Section 5: Place Shaping Policies Rusthall
This response report contains comments received on Section 5: Place Shaping Policies – Rusthall section.
Contents
Policy STR/RU 1: The Strategy for Rusthall Parish
Comment No. | Name/Organisation | Response |
|---|---|---|
DLP_244 | Howard Collins | I have spemt hours trying to navigate this site in order to submit a new piece of land for the parish of Rusthall but there seems to be no other simple way to send my comments. I thought I have sent them but I have just been sent a reminder that I have an unsaved comment. So as not to miss the extended I am posting the submission here! The Area of land that my wife and I have owned for 22 years in known as Nellington Mead, Nellington Road, Rusthall Kent TN4 8SQ. There in one residential house on approximately 0.66 of an acre of land and a field behind of 1.0 acre. The land and house is bounded by Long Meads to the east and south and Asher Reads in Langton Green to the west. There is a public footpath to the north-west boundary. 28 houses share the boundaries to the east, south and west. The land is most suitable for one or two storey retirement homes as the Rusthall Medical Centre is directly opposite, the newly rebuilt Rusthall Lodge Nursing house a short distance further north. The Rusthall village and regular bus station is a five minute walk away. We are very keen to keep all the trees that on the edges of the land and ensure that the property is in keeping with this quiet residential area. It appears that I cannot attach a plan to this submission but will send this separately. The property is currently rented to a long term tenant. Howard and Carolyn Collins TWBC: further information sent on 12 October: We wish to submit a new site to the Draft Local Plan. It is not obvious where this is done in the links provided so we are doing this here. Site Location. A triangle of land accessed from Nellington Road, Rustall called Nellington Mead and the field behind. The north-west boundary is the public footpath between Nellington Road and Asher Reeds. The south west boundary is behind the rear gardens of properties 2 to 54 Long Meads. Postcode unique to this site is TN4 8SQ. Land registry Ref TQ5539 title no. K523653. The approximate size of the land is 0.52 hectares or 1.66 Acres. There one dwelling on the land which with is classified house and garden and about one third of the site. The rest of the land is meadow/field. We have owned since 18 June 1997 and were residents from that date until 25th June 2013. The property is currently rented on a short-hold tenancy. The site and area is most suited elderly residential housing of one or two storeys being directly adjacent to the Rusthall Medical Centre and Rusthall Lodge Nursing home. Good access to local shops and public transport. There are some mature and protected trees in the land which need to be retained and continue to be protected. See Site location plan. |
DLP_599 | Sport England | Policy STR/RU 1 Sport England supports bullet point e the new sports hub at Rusthall as it is in line with adopted Playing Pitch Strategy. |
DLP_8304 | NHS West Clinical Commissioning Group | General Observation The CCG notes that it is expected that contributions will be required towards health/medical facilities to mitigate the impact of the development. These will be requested, as necessary, in line with CCG Policy which is currently for developments of over 20 houses or more; noting that the allocation currently detailed is for less than 20 houses. |
DLP_3356 | Kent County Council (Growth, Environment and Transport) | Highways and Transportation The Local Highway Authority conditionally supports this policy. The following changes are requested: The standard paragraph regarding contributions should feature in this policy - It is expected that mitigation measures will be implemented by the developer. A contribution may be taken if appropriate The specific reference to PRoW in paragraph 5 is supported. It is requested that PRoW enhancements are included in the list of expected contributions, to mitigate the impact of future development. |
DLP_4152 | Tunbridge Wells District Committee Campaign to Protect Rural England | Object We are concerned that the part of this policy referring to developments larger than 100 residential units could encourage applications for major developments which are thoroughly unsuitable in the AONB and its setting. Arguably, for sustainability, any development of more than 20 dwellings in villages and the rural area ought at least to provide some employment possibilities, for example through live/work units. |
DLP_4565 | Historic England | Policy STR/RU 1: The Strategy for Rusthall Parish et seq. - as with the foregoing comments, we would expect the allocation of sites following on from this Strategy policy to be subject to appropriately robust and detailed heritage impact assessment prior to the allocations being adopted. |
DLP_5573 | Rusthall Parish Council | Rusthall is concerned about the development of 6 new football pitches on land from Jockey Farm. This land will be accessed from the car park at Southwood Road Playing Fields and will cause additional problems with congestion and parking in Rusthall High Street and Southwood Road which already are difficult to drive along and to find a parking space due to the amount of current traffic and parking. Jockey Farm has been in the Rusbridge family since 1925 and operates a free range egg enterprise and a pedigree Sussex Beef Suckler herd. The land that you are looking at building the new football pitches on are surrounded on 2 sides by other fields that are in constant use by Jockey Farm and this will make it more difficult for the farm to continue to trade. Also the fields in question can get waterlogged in the winter and the application https://twbcpa.midkent.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=OXPJTDTYMGA00 17/03403/FULL No drainage measures have been included in the above application and if drainage was included this would mean that the standing water would be drained off onto another of Jockey Farm’s fields. Again this would mean that they would have less available land for their livestock. The present changing rooms would be insufficient for the amount of pitches and do not have separate changing rooms for male and female players. |
