BACKGROUND:

2006: The SWRA approved the draft RSS and submitted it to Government. It included an agreed number of 2,100 new homes to be built in Purbeck District.

2007: The EiP panel held a public consultation on the draft RSS. During this, Terence O’Rourke Planning Consultants were permitted to represent Bloor Homes with their proposal to build 2,750 additional dwellings around Lytchett Minster. The SWRA, Lytchett Minster & Upton Town Council, Dorset County and Purbeck District Councils, Natural England, Dorset Wildlife Trust, the RSPB and the CPRE all resisted the proposal. Neither Annette Brook MP or Lytchett Matravers Parish Council were permitted to attend.

January 2008: The EiP Panel’s report recommended an increase of the previously agreed 2,100 homes in Purbeck to 2,400, and also recommended the approval of the above 2,750 additional homes to be located in what is being called the ‘Western Extension’ of Poole.

April 2008: Public meetings held in Lytchett Matravers, Lytchett Minster and Upton. Action groups Community Action for Lytchett Matravers and Lytchett Minster Action Group formed.

May 2008: First meeting of CALM

Summer 2008: The Secretary of State considered the draft RSS and her proposed recommendations were published on 22nd July. They included the proposed 48,000 EXTRA houses in South East Dorset, and the 2,750 house proposal in the area was also recommended.

Now: We are in the public consultation period during which submissions will be accepted by the Government Office for the South West (GOSW) and the Secretary of State. Local councils, action groups and individuals have been taking the opportunity to present evidence and viewpoints for consideration - please see our letter writing section for some ideas on how to do this yourself.

FAQ - From Lytchett Link Easter 2008

I’ve heard they’re going to build 2750 new houses in Lytchett. What is going on?

Bloor Homes have lodged a proposal to build 2750 new homes on land around Lytchett Minster. This has been accepted as the ‘Western Extension’ of the Poole and Bournemouth conurbation in the draft changes to the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the South West, currently residing on the desk of Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Which means…?

When the final version of the RSS is published in the Autumn, PDC will be forced to accept it as the basis of future planning (for approximately 20 years) in the District by setting the housing numbers and identifying “broad” locations of growth. If the Western Extension is added to the RSS, it will then be down to PDC to identify the location and boundaries of the site, which is expected to be in an area bounded by Upton, Lytchett Minster and Lytchett Matravers, but the number of houses will be fixed.

How did it get this far?

The ‘Western Extension’ idea was rejected by the South West Regional Authority (SWRA), which drew up the draft RSS, so it was not in the plan that was put out for the first public consultation (we know, because we looked very hard to make sure that it wasn’t there). It was added as a proposed change during that time. The Parish Council’s application to attend the Examination in Public last Summer was rejected (as was our MP’s) but we were represented by PDC, which presented evidence on transport modelling and nature conservation that condemned the plan. PDC’s stance was supported by SWRA, DCC, Upton and Lytchett Minster Town Council, Natural England, Dorset Wildlife Trust, RSPB and CPRE, but the Panel overseeing the examination still approved the plan.

Where exactly are these houses going to be?

We cannot say. There is a plan of the Bloor proposals but, if the Western Extension gets through, then that will be only one of a number of alternative locations that could be put forward by landowners in the area for the Council to consider. PDC are expecting a competing site to be submitted by landowners around Lytchett Matravers and other sites may emerge.

We need more houses. What is wrong with this proposal?

This development is being proposed as a solution to Poole and Bournemouth’s housing problems, not ours. It is a massive breech of the Green Belt, and threatens wildlife habitats that are part of what Dorset is all about. As a swathe of housing almost twice the current size of Lytchett Matravers it could swamp the existing communities and completely change their character. It could change Lytchett Matravers from a distinct village to a nondescript suburb. And despite the vague hope of the Panel that a solution to the transport problems can be found, the regional infrastructure is really not up to it.

What can we do about it?

There will be a further 12-week period of public consultation this summer, after the Secretary of State has published her Proposed Changes to the RSS in May or June. That will be our brief opportunity to oppose this idea with reasoned argument and political muscle – and we will need both.

What can we do now?

Only letters of representation submitted during the consultation period will be considered by the Secretary of State; both Martyn Colvey, as Chairman of the Parish Council, and Annette Brooke our MP have written to the Secretary of State and been rebuffed as being out of order at this time. So, now is the time to remain patient and prepare for the summer consultation. Who are you going to write to when the time comes?

GLOSSARY