November / December 2012 Newsletter

Contents:

£25000 for Queen's Avenue Play Area & Orchard
What happens to my recycling?
Visit to Recycling Centre
Diary
Norgren Planning Application – ACTION NEEDED
£25000 for Queen's Avenue Play Area & Orchard
The Queen's Avenue Park Action Group (which Transition Shipston helped to set up) has been awarded a grant for £25,000 from the SITA trust towards the purchase of new play equipment for the park. This is mainly due to the hard work of Polly Taylor. The total amount already raised now comes to £36000. It is hoped that Orbit Housing Association will add £10000 to this which will mean that work can start on the play area and orchard in the new year. Transition Shipston has raised £750 to buy fruit trees and shrubs for the community orchard which will be integrated into the play area. SITA have stipulated that Shipston Town Council commit to the maintenance of the equipment with the support of QAPAG fund raising throughout the year. Meanwhile the children from Shipston Primary School have voted a 'brilliant' park as one of the most needed things for kids in Shipston... they should soon have one.
For more information about QAPAG contact: Polly Taylor tinkers@btinternet.com               
What happens to my recycling?
Recyclable material is collected and taken to a Material Recycling Facility (MRF) run by Pure Recycling in Ettington. The mixed material is segregated using magnets, optical sorting and other technology until the different materials are sorted into separate waste streams.
Materials are then transported to specialist reprocessing facilities in the UK where they are made into new products. For more information on what happens to your material, please visit Pure Recycling's website for an in-depth look at the recycling process. Alternatively, you can watch a short film showing how the material is processed. http://www.purerecycling.com/home.html
Visit to Recycling Centre - Leaving Shipston High Street at 10.30 am on Friday Nov 30th
If you are interested in what happens to your waste there are still a few places left on the visit to the Pure Recycling Centre in Ettington to arrive at 11am on Nov 30th. We have been asked to wear walking boots or something similar with good tread on the sole (they have some pairs of boots if people really haven’t got anything suitable). We have also been advised that there are steps so it is not a suitable trip for anyone who cannot manage stairs unaided.
Contact geri@horsejoy.comto book a place and for car sharing etc.
 
Norgren Planning Application – ACTION NEEDED
Following the rejection of the their planning application for around 125 houses on the old Norgren site by Stratford District Council, Cala Homes have lodged an appeal. Below is an email from Jane Brabyn who has been leading the campaign against the development for the Shipston Heart Alive! Campaign. Please support her by objecting before November 27 if possible. You can send in an objection by email, and help with writing the objection, if needed, is included below.
PS. The next SHA!C committee is at 7.30 Thursday day 6th December at The George.
All Welcome

From: jb@brabyn.com
To: jb@brabyn.com
Subject: Re: Shipston's planning horrors Resume
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:00:49 +0000
Application(s) reference: 11/02380/OUT
Planning Inspectorate Reference Number: APP/J3720/A/12/2185727/NWF
Dear Locals and Friends
Following my recent email to you, I understand from the Planning Manager in charge of the Cala Homes appeal that local opinion will again have a crucial influence on the inspector appointed to judge the case. It is therefore very important to write again with your comments and objections against this planning application.
This is very short notice as the deadline to make comments is 27th November. Any comments made after that date will not be considered (alas, the morass of council speake is so utterly mind bogglingly confusing I missed out on the importance of that date)
Could you therefore please send your comments and objections as soon as possible, quoting the planning references at the top of this email, to the following address: teamp11@pins.gsi.gov.uk
If you are stuck for inspiration you can resend any original letter you may have sent to the council, preferably slightly changing the wording. If you have lost it, or need reminding of the relevant facts I will print some suggestions below.
Thank you in advance for taking the trouble to read this letter and act on it. With your support and actions, we have got this far. Please, please help win the next round.
The infrastructure of Shipston is already overloaded by the proliferation of new housing built all round the town over the last 20 years.
The site is very prominent, especially from the West and North of Shipston where views from Ilmington Hill and the west will be ruined by the busy development and its accompanying lights
Shipston boundaries have always been confined in a linea river valley and should remain that way.
The proposed development is separated from the boundaries of the town by agricultural land
The proposed development is out of character with local architecture
Increased danger at the two already lethal crossroads on the A429 just outside Shipston
There would be risk of increased flooding
This development would exacerbate lack of parking in the town centre
The Norgren site was originally given planning permission to be extended because Shipston needed employment. It still needs employment.
The council's survey made in 2007 suggests that there are sufficient industrial units to provide employment in the town. This survey is out of date due to the proliferation of new housing . The latest reports state that there is an under supply of industrial land to serve the district's needs for the future.
The government’s new planning policy appears to facilitates permission for developers to ruin swathes of beautiful countryside by allowing developments in inappropriate positions. Does the government want to be remembered or allowing this happen?
There is a need to build houses but surely there are more appropriate sites than this hill top surrounded on 3 sides by an ANOB.
Why build yet another large development outside Shipston whose infrastructure is already heavily overstretched and inadequate for its existing population
The site really should remain industrial. Jobs are needed in and around Shipston and sooner or later - when times improve - that site could become a thriving business premises again providing local jobs - far more beneficial to the community than this frightful plan.
If this development is allowed, it will set a precedent for countless other unwelcome developments to be hurriedly forced on rural districts in the belief that they will help kick start our ailing economy. Look what happened in Spain when similar policies were enacted.
Official speak version which goes down well in the planning world if you can mimic it:
"I object to this development because it would create an unacceptable visual impact on the views across the Stour valley from the Fosse Way, which will be harmful to this key “gateway” to the Cotswolds AONB”.
Further to the planning appeal, my/our objections still remain, in that ……”
the “harm arising from the permission being granted for the scheme will outweigh the benefits
J Brabyn
Telephone 01608 682235
jb@brabyn.com