Rabley Wood developer GreenSquare called to clarify ‘confusion’ over amended plans

GreenSquare Homes, developers of Marlborough’s Rabley Wood View, are under fire from local residents and Town Councillors for their multitude of changes to the approved development and reported lack of clarity in response to questions regarding such amendments and the resulting effect on the conditions stipulated by the Planning Inspectorate when the development was eventually approved.

GreenSquare have submitted a further application – 19/05549/REM – and the Planning Committee of the Town Council decided last night to defer any decision regarding approval or otherwise of the latest application until they are able to question Green Square representatives in person at an open session prior to the next Planning Committee meeting on Monday, 7 October.

Jayne Baker, a resident of Rabley Wood had written to Wiltshire Council prior to last night’s meeting asking that the “Development should be stopped with immediate effect” due to the developer’s failure to comply with required planning conditions.

In response to the Town council’s decision Jayne told marlborough.news “We were very pleased to see that the committee continued with their full support when we raised our concerns about non-compliance of planning conditions this evening.”  adding that “we hope that this meeting will go ahead as arranged and that GreenSquare will be able to answer the questions we have.”

“This will provide GreenSquare to the opportunity continue to work closely with the Council on this development given the decisions that have been made so that the best outcome can be achieved,”  Cllr Guy Loosmore told marlborough.news.

Conditions set down by the Planning Inspectorate are critical in relation to this development.  All parties involved – residents, the Town Council and Wiltshire Planning were all against the development and it was rejected twice.  It went to appeal and the Planning Inspector gave approveal for it to proceed – in the face of all the unified opposition – but set out quite stringent and clear conditions, observance of which are at the centre of the latest dispute.

A core condition of the approval was that a suitable replacement play area would be provided for the community as the development was taking place on land that was previously the play area for the existing development, having been designated as such ‘in perpetuity’.

There have been numerous changes but one major amendment resulted from the recent ‘discovery’ of a Thames Water sewer running underneath the area designated for the Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) pond, which has led to the repositioning of the pond to an area nearer the houses, hence moving the play area into the ‘Water Meadow’ – so named because it’s under water for a significant amount of time.

As well as leading children close to the SuDS pond, which itself is a hazard, this new area will be a distance from the houses and as such somewhere not easy to oversee.  The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – to which the Planning Inspectorate refers for decisions states that such a compensatory space must provided ‘of equivalent or better’ provision in terms of ‘quantity and quality in a suitable location’.  Those involved are adamant that this amendment to the condition falls far short of such requirement.

“We have no confidence at all  that the developers have any idea what work would be entailed in trying to drain a water meadow and they have not submitted any clear plans or ongoing maintenance schedules as required by the planning conditions.  If they didn’t even know that there was a major Thames Water sewer crossing the site (a fact which all local residents were aware of) then we hold no hope out at all for them trying to come up with a satisfactory plan for the compensatory open space!”  notes Jayne in summary.

The meeting with GreenSquare representatives will be open to the public and is scheduled to be held prior to the next Planning Committee meeting on Monday, 7 October.  Marlborough.news will publish details of the meeting once they are confirmed.