24.11.09 Display panels used at the Kelly's Meadow Consultation (14/15.11.09)

24.11.09 Colour Display panels used at the above consultation

15.11.09 What you need to do NOW - more info

12.11.09 Facts and Questions re the development of Kelly's Meadow - more info

12.11.09 Points regarding the original Appeal Decision - more info

12.11.09 Report by Savills - Provisional Summary of Access Issues

12.11.09 Savills - North East Visibility

12.11.09 Savills - South West Visibility Plan and Long Section

02.11.09 Update - see below

17.08.09 Update - see below

13.01.09 Kellys Meadow is on the Agenda for the next Parish Council meeting

12.01.09 Funding details provided - more info

27.11.08 Kellys Meadow is on the Agenda for the next Parish Council meeting

05.11.08 Bury St Edmunds Answers document added

Update 12 November 2009

Please read all the latest documents in conjunction with each other as listed above dated 12 November 2009.

Members of the Steering Committee plus other volunteers will be available in the Pavilion for the duration of the meeting on the 14th and 15th to provide infomation and to answer any questions you may have.  Your support would be very welcome.

Kelly’s Meadow Steering Committee : update 2 November 2009 

Since the last update in August the Mediation Service, appointed and funded by St. Edmundsbury Borough Council, has concluded it’s business and as we anticipated has achieved nothing of consequence.

The original scheme formulated by the Borough has now become a private scheme prepared by a publicly funded planning consultant on behalf of the owners of Kelly’s Meadow and differs only in minor detail from the original scheme.

The six extra pitches are still planned for, augmented now with two additional temporary caravans allowing for twenty in all, the same public funding is planned to be spent on broadly the same infrastructure on a ten year sale and lease back agreement after which the ownership of the whole site will revert to the owner occupiers.

The planning authority will be asked to set aside the planning restrictions imposed when the original planning approval was granted on appeal in 2006, which the Borough have not thought fit to enforce, and a full planning application will be sought to implement the present plans.

Before this takes place, all local residents of Wickhambrook and other nearby parishes will be invited to attend a Public Consultation Exhibition of the plans for the scheme at Wickhambrook Memorial Social Centre on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th NOVEMBER from 2.00pm to 6.00pm on each day when the Planning Consultant and his advisers will be present to listen to the views of residents and to answer any questions.

Subsequently, the planning applications will be submitted to St. Edmundsbury Borough Council for determination.

WE URGE YOU ALL TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY THIS PUBLIC CONSULTATION EXHIBITION WILL PROVIDE
TO EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS

All our efforts to resist this inappropriate over development are of course privately funded – by you - and while thanking those who have already supported our efforts financially, we do urge those who have not done so to do so now, to help ensure that our efforts do not fail for want of continuing to enjoy the best professional advice. As before, all cheques should be sent, payable to Kelly’s Meadow Fund, to:

Kelly’s Meadow Fund
PO Box 62
NEWMARKET
Suffolk CB8 9YH

Further information will be posted on the website when it is available; meanwhile we urge you all to continue making your feelings known both to your local Councillors  and to Councillor Mrs. Sara Mildmay-White who has responsibility for this matter at the Borough Council. 

Kelly’s Meadow Steering Committee : update 17th August 2009 

The local authorities plans to develop Kelly’s Meadow have remained on hold these past six months while the Steering Committee, and others who raised concerns about this development, have been involved in meetings with the Mediation Service appointed to consider objections.

At the same time the private planning consultant, also appointed at public expense by St. Edmundsbury Borough Council, is now preparing a planning application on behalf of the owner of Kelly’s Meadow and we anticipate this being submitted for consideration by the planning committee this October.

We feel that both the mediation process, when concluded, and this private application will not result in any worthwhile improvement as the six additional pitches, for which Government funding was approved in principal, remain central to the plans and we therefore shall continue to fight.

It is a matter of regret that the owner of Kelly’s Meadow, and her family, are being put in an impossible situation by an insensitive scheme whose main concern is to satisfy a Government directive that additional housing for gypsies/travellers be provided, irrespective of where they may presently be resident and with little or no regard for the present occupants of this site or our local community who have hitherto enjoyed a peaceful life together.

In the absence of a change of Government and a withdrawal of this funding, the matter is likely to be resolved this autumn and we hope that everyone who has strong feelings about this redevelopment in the Green Belt will make themselves heard and their presence felt. We will of course advise you when this planning application is lodged. 

All our efforts are of course privately funded – by you - and while thanking those who have already supported our efforts financially, we do urge those who have not done so to do so now, to help ensure that our efforts do not fail for want of continuing to enjoy the best professional advice. As before, all cheques should be sent, payable to Kelly’s Meadow Fund, to:

Kelly’s Meadow Fund
PO Box 62
NEWMARKET
Suffolk CB8 9YH

Further information will be posted on the website when it is available; meanwhile we urge you all to continue making your feelings known both to your local Councillor  and to Councillor Mrs. Sara Mildmay-White who has responsibility for this matter at the Borough Council. 

Kelly’s Meadow Steering Committee : update 24th August 2009  

Since the beginning of this year the steering committee have commissioned an independent  TRAFFIC SURVEY to establish vehicle speeds on the A143 adjacent to the access to Kelly’s Meadow and the results are now being evaluated. They will be submitted to Suffolk County Council Highways and will form one aspect of our objections to any planning application which comes forward for  approval.

Meanwhile St. Edmundsbury have been told by the East of England Regional Assembly that a further five pitches (making twenty in all) may have to be found and sited within the borough. The steering committee are actively pursuing an alternative site for consideration to fulfil the council’s obligations.

