The Parish Council and Bassetts Farm Forum have now submitted consultation comments to TWBC on Persimmon’s 3rd Amendment to the Bassetts Application.
You can read both objections here. [NB: There is planned downtime of TWBC's public access site from 9am Saturday 8 February until 9am Monday 10 February]
Since the only amendment proposed was a change of emergency access from one dangerous one to an equally unsuitable one (leaving features of the previous site in the design), the comments centre around this point and summarise the many other outstanding issues that the PC, the BFF and many of you have been making for some time.
Additionally, the objections refute Persimmon's suggestion to the Planning Officers that any breach of the Horsmonden Neighbourhood Plan is irrelevant and cannot be relied upon for objection.
In so doing, they have conceded in writing that they haven’t followed its policies and nor do they care to.
This is a Planning Policy issue which the PC have researched.
When deciding whether to grant a planning application or not, the elected Councillors on the TWBC Planning Committee must weigh up the balance of the arguments for and against – with an open mind.
TWBC have not finalised their new Borough Local Plan to drive planning and development decisions due to the debates over Capel and Paddock Wood. They only have 3.9 years of Housing Land Supply, which is below the minimum of 5 years now required.
Persimmon are arguing that the 'tilted balance' in favour of sustainable development defined in the government's National Planning Policy (NPPF) must therefore prevail.
But with all the objections made, how can this application for Bassetts Farm be considered sustainable? Persimmon have pushed so many boundaries that it is certainly not economically or socially sustainable according to the standards outlined in the NPPF.
The NPPF also says that if there is an up-to-date Neighbourhood Plan which includes policies and allocations to cover its local housing needs, then the balance is tilted against any application that conflicts with it.
While it suits Persimmon to suggest that the Horsmonden Neighbourhood Plan does not include policies and allocations to cover local housing needs, this is patently UNTRUE. The Horsmonden Neighbourhood Plan contains researched information on the housing needs of the parish, and ratified a new village building limit (LBD) to accommodate the sites allocated for development in Horsmonden in the TWBC draft Local Plan. It even goes so far as to state that development within the LBD on these sites will be supported in principle. We all see clearly how far outside the lines Persimmon have coloured in, in flagrant disregard for our Plan - a very reasonable plan which was lawfully executed, inspected and adopted.
Further, as the Parish Council continues to point out, the design of the proposed development in no way observes the design guides laid out in the HNP.
And more. Both TWBC and Persimmon have failed to follow the NPPF design review requirements requiring the effective engagement of the local community. This simply has not happened. How can they claim to have engaged? We have encountered nothing but indifference at best, contempt and strong-arm tactics at worst.
The Councillors on the Planning Committee must not be bullied into thinking that the HNP and all the objections to this application can simply be ignored. To do so would be morally wrong, undemocratic and unlawful.
If all applications submitted are waved through because TWBC doesn't have a sufficient housing land supply, then developers will have carte blanche to build whatever they like. Our villages will be designed by people driven by profits, with no interest in or regard for our heritage or communities.
Our rights, those of the voting residents, will be ridden over roughshod and beautiful, rural Kent will be blighted for ever. All the checks and balances intended to protect it, such as the HNP, could, it seems, become moot.
We cannot allow this to happen.
Please take action
We believe this application could go to committee as early as 5 March.
Is the HNP to be ignored?
If you feel as strongly about this as we do, you may wish to write to any of our elected Councillors sitting on the Planning Committee (many of whom are LibDem) and/or our Lib Dem MP, Mike Martin. You can find their email addresses in the attachment below.
Planning Committee date
Still unconfirmed, but could be 5 March or 2 April. We will keep you posted.
6.30pm Council Chamber, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1RS
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