New plans - but not much change
The developers have released their latest plans for the site saying they have listened to the community following the last consultation meeting. You can see how they are presenting them on their website here.
However it seems the changes are not quite what they seem.
SCAN has seen some of the new drawings and it’s disappointing. There are a few positives — like the retention of protected trees —following the last consultion meeting but many of the claimed changes are limited, unclear or raise further questions.
Traffic, access & road safety: identified as the community’s number-one concern, but there is still no clear solution to the additional traffic, visitors/deliveries and congestion.
Parking: even though the developers acknowledge it’s “very strong concern” in the community, there is no clear plan to prevent overspill parking on surrounding streets.
Height & scale: residents clearly asked for lower-density, lower-height development but the properties are still at least three storeys, despite our predominantly two-storey neighbourhood.
Green space: the proposed school/community green is presented as a benefit, but safeguarding requirements would make it unworkable.
Open space: there is still little clarity about how it will provide meaningful community or SEND benefit.
What has actually changed since the community consultation in May?
The developers list 16 “key changes”, including reducing new build houses from 40 to 34, retaining protected trees, removing the refuse route through The Glen and reducing buildings.
BUT we have serious questions about these “changes” including:
increased size/massing of some buildings;
extension of The Glen despite strong objection locally;
the impact of additional traffic and parking;
whether the promised size reduction in homes at ‘Konig Terrace’ has really happened;
site security and public walk-through access;
the practicality of the proposed school green space; and
additions that would affect neighbouring homes which aren’t included in the developers’ list of key changes.
These are the same issues residents raised in May. We need to know why so many remain unresolved.
If you’d like to see a more detailed breakdown of our response to the latest plans/changes, please click here.
You can also see here, the developers report from the last consultation which they have now removed from the website.
These new plans fail to respond adequately to their own findings.
There is a further open-to-all consultation meeting on Thursday September 24th between 2.30 and 1930 at St Albans Church.
This is your chance to see the latest plans and ask questions. Sadly it's short notice but please go along if you can, and tell us what you find out.
We will be gathering views from across our hundreds of supporters, stakeholders and wider city network so we can continue to push for meaningful changes.
We only have one chance to get this right. Let’s make sure we make the most of this opportunity to influence the plans before it’s too late.