out the sub-station at Cuttle Brook. We note that a detailed report from Thames Water is due to establish whether upgrading is required, which we feel is absolutely essential to this application.”

TRAFFIC

Mr Yates then turned to matters of traffic and access, welcoming the proposal for a ‘ghost island right turn junction’ into the site, supplemented by two pedestrian islands. But he was not convinced that traffic would be able to exit right out of the development, particularly as vision would, he felt, be limited by the brow of the hill. “This will inevitably lead to more traffic turning left than envisaged in Glanville’s assessment, thereby causing problems further down Oxford Road and congestion in the town centre,” he said. More needed to be done, Mr Yates said, to slow down traffic travelling eastwards before the site entrance and suggested a controlled pedestrian crossing would be required. (The development would be served via a single access on to Oxford Road, to the west of Town Farm Close)

“With the aforementioned improvements we feel the speed camera should be re-located further down Oxford Road,” he went on. “We welcome the two uncontrolled crossings. But we feel these should be supplemented by a controlled crossing by the entrance to the Sports Centre/ Lord Williams’s School and the bus stops, to enable safe crossing for the public and especially schoolchildren using public transport. Furthermore it is proposed to
open up the green spaces to include cycle and pedestrian pathways so another uncontrolled crossing before Cuttle Brook bridge would be welcomed to link up with the Nature Reserve access.”

Finally, Mr Yates said that he was concerned that Glanville’s Traffic Risk Assessment focused only on the impact of the Bloor development on traffic generation and flows on the Oxford Road and the A418 Thame by-pass roundabout. He suggested that Oxfordshire County Council and District Council planners should look at the wider considerations of the potential unification of the two parts of Lord Williams’s Schools and the likely affect of the simultaneous construction of three major housing developments in Thame on traffic on the ring road and in the town centre.

“Speed on the Oxford Road is a big concern of our residents. Bloor’s proposals will help but this is an opportunity to do more,” Mr Yates concluded.

Jake Collinge, the town council’s Planning Consultant, told councillors that no response from either the Highways Department at Oxfordshire County County or Thames Water had yet been made to the proposed detailed  plans. Cllr Mike Dyer that it was essential that water and sewage reports should come in before any planning decision was made.

HOUSING MIX

Jake Collinge then introduced his report (http://www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk/images/4.__Report_-_Site_F.pdf) to the council, summarising his main concerns. Jake raised concerns about the size of two-bed bungalows in the plan, which he was concerned were of such a size, that they could be easily turned into three-bed properties thereby reducing in the future, the number of smaller properties in the development. “The mix is already heavily skewed towards larger units,” he said. “It is essential that this matter is addressed in order to secure the mix of propertries anticipated.”

But after a stong case FOR the two-bed bungalows having extra space, from Cllr Helena Fickling (herself an architect), that large bungalows are the sort of properties needed to encourage older people to move out of their four or five-bed houses, the councillors voted not to accept Jake Collinge’s recommendation.

DESIGN AND LAYOUT

He then drew the council’s attention to where in the report he described a number of design and layout-based ‘shortcomings’ in the scheme, including:
• That, whilst the Design and Access Statement includes some details in respect of the     ‘distinctive design qualities’ of Thame, the document fails to sufficiently demonstrate how these principles have been translated in to the design and form of the proposed units and their scale;
• That within each perimeter block, the form, juxtaposition and relationship between buildings lacks a sense of creating clear and cohesive streets with, in areas, an extensive use of on-street parking;
• That, in a number of areas, back-to-back distances fall below the privacy standards set out in the South Oxfordshire Design Guide, or would otherwise give rise to overlooking of private areas;
• That, for a significant number of units, levels of private amenity space fall below the standards set out in the Design Guide.

His conclusion was that: “In their present form the proposals fail to deliver a cohesive and legible development or one that respects and reflects the distinctive design qualities of Thame. In addition, the layout of the development fails to secure appropriate standards of amenity for future occupiers. “

ALLOTTMENTS AND LANDSCAPING

A further area of disapproval of the detailed planning application is the amount of allotment space provided, which falls below the requirements of the Neighbourhood Plan (0.33hectares) and so one that the council wants to be reviewed accordingly.

The other main recommendations by Jake Collinge, that were supported by the town council refer to, the depth and form of landscaping along the northern and western site boundaries; the provision of Lifetime Homes; clarification on the delivery of cycle parking; whether photovoltaics and/or air/ground source heat pumps are to be used to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. (See full report)

Finally, there followed a forthright discussion about the design and material of the front wall of the development either side of the entrance, which one councillor described as looking like ‘a golf club entrance’. Councillors agreed that the wall should be made of rubble stone to match the other walls along the Oxford Road. They also agreed to put pressure on Oxfordshire County Council to provide a mini-roundabout by the entrance of the development.

The council voted to recommend refusal of the plan on the grounds of the receommendations made by its Planning Consultant, Jake Collinge.

The full planning application is available for viewing HERE