Sunday 16th December 2018
Following several meetings and emails between RoSAG, Taunton Deane and Somerset County Highways it seems that the temporary access Drop Down Road (DDR) in Corkscrew Lane will be required not only for the construction of the first phase of houses but also for Spine Road construction traffic. This is despite winning the bid for £7.2M (subject to scrutiny) from the HIF Marginal Viability Fund. During the planning meeting in Oct 2017 when outline permission was granted both Council members and the public were given assurances that there would be no DDR should the HIF bid be successful. In addtion the land promotors Ptarmigan gave assurances that construction traffic to build the Spine Road would not use the DDR.
In order to highlight these facts RoSAG has written to all the councillors who sat on the two planning committees, Nick Townsend & Caroline Tucker who are the two councillors who represent Staplegrove and Rebecca Pow MP.
Copies of the three letters are detailed below.
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To all councillors who sat on the North Taunton [ Staplegrove ] Development planning committees in September and October 2017
Subject: Should the access road onto Corkscrew Lane be used to help build the spine road ?
Dear Cllr
If you were present at the last Full Council meeting on Tues 11th December 2018 you will be aware how aggrieved local residents feel following what has now transpired regarding building the spine road. I am sure that you must feel very let down that despite the Council’s successful HIF marginal viability bid for £7.2m to forward fund the spine road the developer is also going to be allowed to have a drop down road onto Corkscrew Lane !
Having one’s cake and eating it – and all at the expense of tax payers !
At both the September 2017 and October 2017 planning committees you were unambiguously advised that in the outcome the HIF marginal viability bid being successful there would be no drop down road ! This was stated clearly by the officer at the meeting when advising you prior to voting. It was also clearly written in your “bundle” [see attached summary time line]. You were also assured that the DDR would not be used for any spine road construction traffic [officer’s report Oct 2018 planning cttee page 7 states “ The applicant has also agreed that this temporary link will not at any time provide access for the spine road construction vehicles which will instead use the two new junctions at Staplegrove Road and Kingston Road. “
As I outlined at Full Council our reason for needing the spine road completed up front before building houses is to avoid a possible scenario of only a limited number of houses 499 out of the total 713 being constructed in the west, the developer then leaving the site due to choice or market forces thus creating a cul de sac without proper, suitable access and an already over capacity Corkscrew Lane becoming even more congested !
As local residents without a formal voice we urge you to closely question your colleagues and officers as to why there is this about turn, why [ it seems] you were kept in the dark and why there is allegedly no other option.
In his reply to RoSAG at Full Council your colleague, Cllr Parrish said the drop down road enabled quicker delivery of the spine road! How? This statement was not qualified.
There must be something which can be done ! How can this go unchallenged? If you feel strongly about this please raise it at the highest levels possible.
I attach a summary time line as reminder of some of the main points of this contentious aspect of the approved outline planning approval
Pledges have already been broken – what others may follow suit?
Thank you in anticipation of your serious consideration of this matter
Jackie Calcroft
RoSAG [ Residents of Staplegrove Action Group]
Cc Cllr John Williams, Tim Burton , Amy Cole Somerset Gazette
Summary Planning time line -- Drop Down Road [DDR] onto Corkscrew Lane
Dear Cllrs Townsend and Tucker,
I write on behalf of RoSAG [ Residents of Staplegrove Action Group] requesting your input into following up the now intended use of the drop down road onto Corkscrew Lane for use by spine road construction traffic.
As local residents you are best placed to appreciate our concerns about the use of this unsuitable, rural lane in this way.
We urge you to do all you can to put pressure on the decision makers to honour the pledges given when advising planning committee members in September and October 2017.
I am confident we can rely on you to agree that the best interests of your local community and residents of the wider Taunton must be considered paramount to those of multi million pound development companies.
I look forward to hearing from you on your progress so that I may update our members .
Many thanks.
Kind regards
Jackie Calcroft
Pp RoSAG
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Dear Ms Pow,
I refer to my 3 previous letters to you [ 29 April, 20 October and 1st November] and to which I await replies .
In those letters I requested your support in chasing up the status of Taunton Deane’s successful bid for £7.2m from the HIF marginal viability fund. This money was to enable the building of the North Taunton [ Staplegrove] spine road and negate the need for a drop down road [DDR] onto Corkscrew Lane.
Despite assurances in advice given to the then planning committee members [ September and October 2017] who approved the outline application it now appears that the Council intend to allow the developer to use the DDR as access for spine road construction traffic.
