New plans - what's really changed?

Our first impressions of Persimmons' new plan for Bassetts Farm.

On 17th October Persimmon presented a revision to its proposal for the Bassetts Farm development to a Parish Council Planning Meeting in the Village Hall, and on 18th October they had an exhibition of these plans for public viewing - the same material is also on the web at https://horsmonden.consultationonline.co.uk/proposals/ Over 100 residents attended the PC meeting, where the the head of Planning for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Carlos Hone, and the Planning Case officer, Jennifer Begeman were also present.

So, what can we observe from the limited amount of information presented so far?

• The previous application was for 163 houses and this one is for 140. It's better, but this is still a great number of houses for a small village to absorb on one site, and we believe it will still significantly affect the character and amenity of the village.
  

• The eastern part of the site (to the right of the footpath going up the hill) previously had plans for 47 houses - and would have looked like a new settlement from the other side of the valley (which is in the AONB). This has been recognised as a blot on the landscape and has now been reduced to 22 houses on this part of the site. This is an improvement.
  

• The old Pack-House area (the brownfield site nearest Goudhurst Road) has planning permission granted for 20 houses and work has begun. Previously it was proposed to have 18 houses and the Medical Centre on it. But Persimmon have decided - for their own reasons - to scrap this and build the 20 houses, moving the Medical Centre to the top of the hill next to Back Lane. The Medical Centre's new site is outside the development area altogether on land designated by the Local Plan as open space. This seems to be a simple land grab: TWBC require the Medical Centre to be sited within the development area and by placing it there Persimmon is making more space for houses.
  

• The western area (to the left of the footpath behind Bassetts Villas, currently orchards) was previously proposed to accommodate 98 houses. It still has 98 houses on it, except now the houses are even closer together to give space for a “Green Finger” in the middle of the site - presumably in some kind of nod to biodiversity, green space or character.
  

• As before, the plan has 21 houses sitting outside the building limit on land designated in the new Borough Local Plan as Open Space for community use.
  

• This building limit, exceeded by Persimmon, has been set out in the new Local Plan, recognising that this is a highly sensitive landscape. It is not an 'indicative' limit as Persimmon are trying to suggest in their visuals.
  

Below is Persimmons' revised layout. Take a look at how close together the houses are and imagine cars parked in front of each of them.

Planning guidelines say that a site's location and its proximity to open countryside must be balanced against making good use of development land and this does not appear to be balanced. The housing is denser here than it is elsewhere in the village - and it should be less so as the village gives way to the countryside.

• In the presentation and the exhibition Persimmon told us that there were no 5 bedroom houses in their previous plan, but there are in their new plan. This is plainly incorrect. There were at least 18 in the first plan, so why make this claim?
  

• Persimmon claim to have safeguarded part of the site for the expansion of the Primary School (to help provide the much needed spaces for local children) but we have yet to see any evidence of this being the case.
  

• It is unclear how the proposed 'enhancement' to Back Lane, referred to in Persimmon's exhibition materials to provide improved access to the new site, will really work in practice. It's something to keep an eye on.
  

Still not the right plan for Horsmonden

So, the only things that we can see are really different in this proposal seem to be a reduction of the eastern blot on the land scape, and moving the Medical Centre to open space land so that the central housing estate can remain as closely packed as before.

Persimmon have reduced the overall number of houses and introduced some bungalows in response to local pressure, but is it really enough? With 140 houses and the Medical Centre there will still be well over 1,000 new vehicle journeys per day coming and going at the Goudhurst Road junction, and traffic concerns, infrastructure inadequacies and the ability of the village to retain its amenity in the face of such a large development are issues that remain as significant as ever.

We will have to see what more the details of the new application will tell us to see whether and to what extent everyone's previous objections have been truly addressed.

At this point, we're not feeling confident.