Save Throckley's Open Places

Archive for the ‘Meetings’ Category

 
At a recent meeting of the steering group we discussed the following:

• The recent flooding at Newburn and the effect that 500 new houses will have on Throckley Dene watercourse in the future. It was noted that the sealed surfaces will cause an increase in the drainage requirement since at the moment the fields hold back a considerable amount of water.

• Current concerns about the world shortage of food make the decision to sacrifice highly productive farmland quite unacceptable.

• The Olympic legacy initiative is totally at odds with the proposals to build on school fields.

• Recently acquired documents indicating that some of the fields in Throckley are within the Hadrian’s Wall world heritage buffer zone require more research.

• The recent events at Millvale in Newburn have led to an increase in traffic in Throckley and Walbottle and are an indication of future congestion.

• Our concerns about the danger of a road junction at the site of the demolished Fernview house, and Hexham road were waved away by the Council officers. Presumably similar assurances were given in relation to building in Millvale.

• New concerns are rising about the increase in CO2 emissions near the school, and the access pavement along Hexham road.

We considered ways of advancing these and other arguments and noted the following possibilities:

• Ward Committee Meetings-keeping the campaign on the agenda
• Letters to the Press
• Lobbying Greenwich again.
• Website –pushing up the Nos signing the “on line petition” using Facebook to “Share” items and news. Putting on more material e.g. photos and comments.

The next important event where demonstrative action would be appropriate will be the council cabinet meeting which discusses the outcome of the second round consultation. Date to be circulated

If there is anything that you can add please get in touch.
 

 
Things have been a bit quiet but now some reaction from the Council. You might have already seen their e-mail below.

They say 600 communications so far. We assume the Gosforth people are now out so it’s Callerton and us. If so, this sounds good and something is clearly getting to them or they wouldn’t be putting on extra sessions. Perhaps they feel they are not winning the argument?

I’m sure that our letters are having an effect and we urge you to push at every opportunity to increase the number of letters. Although we should press them at every question and answer session, only determined opposition will prevail and there is every prospect for success.

North Tyneside Council have just been turned down planning permission for development at Holystone near to Rising Sun Country Park, despite officers recommendation”.

So we fight on.
 
 
EMAIL FROM NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL (Henri Murison):

Dear Sir/Madam

Planning Newcastle ’s Future – Consultation Events

The city needs more homes, we need to make sure they are the right type and in the right place where people want to live and at the right prices people can afford, whilst making sure the environment of our city is protected for our future generations who will also need places to live.

Consultation on the proposed changes to the One Core Strategy and Urban Core Area Action Plan report and the community infrastructure preliminary draft charging schedule will close on 13 September 2012. To date we have hosted fourteen events across the city to engage with local residents and businesses their views on the plans. Hundreds of you have got involved and attended an event. Over 600 have submitted views to the Council so far and much of this reinforces what was said through previous rounds of consultation.
 
Read the rest of this entry »

[click image to enlarge]

There was anger and disarray at the meeting on the revised proposals for the One Core Strategy on 26/6/2012 at Walbottle School.

The shambles started before the meeting even began with the participants having to negotiate through battalions of pupils attending the Schools Summer ball! Some residents have reported that they were unable to get to the meeting as a result of the congestion.

More importantly Council bosses had seriously underestimated the outrage felt by residents and sought to impose a straightjacket on the meeting.

It was clear from the outset that The Council, represented by Councillor Henri Murison, and officers led by Harvey Emms, Director of Planning, have a vision of how consultations should work:

First, Make any notifications to the public as bland and vague as possible so no-one will notice the importance of the issue e.g. Produce the notices to go in libraries, notice boards etc, smaller than A4 size and head them “Lets Talk”.

Second, Stage manage the meeting in such a way as to stifle difficult questions and impose a formula which attempts to divert people from the issues they really want to discuss.

This strategy completely fell apart at Walbottle on Tuesday, where right from the start angry comments were expressed at the imposition of a “workshop” arrangement where people sat at tables with council officer “facilitators” who attempted to frame the discussion along the lines laid out.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
The Consultation meeting with representatives from Newcastle City Council is tomorrow, Tuesday June 26th at Walbottle High School at 6-8pm.

Our feeling is that the decision makers are more interested in “telling” us rather than “listening” to us. Nevertheless we have produced a sheet (attached) that we think should help call them to account. Our real hope is that they will respond to the sheer weight of opposition, so please attend and try to persuade as many others to come as possible.

Also since our last meeting,

- An extra 76 people have signed our online petition.
- We have sent a press release to the Journal.

We plan to follow the Consultation meeting with a model letter of objection and leaflet with the intention to put it through every door in the area. The draft will be circulated via email and the website for additions / amendments before it is published. We will also hold another meeting in a few weeks time

Please show your support by attending tomorrow’s meeting.

 
Meeting Date: Monday 18th June

This meeting had been arranged at fairly short notice as concern had been raised by Council reports published online, leading into the 2nd Consultation on the One Core Strategy.

As we all know, despite having the third largest number of opposing comments, no change has been made to the housing proposals for Throckley, with some reduction in the Walbottle proposals.

