Object

Draft Local Plan - Supplementary Consultation

Representation ID: 6524

Received: 29/01/2019

Respondent: Miss Janna Hobbs

Representation Summary:

- The green belt should not be comprised as it is there to prevent urban sprawl
- Existing infrastructure and parking in the area cannot cope, and the proposals do not adequately address a solution to this issue.
- Moving sports fields further away from residents disadvantages the existing users.

Full text:

The sports fields re location is not acceptable. This will mean moving a critical facility even further away from existing housing, requiring more journeys, and removing the accessibility from families without transport.

With regards to the train station, this facility is already oversubscribed, with residents from the existing dwellings unable to park (the train station is a long walk from the outskirts of Dickens Heath) the 3 trains an hour are over loaded and passengers are paying high train fares to stand in packed trains, more houses will only make this problem worse.

The eradication of green belt that is specifically to reduce urban sprawl is not reasonable. The shops in Dickens Heath could be a 30 minute walk from some of these houses, and it is unlikely these resident will walk to the village centre. Main street in Dickens Heath cannot accommodate the existing footfall as there is insufficient parking (largely due to all the flats that were originally built on main street being built without allocated parking therefore requiring residents to use the parking that would otherwise be used by visitors to the village centre) The shops are struggling to survive as people from outside the village do not visit as there is no parking. Adding more housing to the outskirts of the village, without addressing this issue is not acceptable.