Objection Letters Example
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March 17th 2009
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS BETRAY OVER 900 PROTESTING RESIDENTS
Conservative led Dudley council's Conservative dominated planning committee last night gave the green light for St Modwen plans to devastate Coombeswood Green Belt. Neither Halesowen North ward Conservative councillor Lesley Falkener nor Halesowen North ward councillor and cabinet member for the Environment Karen Shakespeare spoke against the application despite an unprecedented wave of opposition from constituents including 320 letters of opposition and a 650 signature petition against the plans.
Led by Conservative chairman Tim Wright the committee put forward rehearsed reasons for the decision in virtually identical wording to statements first made by councillors Lesley Falkener and Karen Shakespeare over a year ago in a meeting with Friends of Coombeswood. Since then the Halesowen North councillors' derisory response to the groundswell of protest from constituents has been the charade of a handful of photo opportunities - joined in one instance by Conservative parliamentary hopeful James Morris - in the last two weeks before the planning committee meeting. Too little too late, their actions failed to distance them from the actions of their own party's decision to favour the St Modwen shareholder over and against the wishes of over 900 deeply disappointed and angered countil tax payers.
Although the ward councillors and hopeful parliamentary candidate clearly hope to deflect their constituency fee payers anger away from themselves, the transparent damage limitation exercise is in fact making the situation worse as residents are in no mood to be patronised in addition to being betrayed. Friends Of Coombeswood group members are absolutely clear on three points:-
- Dudley Conservative Party is collectively responsible for the decision to allow St Modwen shareholders to profit at the expense of Halesowen's finest views, wildlife, heritage, green open space and to tear out the single open green space and social centre of the Lodgefield estate.
- The people that are directly responsible for the actions of Dudley Conservative party in the Halesowen North ward are ward councillors Lesley Falkener, Karen Shakespeare and Jeff Hill and Conservative parliamentary candidate for Halesowen and Rowley Regis James Morris.
- The only means left now for residents to express their views on the actions of Dudley Conservative councillors over this issue is now the ballot box - at forthcoming elections at both council and national levels.
Friends Of Coombeswood member Simon Roberts comments:
"The actions of ward and committee Conservatives in championing the interests of St Modwen shareholders against those of council tax payers are deeply disappointing and utterly distasteful; unfortunately they are entirely consistent with the policies of the party which fiddles with promises of tax cuts for the richest three thousand UK citizens while the economy burns. If residents are now to pay in terms of the loss of irreplaceable Green Belt and recreation facilities, then the councillors responsible must stand up for and take responsibility for the policy of the Conservative party they represent. This means ward councillors and the prospective parliamentary candidate must pay the price for this deeply unpopular and totally unnecessary decison and their part in it at the ballot box."
Wednesday 25th February 2009
Planning Committee Meeting Report - Surprise Deferral
Monday 16th February 2009
Decision Date Set For Opposed Green Wedge Plans - Tuesday 24th February
A date has been set for a decision to be made upon controversial St Modwen plans for the development of Coombeswood Green Wedge. Halesowen councillors were notified last week that the plans are to come before Dudley Council's Development Control Committee on Tuesday 24th February.
The plans propose the relocation of Coombs Wood Cricket and Social Club within Coombeswood Green Wedge so that the club's current Coombs Road site can then be sold for housing. The proposals have provoked an unprecedented wave of opposition letters from over 300 local residents, all 3 Halesowen North councillors and a number of organisations including The Wildlife Trust, CPRE, Halesowen Abbey Trust and the Monarch's Way Association.
Friends Of Coombeswood, a group of local people formed to fight the plans, urge residents to attend the 24th February Committee meeting if at all possible in order to demonstrate the strength of local feeling. The meeting starts at 6 o' clock and takes place in Committee Room 2 of the Council House, Priory Road, Dudley DY1 1HF.
Friends Of Coombeswood Chairman Georgia Clare states of the meeting:-
“It is vital for as many people as possible to attend the planning decision meeting.
The Government Office for the West Midlands has already been alerted to the application in order to be ready to launch an appeal directly if it should be passed. The appeal would be based upon the application's flagrant contravention of planning guidelines laid down in Dudley Council's own Unitary Development Plan. This would include multiple breaches of UDP regulations S01 Green Wedge, HE2 Landscape Heritage Areas and both SINC and SLINC nature reserve regulations.
Should Dudley councillors choose not to follow their own UDP guidelines in order to accommodate St Modwen's profit-led plans for Coombeswood, then it would follow that none of the other open green spaces that currently make the Halesowen area such a pleasure to live in would be safe from unsuitable development either – including those of Leasowes and Illey.”
Friends Of Coombeswood spokesman Simon Roberts details the points which have provoked the wave of local opposition:-
“St Modwen imply that they are increasing wildlife habitat under their plans for Coombeswood Green Wedge. This is misleading nonsense designed to hide the fact – verified by the Wildlife Trust – that the actual outcome of the plans would be the loss of over 8 acres of England Priority Habitat, adversely affecting a number of protected species including breeding skylarks.