DLP_5574 | Rusthall Parish Council | Local Green Space There are four areas within the Parish that Rusthall Parish Council specifically designate as Local Green Space to be protected from development. Tunbridge Wells Golf Course Notwithstanding its Green Belt status and its parts that are classified as Archaeological Potential, Conservation Area and Ancient Woodland, Rusthall Parish Council recognises its foremost benefit as a green open space buffer zone separating Rusthall Village from its large urban neighbour, Royal Tunbridge Wells. With this regard Rusthall Parish Council’s policy is to rigorously oppose development of the golf course. Southwood Rd Allotments Southwood Rd Allotments Extension Wickham Gardens Allotments All three allotment sites are legally classified as Statutory Allotments. Noting the measure of protection afforded them within the law they remain vulnerable to future development. Rusthall Parish Council recognises their value to our community to be critically important to the mental and physical health and wellbeing of its residents throughout the age spectrum. Rusthall Parish Council’s policy, as owners of these sites, is not only to oppose but rigorously defend these allotment sites from development, for today’s residents and future generations. We respectfully request Tunbridge Wells Borough Council note Rusthall Parish Council’s policies relating to Local Green Space Designations and incorporate these policies within the new Local Plan. |
Policy AL/RU 1: Lifestyle Motor Europe, Langton Road
Comment No. | Name/Organisation | Object/support/support with conditions/general observation | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
DLP_171 | Julia and Michael | General Observation | My husband and I were in Royal Victoria Precinct last weekend and saw your proposal of the new housing plan for the years up to 2036. We asked the planning officers what the plans were for the development of the 9-hole golf course next to the Spa Hotel in Tunbridge wells. We understand that this will be closing it’s function as a golf course soon. We were told that there were no proposals as yet agreed, but that they would welcome residents views as to what they would like to see as future building developments. Our opinion is that it should be developed into a much needed retirement village for active over 60’s. It would have leisure facilities such as tennis courts, bowling green, putting etc. to help maintain the green environment that currently exists. We are one of many couples in this age group who presently live in big family homes who are looking to downsize, but are not ready for an apartment in a retirement block. We know many people in the area who would like a reasonable sized home to accommodate visiting family and hobbies and a garden to help keep them active. The perfect house would have no more than two floors and be between 1,500 and 2,000 sq ft in size. The development could have a block for residential medical care for future need, should it occur in later life. The Tunbridge Wells area area is way behind other parts of the UK which have already started implementing such schemes. In other countries, for example the USA retirement living is very popular and resources have been devoted to developing such schemes. When people get older, living out in the countryside becomes a challenge due to the dearth of public transport and retail facilities. The Golf Course site would be a perfect residential location. One big advantage of such a scheme would be that it would free up family homes for the younger generation. While we appreciate that Tunbridge wells Borough council have facilitated some retirement living developments, notably The Diary and Willicombe House, they are more suitable for people in their eighties rather than more active retirees. This type of lower-density development would help maintain the green area between Rusthall and Tunbridge Wells that we know the planners are keen to maintain, and believe that any developer should be discouraged from building anything that is high density. We hope you will give due consideration to these ideas. |
DLP_7845 | Lynne and Steve Lane | Object | We know that developers want to build on the greens of TW Golf Club and TW Golf Club would like to sell their land for development. The greens provide a gap, a boundary, a space between Rusthall and Tunbridge Wells which define them. Without them the two morph into one large blob of a town and lose their unique identities . We wish to register that TW BC should never allow development on the Greens for this reason . Another reason against development would be the irreversible loss of ancient woodland, open space and the wildlife corridor for a multitude of species. Please never build on the greens or allow any destruction of the trees, flora and fauna. |
DLP_3357 | Kent County Council (Growth, Environment and Transport) | Support with conditions | Highways and Transportation The Local Highway Authority conditionally supports this policy. The following changes are requested: Scale 3 - Significant archaeology could be dealt with through suitable conditions on a planning approval |