Tim Burton, assistant director for planning, in a letter to myself in February 2018 wrote “the bid was submitted on the basis of up front delivery of the spine road and the deletion of any need for the drop down road as a result”
Given your personal involvement back in November 2017 when you visited the site with the then Housing and Planning minister Alok Sharma and met with some local residents, RoSAG’s members would like to hear your understanding of how this £7.2m is intended to be used.
I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Jackie Calcroft
Pp RoSAG
Thursday 25th October 2018
One year after Outline Approval was granted.....
We still await the Detail Application
RoSAG has continued to keep the Staplegrove Development in high profile with TDBC officers, councillors and also with our local MP.
We have regularly attended TDBC and Shadow Authority meetings regardless of the relevance of agenda items to Staplegrove as this is a means of “informally catching” officers and councillors to make our point --- “ No Drop Down Road --- spine road before houses”.
Most of our energies have gone into addressing the issue relating to the drop down road onto Corkscrew Lane, the £7.2million funding (see April 2018 update) and building of the spine road plus the continuation of the spine road to link up with Nerrols Drive (an outer distribution road to alleviate local traffic congestion). In June RoSAG representatives along with the chairman of Staplegrove Parish Council attended a SCC transport and strategy meeting. This was followed up with a meeting in September hosted by Staplegrove Parish Council to discuss concerns over highways with representatives from SCC and TDBC. We are currently waiting for feedback from SCC concerning this meeting.
Alongside this we have been in constant communication with Cllr John Williams, leader of TDBC, since full Council in July when we raised the question regarding the £7.2m Govt funding for the spine road and the status of legal agreements with the land promoters .
We have also sent a further “reminder” to Rebecca Pow M.P. asking for her support to seek intervention from her relevant Govt colleague to speed up the actual payment of the “promised” £7.2million pounds into TDBC coffers to enhance their legal negotiations with land promoters before we get to an application for detailed planning permission !
We understand that Ptarmigan (for the west side) are the land promoters still pushing ahead to seal legal agreements with The Council. PMAM (east side) are very much in the background.
We have heard that there is most likely one large national developer interested in the purchase of the entire west side of the site.
Watch this space !
Friday 27th April 2018
Further to the report below (Thursday 1st Feb) we understand that the bid for the £7.2 million funding is still being scrutinised. RoSAG has written to TDBC to express concerns that should the funding bid fail then the drop down road (DDR) will still go ahead. After all, the outline application approved this access (subject to Section 106 agreement) last October. We will report again when we have received an update from TDBC.
You will recall that RoSAG sent a letter to SCC Highways at the beginning of December 2017 raising concerns about the lack of lighting at the proposed junction of the drop down road and Corkscrew Lane. Given that the DDR might still be built we sent a reminder at the beginning of this year but have still had no reply.
Thursday 1st February 2018
We understand that funding for the spine road has been confirmed. This will be provided by the HIF (Housing Infrastructure Fund) This will ensure that there will be no need for a drop down road at Corkscrew lane.
Friday 19th January 2018
Take a look at the draft 20 year plan for transport in Taunton "Connecting our Garden Town"
Get an insight as to how Staplegrove and other developments will integrate into the transport network. (Go to chapter 6 once the document has loaded)
This will be debated on Tuesday 30th January at 10am (Scrutiny for Policies and Place Committee) Luttrell Room County Hall Taunton. Members of the public can attend these meetings.
Following several meetings and emails between RoSAG, Taunton Deane and Somerset County Highways it seems that the temporary access Drop Down Road (DDR) in Corkscrew Lane will be required not only for the construction of the first phase of houses but also for Spine Road construction traffic. This is despite winning the bid for £7.2M (subject to scrutiny) from the HIF Marginal Viability Fund. During the planning meeting in Oct 2017 when outline permission was granted both Council members and the public were given assurances that there would be no DDR should the HIF bid be successful. In addtion the land promotors Ptarmigan gave assurances that construction traffic to build the Spine Road would not use the DDR.
In order to highlight these facts RoSAG has written to all the councillors who sat on the two planning committees, Nick Townsend & Caroline Tucker who are the two councillors who represent Staplegrove and Rebecca Pow MP.
Copies of the three letters are detailed below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To all councillors who sat on the North Taunton [ Staplegrove ] Development planning committees in September and October 2017
Subject: Should the access road onto Corkscrew Lane be used to help build the spine road ?
Dear Cllr
If you were present at the last Full Council meeting on Tues 11th December 2018 you will be aware how aggrieved local residents feel following what has now transpired regarding building the spine road. I am sure that you must feel very let down that despite the Council’s successful HIF marginal viability bid for £7.2m to forward fund the spine road the developer is also going to be allowed to have a drop down road onto Corkscrew Lane !
Having one’s cake and eating it – and all at the expense of tax payers !
