Havebury slammed by town council over 'hasty' plans
Wednesday, 21st May 2014.
Representatives of Havebury Housing Partnership came under fire from Haverhill Town Councillors at a special meeting last night over plans to knock down garages and build houses on the sites.
Members complained they had not been consulted at an earlier stage on such controversial proposals.
Havebury originally had five sites in mind, but have withdrawn three of the proposals after local protests and a meeting with St Edmundsbury Borough Council planners.
The three withdrawn are in Norton Road, Orford Road and Ladygate, while prposals at Nayland Road and Cambridge Way will be amended or reconfigured in the light of local comment.
These latest schemes will be displayed at a public consultation on Thursday.
Haverhill Town Council had called an extraordinary meeting of its planning committee to hear a presentation from Havebury about its plans, and members welcomed the withdrawal of three of the controversial sites.
Cllr Maureen Byrne said: "I fully support and understand the need to build affordable homes but you can't build on every little plot of land you can find.
"At Parkside you would have destroyed the community of homes. These plans appear to be very hasty and I have concerns about that."
She suggested Havebury, St Edmundsbury and Suffolk County Council should work together to identify plots that could be built on and which could then be made available to Havebury cheaply.
Members were unhappy they had not been involved earlier in the proposals by Havebury coming and talking to them at a meeting.
Cllr Clive Turner said: "We like Havebury and we like what you do, but there are better ways of going about it."
Havebury had made the case that 650 of their 3,000 garages were empty and they had simply looked at how they could be better used in the light of the current housing need.
They had looked at other sites, particularly redundant school sites which were logically a good suggestion, but the county council was unwilling to sell except to the highest bidder which would always be for private housing development.
Committee chairman Cllr Mary Martin said Castle Hill school's old playing fields were being used as a dumping ground and would make an ideal site for new homes, but Cllr Roger Andre said former playing fields were governed by requirements they should remain as open space.
Members complained they had not been consulted at an earlier stage on such controversial proposals.
Havebury originally had five sites in mind, but have withdrawn three of the proposals after local protests and a meeting with St Edmundsbury Borough Council planners.
The three withdrawn are in Norton Road, Orford Road and Ladygate, while prposals at Nayland Road and Cambridge Way will be amended or reconfigured in the light of local comment.
These latest schemes will be displayed at a public consultation on Thursday.
Haverhill Town Council had called an extraordinary meeting of its planning committee to hear a presentation from Havebury about its plans, and members welcomed the withdrawal of three of the controversial sites.
Cllr Maureen Byrne said: "I fully support and understand the need to build affordable homes but you can't build on every little plot of land you can find.
"At Parkside you would have destroyed the community of homes. These plans appear to be very hasty and I have concerns about that."
She suggested Havebury, St Edmundsbury and Suffolk County Council should work together to identify plots that could be built on and which could then be made available to Havebury cheaply.
Members were unhappy they had not been involved earlier in the proposals by Havebury coming and talking to them at a meeting.
Cllr Clive Turner said: "We like Havebury and we like what you do, but there are better ways of going about it."
Havebury had made the case that 650 of their 3,000 garages were empty and they had simply looked at how they could be better used in the light of the current housing need.
They had looked at other sites, particularly redundant school sites which were logically a good suggestion, but the county council was unwilling to sell except to the highest bidder which would always be for private housing development.
Committee chairman Cllr Mary Martin said Castle Hill school's old playing fields were being used as a dumping ground and would make an ideal site for new homes, but Cllr Roger Andre said former playing fields were governed by requirements they should remain as open space.
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