This coloured plan (pictured right – click on it to enlarge it) supporting the ‘draft amended proposal’ for new housing on the land owned by Wiltshire Council off Rabley Wood View is described as a ‘hand drawn’ ‘feasibility layout’. However, it gives a good indication of how the Sangster-owned Manton Estate land would be used to replace the current play areas on which the houses would be built.
This proposal follows objections to the original scheme by Marlborough Town Council and its rejection last August by Wiltshire Council. The deadline to apply for an appeal against this decision falls at the end of February.
As Marlborough News Online has already reported, this new ‘possible amended scheme’, which is not in the form of an official application for planning consent, will be discussed in broad terms at the Town Council’s next planning committee meeting. The amendments include a reduction in the number of new homes from 46 to 39 and removes the offer of creating a Nature Park.
The drawing shows the new ‘multi-use games area’ (the dark green rectangle in the right lower section) sitting within the wider play area. Another new element is the two paths running from the houses to the main compensation open space – which will involve the removal of hedging.
In the accompanying memorandum, the Sangster family’s agents, RCC Town Planning Consultancy, write: “A key issue raised by the reasons for refusal [of planning consent] was that the alternative recreation provision on the Manton Estate land was unacceptable in landscape terms as it included a kick-about area and that kick-about area would be poorly related to existing residential development. Additionally the planning committee concluded that the replaced play area on the housing site would have insufficient surveillance from residential properties.”
“The draft amended proposal therefore reduces the amount of residential development, both in terms of numbers of dwellings and also the amount of land to be built on. This enables a large enhanced open space area to be provided on the housing site whilst a smaller grassed play area for ‘free play’ will be provided on the Manton Estate land adjacent to and well connected with the on-site recreation area.”
This ‘free play area’ does not seem to be marked on the drawing, but is assumed to be part – or perhaps all – of the 0.943 hectares of compensatory open space in the water meadow: “The free play area of land on the Manton Estate would be 0.94ha and would be a replacement for the net developable area on the housing site. No play equipment is proposed on the free play area and it would be subject to simple land drainage and surface improvements with appropriate landscape boundary treatment.”
The new draft proposal says it will “improve the inter-visibility between the compensatory recreation area [that is the .943 hectares south of the pond], the on-site recreation provision and the proposed dwellings.”
This 0.943 hectares of the water meadow does not include the ‘balancing pond’ in the north of the area. It is not clear yet what is meant by ‘simple land drainage’ or whether this will overcome the Environment Agency’s previous doubts about the wider likely impact of the draining the water meadow that was part of the original plan.
The RCC proposal has been sent to town councillors and to those who opposed the first planning application. It ends: “It is hoped that Marlborough Town Council will see the benefits of the amendments now proposed and we would welcome your comments.”
The Marlborough Town Council planning committee meeting begins in the Town Hall at 7.00pm on Monday, January 12.