At both the September 2017 and October 2017 planning committees you were unambiguously advised that in the outcome the HIF marginal viability bid being successful there would be no drop down road ! This was stated clearly by the officer at the meeting when advising you prior to voting. It was also clearly written in your “bundle” [see attached summary time line]. You were also assured that the DDR would not be used for any spine road construction traffic [officer’s report Oct 2018 planning cttee page 7 states “ The applicant has also agreed that this temporary link will not at any time provide access for the spine road construction vehicles which will instead use the two new junctions at Staplegrove Road and Kingston Road. “
As I outlined at Full Council our reason for needing the spine road completed up front before building houses is to avoid a possible scenario of only a limited number of houses 499 out of the total 713 being constructed in the west, the developer then leaving the site due to choice or market forces thus creating a cul de sac without proper, suitable access and an already over capacity Corkscrew Lane becoming even more congested !
As local residents without a formal voice we urge you to closely question your colleagues and officers as to why there is this about turn, why [ it seems] you were kept in the dark and why there is allegedly no other option.
In his reply to RoSAG at Full Council your colleague, Cllr Parrish said the drop down road enabled quicker delivery of the spine road! How? This statement was not qualified.
There must be something which can be done ! How can this go unchallenged? If you feel strongly about this please raise it at the highest levels possible.
I attach a summary time line as reminder of some of the main points of this contentious aspect of the approved outline planning approval
Pledges have already been broken – what others may follow suit?
Thank you in anticipation of your serious consideration of this matter
Jackie Calcroft
RoSAG [ Residents of Staplegrove Action Group]
Cc Cllr John Williams, Tim Burton , Amy Cole Somerset Gazette
Summary Planning time line -- Drop Down Road [DDR] onto Corkscrew Lane
- Dec 15 2015 Full Council – cannot support DDR
- 24 June 2016 Ptarmigan represenatation to planning dept– [DDR] “It will not at anytime provide access for the spine road construction vehicles which will instead use the 2 new junctions at Staplegrove Road and Kingston Rd
- 20 July 2016 Ptarmigan viability report – cost of funding spine road and percentage of affordable housing raised.
- Nov 2016 Lisa McCaffrey “it must be a matter for the Local Planning Authority to determine if the benefits outweigh the negatives!”
- Sept 20 2017 1st planning cttee - H Vittery [ SCC Highways] speaks re DDR short term [no mention of any construction traffic] access for housing
- Sept 20 2017 - officer’s report item 6 page 154 “ Members are again reminded [see reference in earlier section] that if the Council is successful with its current bids for funding from the Housing Infrastructure Fund [ see relevant later section of the report], then it is intended that the money would be used to forward fund the spine road and the temporary access off Corkscrew Lane would therefore not therefore be required.”
- Oct 2017 2nd planning cttee mtg – officers report to members page 7 “It should also be noted here that if the Council is successful with its current bids for funding from the Housing Infrastructure Fund, then it is intended that the money would be used to forward fund the spine road and the proposed temporary access off Corkscrew Lane would not therefore be required. The Applicant supports the HIF application.”
- Craig Neilson [Ptarmigan] presentation Oct 2017 planning cttee mtg “ All of the construction traffic for the road will be banned. It will only be for construction traffic for the housing”
- Oct 30 2017 TB to JW to Cllr TD– “ Yes I can confirm that the DDR will not be required in the event of the HIF being successful”
- Nov 2017 MP Rebecca Pow visits Corkscrew Lane DDR site with then Minister for Housing and Planning, Alok Sharma to demonstrate unsuitability and support bid for £7.2m funding
- Feb 20 2018 TB to JC “ the bid was submitted on the basis of upfront delivery of the spine road and the deletion of any need for the drop down road as a result. The financial benefit from the award is to be invested in the scheme to maximise the delivery of affordable housing”
- April 25 2018 JW letter to JC – “---discussions re west are at advanced stage The S106 has had to be drafted largely on basis of no HIF award -----When this is clearer a separate agreement [ outside of the formal planning process] will need to be agreed------“ the right of appeal is a statutory one---“ However I can assure you that the Council would, in these circumstances, wish to defend its decision in a robust fashion and I would expect SCC to support any appeal in the same way”
- October 1 2018 HV to TB – “Whilst I appreciate that Ptarmigan appear to have committed to a position regarding construction traffic the Highway Authority always anticipated that an element of construction traffic would need to use the temporary access”
- Dec 11th 2018 Full Council meeting Cllr RP responding to public questions Three years after saying they are unable to support DDR onto Corkscrew Lane and with no update about a change of pledge to either electors or [ it seems] fellow councillors the Council demonstrates supporting a DDR
Dear Cllrs Townsend and Tucker,
I write on behalf of RoSAG [ Residents of Staplegrove Action Group] requesting your input into following up the now intended use of the drop down road onto Corkscrew Lane for use by spine road construction traffic.