In St Modwenland the plans to relocate Coombs Wood Cricket and Social Club will benefit local people. In the real world a huge wave of official objections has been registered both by many members of the cricket club itself and by hundreds upon hundreds of local people currently using the Coombeswood Green Wedge on a daily basis for a wide variety of recreational activities.
According to St Modwen the application plans will affect only a small proportion of the Coombeswood Green Wedge area. This conveniently overlooks the fact that between them, the pair of sites chosen for development constitute both of Halesowen's finest viewpoints. Both viewpoints, looking out across Clent and Shropshire, would be totally lost following the extensive earthworks proposed to level the steep Coombeswood hillside. In reality, the Coombeswood Landscape Heritage Area would be effectively devastated under the proposals. St Modwen's derisory response to this objection is to offer to move a planned gate 2 feet to the left.
Olive Hill Primary School headteacher Tess Jordan's enthusiasm for the proposals apparently continues. But the total lack of parents' support for the unnecessary plan to expand school facilities at the expense of the Coombeswood nature reserve (courtesy of St Modwen), shows that local people are wise to the developer's dubious claims.
Significantly, St Modwen have very little to say about their plan to sell the existing Coombeswood Cricket and Social Club site for unspecified housing. As well as the loss of the club, the single social facility for the entire Lodgefield estate for over 50 years, this would also mean an horrendous increase in traffic in an already highly congested area. In addition to this the loss of the club site's five acres of much-needed open green space would certainly diminish quality of life for estate residents besides decreasing the value of their homes”.
Monday January 5th - ITS JUST NOT ON : Would You Believe That There Is Still No Sign Of The Coombeswood Proposals Coming Before The Planning Committee?
Dudley Council has published the agenda for January 12th's Meeting of theTuesday 18th November - Application P08/1373: Updated Comment Letter Count
Following a query posted to the Friends Of Coombeswood email
list a close recount of the Coombeswood comment letters accepted
by Dudley Planning was carried out yesterday evening. The results were:-- Total letters of support: 3
- Total neutral letters: 5
- Total letters of objecton: 139
The Friends Of Coombeswood count of total objection letters immediately after the 13th October deadline stood at the lower figure of 132. The 7 letter increase since this seems to be due to letters accepted after the deadline due to their being views specifically solicited from organisations by Dudley Planning.
Monday 17th November - Coombeswood Proposals Not On Next Planning Meeting Agenda
The St Modwen proposals for Coombeswood are now very close to the final stage of the process. This is the granting or refusal of permission for the application by Dudley MBC's Development Control Committee (DCC). Details of the dates for forthcoming meetings of the committee, of meeting agendas and of details of the composition of the 9 person DCC are available on the Dudley MBC website (follow the link).As the agenda has just been published, it can now be confirmed that the Coombeswood proposals are NOT on the agenda of the next DCC meeting set for Monday 24th November 2008. This means that the issue is likely, although not certain, to appear on either or both of the agendas of the next two meetings after that: 15th December 2008 and 12th January 2009.
PLEASE NOTE! This means that the deadline for the two Friends Of Coombeswood petitions has now been extended to include the first two weeks of December. Final petition cut-off date To Be Confirmed Soon.
Wednesday 12th November - Halesowen Area Committee Object To Coombeswood Development
Halesowen Area Committee is a body comprised of all 15 Halesowen area ward councillors and represents the local community on issues affecting local people. The Coombeswood proposals are covered by this committee as it affects two of the Halesowen wards - Belle Vale and Halesowen North. The proposals were on the agenda of the Wednesday 12th November meeting of the committee at Earls High School.The specific purpose of the Coombeswood agenda item was John B Millar, the council Director of the Urban Environment's, request that the area committee provide its views upon the application to Peter Reed, the council case officer for the application. The views are to form part of the evidence to be considered by the Development Control Committee which will ultimately decide (possibly within the next month) whether to refuse or allow permission for the application go ahead.
When the agenda item came up, councillors first familiarised themselves with the application documents. Then two local groups gave a three minute presentation each - first Simon Roberts spoke on behalf of Friends of Coombeswood followed by Roy Burgess speaking on behalf of Halesowen Abbey Trust, a respected local group which has also lodged an objection.
Led by the three Halesowen North councillors, the committee unanimously supported the views put forward by the two speakers. Councillors felt very strongly that the proposal was objectionable for a range of reasons, stating their views robustly, unambiguously and in detail. There was also a great deal of sympathy for Coombs Wood Cricket and Social Club, which has suffered under a St Modwen imposed short lease, preventing the attraction of funding, for a number of years. No councillor spoke in favour of the proposal. It was resolved by the councillors that the committee would collectively object to all parts of the proposal in their representation to case officer Peter Reed.
Resident Paul Stringer asked whether councillors felt that the Olive Hill Primary School headteacher should withdraw her support from the proposal if the application were turned down, as to do so would prevent the waste of council funds which an appeal (requiring the headteacher's support) by applicant St Modwen would cause. The councillors replied that this was an issue which they would certainly consider if and when the application were in fact refused.
A more detailed account of the councillor's views will be available soon when the minutes of the meeting are published to the council website.
