Object

Main Modifications to the Proposed Submission Core Strategy

Representation ID: 21401

Received: 26/09/2013

Respondent: Mr Robert Jones

Legally compliant? No

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

Representation Summary:

MODIFICATION UNSOUND (ROBERTSBRIDGE).

A further increase of 36 in the number of new homes proposed for Robertsbridge fails the key test in paragraph 6.7.7 of the Sustainability Appraisal published by Rother District Council in July 2013.

It also fails to meet the requirements set out in Objective 12 of this document in relation to Rural Villages such as Robertsbridge.

Please refer to the full representation above for further details.

MODIFICATION NOT LEGALLY COMPLIANT (ROBERTSBRIDGE).

The modification is not consistent with policies set out in The Sustainable Community Strategy for Rother.

Please refer to the full representation above for further details.

Full text:

MODIFICATION UNSOUND (ROBERTSBRIDGE).

If 155 new homes are built in Robertsbridge (an increase of 36 on the previous proposal of 119), there will have been an increase of over 40% in both the number of homes and the population since 1991.

The rural charm of Robertsbridge will be diminished where new homes are built on high visability,actively farmed, greenfield land in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

In addition, traffic congestion and queues in shops and for services such as the Post Office will increase further, with road accidents being more likely.These problems will be compounded by the reopening of the steam railway line to Tenterden in due course.

The proposed figure of 155 therefore fails the key test in paragraph 6.7.7 of Rother District Council's Sustainability Appraisal published in July 2013, because it does not reflect "the vision to retain...individual character and qualities, as well as support local services and community life".

The building of further homes would also increase the potential risk of flooding in Robertsbridge, because there would be less ground to absorb water and it would run off hard surfaces faster than would be the case with land.

Although flood defences were built following the very bad floods in 2000, these were only built to protect against a 100 year event, whereas the current standard is a 200 year event.

The proposal to build so many more homes in Robertsbridge does not therefore meet the requirements of Objective 12 set out in Rother District Council's Sustainability Appraisal published in July 2013, "to minimise the risk of flooding and resulting detriment to people's property".

MODIFICATION NOT LEGALLY COMPLIANT(ROBERTSBRIDGE).

In Chapter 1 of the Sustainable Community Strategy for Rother, the protection of our natural environments, including actively farmed, greenfield land within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is correctly identified as a priority, but the proposal to build so many new homes in Robertsbridge is not consistent with this.

The Sustainable Community Strategy for Rother also commendably identifies a vision of reducing "the impact of traffic on people and places". The proposal to build so many new homes in Robertsbridge is not consistent with this.

Finally, this document also rightly identifies a vision to ensure that people are confident of their safety, but increasing the potential risk of flooding is not consistent with this either.

Photgraphic supporting evidence was submitted alongside the representations and can be found using the following links:

http://www.rother.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=20606
http://www.rother.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=20607
http://www.rother.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=20608
http://www.rother.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=20609
http://www.rother.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=20610
http://www.rother.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=20611