Government funding is conditional on a planning application being approved for the development of Kelly’s Meadow and St. Edmundsbury Borough Council have approved the appointment of independent conflict management consultants, the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDG) to chair discussion between the borough strategic housing team and objectors who have raised concerns about their plans. The £15,000 cost of this is to be publicly funded and likewise a further £10,000 is to be spent on planning consultancy to assist the owners of Kelly’s Meadow prepare their planning application; the costs of both to be born by the capital allocation for affordable housing.  The steering committee have been invited and will attend the management consultation discussions which commence in March.

All our efforts are of course privately funded – by you, and while thanking those who have already supported our efforts financially, we do urge those who have not done so to do so now, to help ensure that our efforts do not fail for want of continuing to enjoy the best professional advice. As before, all cheques should be sent, payable to Kelly’s Meadow Fund, to:

Kelly’s Meadow Fund
PO Box 62
NEWMARKET
Suffolk CB8 9YH

Further information will be posted on the website when it is available; meanwhile we urge you all to continue making your feelings known both to your local Councillor  and to Councillor Mrs. Sara Mildmay-White who has responsibility for this matter at the Borough Council. 

Kelly’s Meadow Steering Committee : update 30th December 2008

After many weeks of delay and postponement St. Edmundsbury Borough Council announced last week that their bid for Government funding has been successful and plans for the development of Kelly’s Meadow to allow a further five pitches will now proceed subject to planning approval being given.

Since the wide support residents of Wickhambrook expressed at the Parish Council Meeting in September of their objections to this scheme, the Steering Committee have continued lobbying where and whenever possible. At various meetings since further strong support has been forthcoming – not least from our Member of Parliament, Richard Spring. His commitment is ongoing and we hope will bear fruit.

Anticipating that Government funding would be forthcoming, professional advice has been sought and retained to represent your views at the future planning hearing which will be our only opportunity to prevent the Boroughs’ scheme being implemented.

Many have indicated they are prepared to help fund this and in order that we are fully prepared to fight the planning application whenever it is presented for approval, we urgently invite any and everyone who is prepared to add their support to give whatever they can.

If you are prepared to help please send a cheque, however little, payable to Kellys Meadow Fund and send it to:

Kellys Meadow Fund
PO Box 62
NEWMARKET
Suffolk
CB8 9YH

Further information will be posted on the website when it is available; meanwhile we urge you all to continue making your feelings known both to your local Councillor and to Councillor Mrs. Sara Mildmay-White who has responsibility for this matter at the Borough Council.

Kelly’s Meadow Working Party : update 1st October 2008

We were delighted to see so many attend the Parish Council Meeting on 25th September – in excess of 200 we believe - suggesting that many within Wickhambrook and the immediate vicinity, share our concerns for our village and the opposition to St. Edmundsbury Borough Council’s plan to enlarge the Kelly’s Meadow site.

For those unable to attend, and those that did, we urge you to keep up the pressure and continue writing to your Councillors, to Carole Herries and to Sara Mildmay-White who have responsibility for the Council’s plan. Their addresses and email addresses appear elsewhere on this site and we hope you will use them.

Wickhambrook Parish Council is urging the Borough Council to arrange and attend another open session in the village where they can take further note of our opinions and we can raise further questions about the development. Further details of this meeting, if arranged, will be posted on the website and circulated throughout Wickhambrook.

Meanwhile efforts are being made to arrange banking facilities for those prepared to make donations to fund proper legal representation as and when the Borough’s plans are put before their Planning Committee for consideration. This will be the only opportunity we shall have to contest the Borough’s plans and it is vital that funding is in place to afford the best possible representation when the time comes.

At present the Borough’s application for government funding to develop Kelly’s Meadow is still to be approved, or refused. If approved, we understand that the Borough will submit plans for their Planning Committee’s approval any time in the following two or three months and we must be prepared to act quickly whenever that happens.

If any one comes upon information which may help us please get in touch. It is in the area of the Borough’s past performance of their enforcement of planning conditions and adherence to planning guidelines where we feel they can be successfully challenged. Emotion is not enough; hard facts and wide public support are the means to achieve our objective.

18.09.08
KELLY’S MEADOW – THE FACTS
From Wickhambrook Parish Council and Steering Committee

It is vital we obtain your views on the proposed extension to Kelly’s meadow prior to any planning application.

Is there a need for an extended site to be established?
Will it have an adverse impact upon the amenities or nearby occupiers?
Will it detract from the open and rural character of the countryside?
Are you aware the above conditions form part of the council’s planning policy H8?
We do not believe the community has been given all the facts regarding the council’s proposal. We therefore make you aware that:
The extension to the site would be for up to 18 caravans ( at present )
The council are proposing to spend £737,945.00 of tax payer’s money on the site for one family.
The council are paying the family who presently own and occupy the site agricultural price for the land.
The family would then lease the site from the council who will after 10 years give ownership back to the family.
The site would be managed by the family for members of their own extended family.
Would this be controllable and what happens after 10 years?
The safety concern regarding traffic movement onto a busy road near the brow of a hill and the visual impact of the access

If you oppose the proposed extension to the site please sign our petition,
we invite you to attend Parish Council meetings, next meeting 25th September 7.30 at the Village Hall.

Express your views to :-
Carole Herries
St Edmundsbury Borough Council
Borough Offices
Angel Hill
Bury St Edmunds
IP33 1XB
Tel No, 01284 757603
Email carole.herries@stedsbc.gov.uk

(OTHER ADDRESSES HERE)