As local residents you are best placed to appreciate our concerns about the use of this unsuitable, rural lane in this way.
We urge you to do all you can to put pressure on the decision makers to honour the pledges given when advising planning committee members in September and October 2017.
I am confident we can rely on you to agree that the best interests of your local community and residents of the wider Taunton must be considered paramount to those of multi million pound development companies.
I look forward to hearing from you on your progress so that I may update our members .
Many thanks.
Kind regards
Jackie Calcroft
Pp RoSAG
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Ms Pow,
I refer to my 3 previous letters to you [ 29 April, 20 October and 1st November] and to which I await replies .
In those letters I requested your support in chasing up the status of Taunton Deane’s successful bid for £7.2m from the HIF marginal viability fund. This money was to enable the building of the North Taunton [ Staplegrove] spine road and negate the need for a drop down road [DDR] onto Corkscrew Lane.
Despite assurances in advice given to the then planning committee members [ September and October 2017] who approved the outline application it now appears that the Council intend to allow the developer to use the DDR as access for spine road construction traffic.
Tim Burton, assistant director for planning, in a letter to myself in February 2018 wrote “the bid was submitted on the basis of up front delivery of the spine road and the deletion of any need for the drop down road as a result”
Given your personal involvement back in November 2017 when you visited the site with the then Housing and Planning minister Alok Sharma and met with some local residents, RoSAG’s members would like to hear your understanding of how this £7.2m is intended to be used.
I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Jackie Calcroft
Pp RoSAG
Thursday 25th October 2018
One year after Outline Approval was granted.....
We still await the Detail Application
RoSAG has continued to keep the Staplegrove Development in high profile with TDBC officers, councillors and also with our local MP.
We have regularly attended TDBC and Shadow Authority meetings regardless of the relevance of agenda items to Staplegrove as this is a means of “informally catching” officers and councillors to make our point --- “ No Drop Down Road --- spine road before houses”.
Most of our energies have gone into addressing the issue relating to the drop down road onto Corkscrew Lane, the £7.2million funding (see April 2018 update) and building of the spine road plus the continuation of the spine road to link up with Nerrols Drive (an outer distribution road to alleviate local traffic congestion). In June RoSAG representatives along with the chairman of Staplegrove Parish Council attended a SCC transport and strategy meeting. This was followed up with a meeting in September hosted by Staplegrove Parish Council to discuss concerns over highways with representatives from SCC and TDBC. We are currently waiting for feedback from SCC concerning this meeting.
Alongside this we have been in constant communication with Cllr John Williams, leader of TDBC, since full Council in July when we raised the question regarding the £7.2m Govt funding for the spine road and the status of legal agreements with the land promoters .
We have also sent a further “reminder” to Rebecca Pow M.P. asking for her support to seek intervention from her relevant Govt colleague to speed up the actual payment of the “promised” £7.2million pounds into TDBC coffers to enhance their legal negotiations with land promoters before we get to an application for detailed planning permission !
We understand that Ptarmigan (for the west side) are the land promoters still pushing ahead to seal legal agreements with The Council. PMAM (east side) are very much in the background.
We have heard that there is most likely one large national developer interested in the purchase of the entire west side of the site.
Watch this space !
Friday 27th April 2018
Further to the report below (Thursday 1st Feb) we understand that the bid for the £7.2 million funding is still being scrutinised. RoSAG has written to TDBC to express concerns that should the funding bid fail then the drop down road (DDR) will still go ahead. After all, the outline application approved this access (subject to Section 106 agreement) last October. We will report again when we have received an update from TDBC.
You will recall that RoSAG sent a letter to SCC Highways at the beginning of December 2017 raising concerns about the lack of lighting at the proposed junction of the drop down road and Corkscrew Lane. Given that the DDR might still be built we sent a reminder at the beginning of this year but have still had no reply.
Thursday 1st February 2018
We understand that funding for the spine road has been confirmed. This will be provided by the HIF (Housing Infrastructure Fund) This will ensure that there will be no need for a drop down road at Corkscrew lane.
Friday 19th January 2018
Take a look at the draft 20 year plan for transport in Taunton "Connecting our Garden Town"
Get an insight as to how Staplegrove and other developments will integrate into the transport network. (Go to chapter 6 once the document has loaded)
This will be debated on Tuesday 30th January at 10am (Scrutiny for Policies and Place Committee) Luttrell Room County Hall Taunton. Members of the public can attend these meetings.