Core Strategy Issues & Options

Comment

Representation ID: 18717

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

Themes and key issues are too broad. There should be a separate theme
"the future of villages and how best to secure that future."

It is of such importance as to require being singled out.

Need to protect the traditional character of the villages. The extent to which villages have lost their traditional character and sense of place should be identified as a main characteristic.

Include a reference to ‾securing sustainability’. Ensure that the future of the District is driven by the desire for economic, social and environmental wellbeing.

Comment

Representation ID: 18718

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

Essential that proper account is taken of which areas remain a precious oasis of tranquillity. Their loss would be tragic and irreversible. Counties closer to London should sound a warning that the relentless pressure for change, if mismanaged, can erode, initially imperceptibly, the essential qualities of such areas, until they are lost forever.

The absolute rate of growth and its management should be approached correctly. That may involve a more sophisticated approach to the balance of development than is found in the present area strategies.

Comment

Representation ID: 18719

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

In relation to Aim 3, it is critical that the concept of sustainability is correctly understood and applied rather than being skewed in favour of those sustainability concerns arising from traffic generation.

In relation to Aim 1, it is critical that:

(i) More than lip service is paid to securing new development of the desired local character.
(ii) It is made clear that enhancing the environment includes being vigilant

(a) To redress past mistakes which have harmed the environment and quality and character of settlements
(b) To identify means of securing such redress not limited to the use of public powers and funds.

Comment

Representation ID: 18720

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

It is agreed that making housing provision for young people, families and the elderly is important, as well as making available the everyday services which such people desire.

Mechanisms need to be devised to subsidise such services (possibly by making their provision part of an arrangement involving subsidising housing) so that services which have been withdrawn will be restored and maintained.

Comment

Representation ID: 18721

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

(a) The inadequacy of the A21 is a major deterrent to investment in the District.
(b) There is no excuse for the continuing delay to the dualling of the road
(i) between the A21(T) and the Pembury bypass
(ii) between the Pembury bypass and the Lamberhurst bypass
(iii) between the Lamberhurst bypass and Flimwell. The recent narrowing of the dualled section immediately north of Flimwell should be reversed.

In improving the A21 it will be important to monitor and control the potential impact of such improved accessibility to and from London upon the remoteness and tranquillity of the countryside between the A21 and the sea.

Comment

Representation ID: 18722

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

The theme considered in this section relates to the quality of the built and natural environment. With regard to the built environment, there is undue complacency about its quality (see, for example, paragraph 3.19). Much damage has been done in the towns and villages by permitting poorly located and/or inappropriately designed development. Such development should not be conserved; indeed enhancement must, in large measure, be dependent upon its removal and replacement, where appropriate, with development of acceptable quality.

Comment

Representation ID: 18723

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

Due to limited resources for survey work, national, regional and county policies cannot be based upon an intimate knowledge of the functioning of an individual District. Such policies must be interpreted and applied at a District level in a manner that does not frustrate the legitimate aims of the District. With the provision of housing in villages and market towns it is important to recognise that some additional housing may be a legitimate means of enabling not only the meeting of local needs for housing and local services, but also the improvement of the environmental quality of the village.

Comment

Representation ID: 18724

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

It is critical that housing projections should not be allowed to become a justification for a level of growth which allows no flexibility and thereby frustrates other desirable objectives.

Comment

Representation ID: 18725

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

It is appropriate to have an overall vision for rural areas.

At the present time development limits in the adopted Local Plan have not been guided by the correct vision. In particular:

(i) no attempt has been made to identify those characteristics of individual villages which harm their appearance and character; and
(ii) no consideration has been given to how to redress such harm.

Comment

Representation ID: 18726

Received: 08/02/2007

Respondent: English Village Projects

Agent: Evison & Company

It follows that Option 4 is the correct option for the distribution of new development in rural areas, at least to the extent necessary to enable the harmful features of such villages to be remedied.