From Elizabeth Rawlinson Chair of COBRA – Consortium of Bletchley Residents Associations:
Dear Residents, Councillors and Members of COBRA
As most of you already know, a new application has now been submitted to MKC for up to 500 new homes on the farmland behind Hunters Farm Shop near the A5/A4146 roundabout, known as Lavente Gate. Full details can be accessed via the public access planning portal using Application Reference 17/03233/OUT.
There are a number of reasons why we should have concerns about this proposal, not least of which is the additional congestion on the A4146 and A5 which will inevitably lead to an increase in traffic along Stoke Road, Drayton Road, Manor Road and Fenny Stratford. The deadline for objections is 5th January 2018 and although I’m sure you have much more interesting and pressing things to do over the next couple of weeks – I certainly hope so! – please can I ask you to take the time to look at this proposal and send your comments through to MKC?
Some reasons you may wish to comment are as follows:
* This land is classified as open countryside. It is not included in existing planning documents (the Core Strategy) nor is it in the emerging Plan:MK as land for development.
* It is developer-led, not plan-led.
* The Core Strategy Sustainability Appraisal (2011) considered and subsequently ruled out the inclusion of Lavente Gate (as part of a larger area referred to as MKSA 9) for the following reasons:
* Significant flood risk
* Impact on archaeology
* Potential impact on Brickhills Area of Attractive Landscape (AAL)
* Relatively poor connection with the city [a significant sustainability issue]
* Site divided by the A5
* MKC is apparently confident it has a five-year land supply (I’m trying to check the precise current position), but even if this is proven not to be the case the council is about to publish its final version of the Site Allocation Plan which identifies 21 sites across MK that can be called upon to meet any shortfall. Lavente Gate is not one of those sites.
* The site should be reserved as possible route for the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, details of which will be published in March 2019.
* Clearly this is not a case of I before E -Infrastructure before Expansion!
Please send your comments to MKC either via the planning portal, email or by letter by the deadline 5th January. As you know the number of objections do matter. I am working closely with Little Brickhill Parish Council and their Residents’ Association, who understandably are equally keen to stop this development. Together we need to get this stopped before yet more of our farmland and open countryside is destroyed forever.
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year
Liz Rawlinson
Chair, Consortium of Bletchley Residents’ Associations (COBRA) Chair, the Mill Residents’ Association Tel. 01908 374854
Mobile: 07887 837977