Our Councillors were unable to attend this meeting and around 50 residents were alarmed at the following:

• A report to the Council recently which analyses sites still in the plan for housing development includes possible access options of significance to the village and the clear implication that Greenwich hospital Trust, the landowners of the large site already in the plan, have longer term plans to sell further areas of adjacent land leading West to Heddon.
• The content of this report and other complex documents is known to the Planning Officers and presumably Councillors, but it is left to vigilant residents to spot it and raise questions about it.
• The action group opposing the housing proposals (STOP) is well known to Councillors and like other action groups has been involved since the launch of the One Core Strategy – however no attempt was made to alert the group to the new documents
• Meanwhile Newburn Councillors are meeting Greenwich representatives without any commitment to taking back the outcomes to residents.

 
Further action is planned for the Consultation phase starting on June 20th and will be reported on the website. June 26th is the date for the Council consultation meeting at Walbottle High School and this will be an opportunity to push for answers and demonstrate your opposition.

• Possible compulsory property purchases in Drove road area.
• Further building behind Hexham Road?
• Larger junction proposed at Fernhill.

 
The S.T.O.P. campaign is holding a meeting on Tuesday 19th June 6-7 p.m. at:

THROCKLEY COMMUNITY HALL (behind Victoria Terrace)

A recent Council report assessing the viability of the School playing field (site 4945) and the fields to the west of the brickworks (site 4944) regarding access reads as follows:-

“The preferred access to  site 4944 is the south via a new junction with Hexham road and through site of Fernhill House (recently acquired by Greenwich Hospital trust and part of site of Throckley primary School (subject to negotiation with Newcastle City Council).  As a minimum a 10 to 15 metre strip along the western boundary of site 4945 could unlock development of site 4944 but preferably more to allow development to front onto access.

As a fallback position, it may be possible to either upgrade Drove Road to the west or create a new access further to the west, through land also in the ownership of Greenwich hospital Trust and in respect of which it has longer term aspirations for housing development.  Both options are likely to require acquisition of existing properties and would be more remote from the centre of the village”

The implications of this MUST be put to Planning officers and local Councillors during the 2nd consultation stage which starts on the 20th and includes public meetings and drop in sessions.

PLEASE ATTEND OUR MEETING – THE REMOVAL OF SALTERS LANE AND PART OF CALLERTON MAKES THROCKLEY MORE VULNERABLE

ACTION IS NECESSARY NOW!!

Come along this Thursday, 26th April, to the Wheatsheaf Hotel at Callerton Parkway for ‘Question Time’ organised by the Newcastle West Greenbelt Protection Campaign. All candidates from the wards most affected by the housing plans have been invited to set out their views. We want them to answer your questions about why this housing is needed and why it could be built despite large brownfield sites in the city standing vacant. A third of council seats are up for grabs, and the way you vote could make a difference. We hope to see you all there at 7pm on Thursday. Click here to download a leaflet.

Click here to read the outcome of the City Council special cabinet meeting yesterday evening at the Civic Centre, to review the recent consultation on the draft One Core Strategy. With thanks to the NW Greenbelt Protection campaign for compiling this report.

Two meetings are to be held between now and the consultation end date (4th Jan):

STOP Update (+ letter writing)
The Banktop Club, Throckley, Wednesday 14th Dec, 5.30pm to 6.30pm.

Drop-in Session With Planners (+ letter writing)
Throckley Community Hall, Monday 19th Dec, 3.00pm to 5.30pm.

Following both meetings, there will be an opportunity for you to write your letter of objection to the Council’s proposals.

As mentioned in previous posts & emails, the Council appear to be placing a great deal of emphasis on the objection letters. They have stated that they require reasons why specific sites should not be part of the One Core Strategy. It has also been said that very few letters of objection have been received to date..

It is possible that if enough letters are received, objecting to specific sites and pointing out why they should not or cannot be developed, that the Council will drop these sites from the plan. Any discounted sites will be announced in February following the consultation.

Please note that you will need to describe the location of the development(s) to which you object. If you are unclear as to which sites are proposed, click here to view a map.

So, if you have not already done so, please get writing or come along to one of the two sessions above. Volunteers will be on hand to help with hand-written or typed letters. You can even dictate your objections and someone will type out a letter out for you to sign. We’ll also provide envelopes and we will even go to the post box for you!

A packed hall at Walbottle School was the venue for a consultation meeting on Monday 28th. The “Usual Suspects” were on the top table, including Cllr. Murison, Harvey Emms and Nicola Woodward (both of the latter, senior planning officers.)

As they have got the format off to a tee now, they try to move it along like clockwork. People were invited to submit written questions which were then gathered together and answered from the top table. Three somewhat testing questions were put in by this writer, and probably many others so it was not surprising that they were not  dealt with, as despite a request from our Action Group to be involved in the process of filtering duplicate questions, the “Usual Suspects” replied that this was inappropriate. Read the rest of this entry »

City Council consultation event. See the plans and ask questions. Walbottle Campus (Performance Hall), Monday 28th November, 6pm to 8pm. Hope to see you there..

Following rumours circulating in early October regarding proposals to build hundreds of new homes on Greenbelt land around Throckley, a local resident posted leaflets through doors last Thursday with details of the scheme. Residents were also invited to attend a meeting at the Bank Top Club in Throckley yesterday evening.

Around 60 residents were in attendance and there were few seats remaining. Despite people having a wide variety of concerns over the scheme, the mood remained fairly calm. However, there was a sense that had supporters of the proposals been present, it would have been a different story. The meeting was predominantly an information sharing excercise (not that we’d been given much) but perhaps the most alarming factor was being told of the astonishingly short 6 week consultation period that we were half-way through already.

Everyone was encouraged to write letters to Newcastle City Council expressing their concerns before the 18th November and email addresses were gathered to keep people informed.