As of Jan 08 detailed planning consent has now been given for 676 houses out of the 900 with outline planning consent. Of the non-residential land only the school and the hotel have also had detailed planning consent, so this means that all the remainder of the commercial land and some 30% of the housing stock has yet to be reviewed.

Some of the outstanding planning applications will be straightforward, but some will not and a percentage are likely to be highly controversial and very much NOT what residents would like. In these cases, it seems that planning law is weighted well in the favour of the applicant (and not us residents) – it is the role of the application reviewers to present valid reasons why an application should NOT be given consent as the default position is that consent will be provided unless there are valid reasons not to.

We residents really do need to be thoroughly involved with these upcoming planning applications – if we don’t raise any objections it’s unlikely that others will, and certainly not on our behalf. For example the Barratt Homes’ application has been appealed and is expected to go to a public inquiry (probably only a couple of days) sometime around March or April. Planning consent for this application would see 5 storey flats being built right along the back edge of the new Topper Street play area/ kick about pitch etc. This will intimidate the public open space, contribute significantly to the existing parking issues, create traffic issues, and will destroy the mixed-use element of the Arbury Park Master Plan for “The Hedges” (the design name for the section of Arbury Park from Neal Drive to Flack/Starr End).

Please consider carefully whether you can help all Arbury Park residents by becoming involved with reviewing the planning applications – although we are currently limited in voting rights on applications every resident can actively participate in the planning review process and provide feedback that WILL receive considerable weight by those with a vote on the application review.

I'll try to keep this page up to date with news on current and impending applications.