GNLP0122

Bergh Apton was a small rural farming village, recent developments and the solar farm construction has already seen an increase in traffic, including heavy construction traffic. The mainly single carriage way roads around the village,and the only two roads into the village are already showing signs of erosion from increased traffic and the bank on the side of Slade Lane is looking in danger of collapse. At school drop off and collections times the single roads are unsafe to walk on or for children to cycle to school on. It has become necessary in recent weeks for local residents to erect bollards and signs to stop the destruction of grass verges in the village due to increased traffic on very unsuitable roads.

Cookes Road is very narrow at this site and would cause traffic problems. This site has already been rejected by the Inspector. No mains drainage.

The roadway is far too narrow to support any more houses

* This site was put forward under the Joint Core Strategy but was rejected by the Independent Government Inspector as a result of his visit to this site. In the interim, on the site itself, or the road that serves it, nothing has occurred to improve its status as a site suitable for development
* The site forms part of the centuries old parkland which extends for over 1km on the north side of Threadneedle Street and Cookes Road from Bergh Apton Manor to Washingford House. The site is adjacent to Washingford Barn, a listed building and was originally within the curtilage of this property. The land for the Village Hall being given to the village as a kind donation.
* There is no extended development boundary to the north of Cookes Road from BER1 for the benefit of this site. Furthermore no permission has ever been given for any modern housing development on this side of Cookes Road.
* Cookes Road is a single track at this point with no passing places and further development would exacerbate traffic issues.
* No mains drainage is available
* It is a greenfield site

Further development in any of the villages along the A146 will cause the road to become even more congested. It is hard enough to cross the A146 traffic at many times of the day as it is.
One of the attractions of Bergh Apton is its dispersed nature, interspersing houses with agricultural land & woods. This development would begin to encourage further infill in an area where it is inappropriate & not in character.
Infill is not necessarily a good thing - except where there are buildings similar in character already.
This site is absolutely not one of them

This site was put forward under the Joint Core Strategy but was rejected twice.The Independent Government Inspector visited the site & ruled that Cooke's Road should be the northern boundary of BER 1.Therefore the proposed extended development boundary, to it's north, was rejected.Nothing has changed since 2015 to warrant development of this site.
There is no mains drainage available.
The road is single track.

There is no extended development boundary from BER1 for the benefit of this site north of Cooke's Road.
Under the Joint Core Strategy the Independent Government Inspector visited this site in 2015 & rejected it.
Cooke's Road is single track at this point.
No mains drainage available.

Site proposal which has been refused previously was a wooded area with a pond which attracted many species of birds, insects & fauna. Trees should be reinstated after pre-emptive cull winter 2018. Land prone to flooding but 2 ponds on 1906 OS map infilled with spoil from building site opposite in summer 2017 and should be reinstated
No mains drainage and large pond on boundary full of fish and frequented by various wildlife could be at risk from treatment plant outfall
Road too narrow to sustain more development.
Listed Georgian barn in close proximity.

This site has been previously rejected. This very narrow country lane is unsuitable for development because of traffic issues, a precedent being set now, albeit for one dwelling, would result in more serious issues in the future when developers are pressing for further planning consent. This particular area is very boggy which has probably been exacerbated by the recent infilling of two ponds and the removal of the trees. This site is also adjacent to two listed properties.

Why has clearance on this site already taken place? It is not suitable for building.....the road is too narrow and there is enough development with the houses already being completed nearby.

This is a greenfield site on a narrow lane.

The main access is likely to be from the A146 which is a very dangerous junction. This also applies to the Mill Road crossroads which has very poor visibility from Mill Road.

No mains drainage.

This is a greenfield site on a narrow lane dealing with ever increasing traffic including that from new properties constructed/under construction.

The the safety of the junction with the A146 at Mill Road is a major concern as is that at the Mill Road Crossroads. Here, the visibility from Mill Road is extremely poor and would need to be dealt with.

Site rejected under Joint Core Strategy - in interim on site itself or road that serves it, nothing has occurred to improve it's status as a suitable development site.
* Site forms part of centuries old parkland and originally within curtilage of Washingford House - listed building
* No extended development boundary to north of Cookes Road from BER 1. No permission ever given for modern housing development there.
* Cookes Road - single track no passing places, development would exacerbate traffic issues
* No mains drains
* Greenfield site
Woodland cut down Feb 2018 to make way for application

The south side of Cooke's Road forms a natural and logical limit of development for this area of Bergh Apton that runs from the parklands of Washingford House in the east to those of Bergh Apton Manor in the west. This single and opportunistic attempt to breach that natural line has already been rejected in the JCS for good reason. Nothing has changed in its favour in the interim and logic - together with better options for housing in Bergh Apton - should surely result in the rejection being repeated. This is the most cogent reason for this site to be rejected but there are others - including (1) the width of Cooke's Road at this point and (2) the absence of mains sewage; this is an area now proven to have very poor drainage characteristics that will imperil any other form of sewage disposal.

This site has previously been rejected. The road is narrow at this point and an increase of turning traffic onto the road would be extremely dangerous. There is no drainage for this site and it would be dangerous to have traffic turning into and out of this. Completely inappropriate

Cooke's Road is very narrow at this point and is subject to a 60mph speed limit with no footpaths and blind bends.
It is a totally unsuitable site for further development.

* The Site has previously been rejected and no issues have changed in the interim resulting in it becoming suitable for development.
* Cookes Road is narrow at this point and further development would exacerbate traffic.
* Given the site's location within historic parkland any infill development would be inappropriate and detract from the setting.
* It is a greenfield site.

Greenfield site, was a lovely copse.
Narrow road.
Was rejected last time , because unsuitable
Drainage problems

We are writing in response to the proposal for further development in Bergh Apton as listed above.
Please find listed the reasons we feel Bergh Apton is not suitable.
1. Bergh Apton has had a number of developments recently and therefore is it fair for more?
2. The street, Bergh Apton is very narrow (only 1 car's width in places) A number of these cottages do not have parking and therefore park in this very narrow road, making passing impossible. The road is already over used by long vehicles along with increased traffic, which is uses residents front drives as passing places.
3. Increased traffic would mean more vehicles trying to access the A146. Slade lane leading to the A146 already has queuing traffic during peak times.
4. There are NO amenities in Bergh Apton apart from a Post Office at Hellington Corner.
5. Alpington School (the nearest and most likely to be used by young families) is full to capacity.
6. There is NO mains drainage in the street and the cess pits have to be emptied regularly.
7. Bergh Apton as a village prides itself on its conservation and environmental strategies and further development would cancel out its efforts.
8. The fields and rough ground surrounding Bergh Apton are home to a resident Barn Owl. it is seen daily hunting particularly in The Street, Dodgers Lane and Church road.
We hope you will consider these points when making your decision.

I am afraid that I have had IT problems due to broadband unavailability today and have been unable to access the website until now as I am now in London. Please would you consider adding the following representation on site GNLP0122 Bergh Apton under my reference as I managed to register as number 16718.

- The site was rejected by the inspector during the last consultation round and the village is also no longer a service village.
- Current use is woodland with a hedgerow to the road as shown on ordnance survey maps.
- No access to mains sewers or liquid run-off provision for off grid sewage treatment. Two ponds which were on the site and used for surface water drainage have been filled in in the last year causing increased issues for surface run-off.
- We are concerned that the wildlife currently attracted to the large pond to the South would be frightened away by a dwelling in such close proximity. We currently have herons and kingfishers coming to the pond.
- Compromise the setting of the listed barn (Washingford Barn) as the new dwellings would be in view of the building.
- We would be very supportive of a development on a brownfield site, rather than this greenfield site