Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

What do you think about the quality and pace of housing development in Ware?
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Steve
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Steve »

Wareite1969 wrote:I meant the council's planning officers being unable to correctly apply the councils own written guidelines.

Herin lies the crux of the problem. Planning officers make a mistake and leave the council (and us as tax payers) open to a massive legal bill.
Unless I'm misreading your post, you're assuming that planning officers have made the mistake (in misintepreting the council's guidelines, ie planning policies) and not the councillors who made the final decision. In this case, planning officers made a recommendation to grant planning permission based on the council's planning policies. Councillors on the Development Committee took a different position and decided to refuse planning permission.
Wareite1969 wrote:IThis only ends two ways 1) An inappropriate development goes ahead due to incorrect advice by an officer or 2) The planning refusal is upheld and the developer sues for their costs incurred to due to incorrect advice. In neither scenario is the officer the person that carries the can.
I'm not sure what "advice" you're referring to. Do you mean advice to the developer? Planning Officers work for the council, not the developer. They can take part in pre-submission talks and they can advise as to the most appropriate form of development, but they are not in a position to guarantee a decison one way or the other, therefore they cannot be liable to a developer. There is no contract between planning officers and developers and planning officers are answerable to no-one other than their employers, the District Council.

The only way that the District Council would be liable to costs (as opposed to damages, which are unlikely to be imposed by the appeal officer) is was if there was some failure in the planning process on the part of the council. It is up to the appeal officer to determine this.
Scottman
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Scottman »

Planning officers recommended acceptance of the original plans, having advised Councillors on the application of their own parking guidelines and having misappropriated a 'zone 3 reduction' from industrial and commercial property guidelines into a domestic housing situation, where no such reduction is provided. And this appears to be the advice they gave the developers, who now claim in Appeal that they submitted what the planning officers advised.

Let's bring this down to the simplest level - if you (lucky you) have a three bed house in Ware and you wish to extend it with an extra bedroom, you will be expected to be able to show - under East Herts' own residential parking guidelines - that you can provide for THREE vehicles to be parked off the street. If you cannot, then the plan will beturned down, because of 'overdevelopment' of the site to create a home which cannot fully provide for all that it needs.

In the case of this development, still under EHC's residential parking guidelines, 13 4-bed homes would be built. Two of them will have two parking spaces, not three, with absolutely no possibility of that being increased by taking over the front garden. The other ELEVEN homes will actually have only ONE parking space, plus one standard width garage. The ability of a standard width garage to accommodate a modern car is a different discussion, but this basically means that each of these 4-bed homes will have 1-2 spaces per property, not the 3 spaces that the Council demands from you and me.

One law for us, one law for them when they choose.

It's wrong - just wrong. And it will have significant consequences for the new owners, for nearby residents, and ultimately for us all.

And it is just borne of greed - to get as much money as possible for a sliver of land that (if I owned it) would never be allowed to be developed as heavily as they wish.
The Masked Woler
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by The Masked Woler »

Does the area count as residential though?
Have they taken into account the presence of the college when applying the Zone 3 reduction?
Wareite1969
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Wareite1969 »

The Masked Woler wrote:Does the area count as residential though?
Have they taken into account the presence of the college when applying the Zone 3 reduction?
That may be the problem. Maybe the college campus as it currently stands would qualify for a reduction but as the development will be 100% residential it should not qualify. As far as I know the site will be separated by a security fence so can no longer be classed as part of the existing campus.
Scottman
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Scottman »

Good to have Ware Town Council Planning Committee last night vote solidly and unanimously behind continued rejection of this latest application
Scottman
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Scottman »

..and last night East Herts Council's Development Management Committee discussed its grounds for refusal (first given in February 2014), given that the developer and HRC have now appealed against the rejection to the Planning Inspectorate. All grounds upheld unanimously! Still good ... Planning inquiry coming in February 2015.

And yet the developer and HRC have put in a NEW application, pretty much like the old one ....
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Steve
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Steve »

A rather swanky video of the new campus has just appeared on Youtube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIwWQVGM22Q
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Cod
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Cod »

It does show you how little space they have once the Scotts Road side of the site is removed.
mb1
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by mb1 »

And rejected again says the mercury because of concerns including "the design of the homes, a lack of parking and lack of affordable housing."

Read more: http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/H ... z3LabUv9Rp
Follow us: @HertsMercury on Twitter
Scottman
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Re: Hertford Regional College - Ware Campus

Post by Scottman »

Yes. New plan was only very slightly different from the last plan, rejected in February, so this one was rejected again for exactly the same reasons. Consistent stuff from EHC Councillors.

That said, the developer has appealed against the original rejection so there is to be a public enquiry about it - in Ware I think - towards the end of February 2015.
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