MANY THANKS TO THE FRIENDS OF COOMBESWOOD MEMBERS and associates that attended the (quite long!) meeting to provide support and to meeting chairperson Halesowen North Councillor Lesley Faulkner for bringing the Coombeswood item forward as "agenda slippage" took its toll.
- 132 Letters Of Objection
- 2 Letters of Support
- 122 Halesowen residents and assorted miscellaneous objectors
- Halesowen North Cllr Lesley Faulkner
- Halesowen North Cllr Karen Shakespeare
- Halesowen North Cllr Jeff Hill
- Campaign For The Preservation Of Rural England Bromsgrove Branch
- The Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust
- Halesowen Abbey Trust
- Friends Of The Leasowes
- The Monarch's Way Association
- Dudley Borough Local Access Forum
- The Friends Of Coombeswood
- Mrs T Jordan, Olive Hill Primary School Headteacher
- Nick Jones, Chairman of Coombs Wood Cricket and Social Club
Viewing Objection Letters
- All of the submitted letters are available to read online at Dudley Planning Portal
- Not used the planning portal before? here's a printable Letter Viewing Guide to help you on your way.
What Does It All Mean? Objection Letters Report
Check out the following two pdf files for a detailed issue-by-issue analysis of objection letter contents:-
- Comments Report - Outlines the broad trends of objection based on an issue-by-issue breakdown of letters.
- Datasheet - data that the above report is based on.
Petitions Deadline
To be confirmed. Ring the contact nos given to hand in completed petitions or to volunteer your petition services.
- Go to the Forms and Leaflets Page to Download printable petition files.
Development of new sports ground and social club at land off Stewarts Road, development of a new sports field and environmental zone at Olive Hill Primary School and residential redevelopment at land off Coombs Road and Lodgefield Road including a new access off Coombs Road (outline)
Registered application
The proposed plans run directly counter to Dudley MBC's Greenbelt policy. The scale and nature of these projects poses a grave threat to local residents' quality of life, to the unique recreational and educational qualities of Coombes Wood green wedge and to the habitat of the rich and varied wildlife and plant life to be found there.
News
| Sep 25th 2008 | Protestor Ready For Fight |
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| Sep 8th 2008 | Application submitted Sep 8th |
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| Sep 4th 2008 | Greenbelt plans in council hands Halesowen News |
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| Sep 2nd 2008 | Campaigners fight plans Express & Star |
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| Aug 30th 2008 | Protest at site of homes scheme Express & Star |
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| Aug 21st 2008 | Illegal Dumping Soils Beauty Spot Halesowen News |
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| July 14th 2008 | St Modwen Projects On Hold After 20m Losses BBC News |
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| July 14th 2008 | St Modwen PR Firm Monitors Friends Of Coombeswood Website |
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| July 14th 2008 | Latest St Modwen Proposal Plans |
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| July 11th 2008 | Anger Grows At Greenbelt Plan Halesowen News |
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| June 30th 2008 | St Modwens Exhibition Set For Monday July 7th |
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| June 11th 2008 | Second chance to look at plans for greenbelt Halesowen News |
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| June 3rd 2008 | Call to Tory leader over wildlife spot Express & Star |
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| May 29th 2008 | Campaigners ask Tory leader to help save green wedge Halesowen News |
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| May 24th 2008 | Councillors join fight to preserve site Halesowen News |
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| May 18th 2008 | May 7th "Keep The Green Wedge Green" Walk Report |
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| May 13th 2008 | Petition battle over plan for social club Express & Star |
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| May 8th 2008 | Author backs 'wedge' fight Halesowen News |
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| April 23rd 2008 | Friends Group A Hit Halesowen News |
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| April 20th 2008 | 'The Wedge', a rural filling in the urban sandwich Black Country Bugle |
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| April 17th 2008 | Fantastic Turnout For Committee Meeting |
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| April 16th 2008 | Friends' Good Omen As Barn Owl Returns To The Wedge |
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| April 9th 2008 | Committee meeting set for April 17th |
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| April 6th 2008 | Message Of Support From The Monarch's Way Association |
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| April 6th 2008 | Halesowen Author Steps Forward To Support Green Wedge Protest |
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| April 1st 2008 | St Modwen "Reviewing Plans" Halesowen News |
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| 31st March 2008 | Printable Petition Form added to website |
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| 30th March 2008 | Halesowen North Councillors Tour Green Wedge |
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| 19th March 2008 | Online petition added to Friends Of Coombes Wood website |
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| 18th March 2008 | Meeting Was A Shambles Halesowen News |
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| 12th March 2008 | Battle Cry Over Sports Club Move Express And Star |
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| 12th March 2008 | Greenbelt Gathering Halesowen News |
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| 28 th Feb 2008 | Back off: Fury at plans to move sports club to green belt so homes can be built Halesowen News |
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For comments, suggestions, corrections, news item submissions etc email coombeswood@hotmail.co.uk When using a search engine to return to this page note that there are various spellings of the placename:- Coombeswood, Coombswood, Coombs Wood and Coombes Wood |