Carrbridge Village Meeting on Housing development
22/03/2012 in the Village Hall
Hosted by Carr-bridge Community Council
Also read: Pre-Consultation Response on Carrbridge Housing Development
Present:
Representing Bracewell:
Stirling Sam Sweeney - Partners
Amanda MacRitchie
Representing Tulloch Homes:
Richard Hughes, Design and Technical Manager
Carr-bridge & Vicinity Community Council:
Andrew Kirk
David Ritchie
Kate Adamson
Lara Campbell
Carol Ritchie
Fiona McMullen
Robert McInnes
Presentation from Sam Sweeney: Pre-consultations for planning process should take 3 months from Feb 2012.
They will compile a report from feedback received from the initial consultations which will be used to support their formal planning application. All submissions for this pre-consultation are to be in by the end of March.
Earliest the application will be submitted is beginning of May but more likely to be later.
Once their application is submitted notifications will be publicised in the press and sent out to neighbours. This will be the time to make formal representations.
This is an entirely new application. Once it is submitted the old ones will be withdrawn.
House types will be discussed with planners. Currently thinking along more rural lines than previous application.
To date comments received have been re access and ecology. Access concerns mainly being safety on the road. They have had a traffic audit done by specialist traffic consultants (requested by HC Tecs).
Have been advised they will not be encouraged to take access for the main development site from the Landmark side, that Carr Road would be better from a technical aspect.
The Scottish Executive have a new ‘Designing Streets’ document which most councils have already adopted and which guidelines are now being used. In the future will be looking for Carr Road style streets –no footpaths and narrow and windy as opposed to straight and wide. Streets within the scheme will mirror Carr Road.
The consultation process is constantly evolving and changing.
Q – What will the speed limit on Carr Road be?
A – Hopefully 20mph, also within the development.
Q – Would they expect children to walk along Carr Road?
A – Yes. Separating traffic and pedestrians encourages cars to drive faster.
Q – What about traffic claming measures?
A – Possibly nothing but if anything have been advised to put in white lines
Q – Would they be prepared to put in traffic calming measures if the community wanted it?
A – Again, have been advised not to but would consider it. The traffic survey recorded 460 movements over an average 24 hour period. With the new development an increase of 360 movements is anticipated.
Q – What will be put in place re pedestrians during construction?
A – A traffic management proposal would be prepared. There will be restrictions put on when construction traffic moves i.e. not during school movement times. They will look at how to minimise materials and therefore traffic. Probably will work out at an average of 4 lorries per house per week. All will come at the same time. They will arrange a stop off point for construction traffic waiting for a window which will be away from the village.
Q – If Carr Road residents wanted traffic calming put in place they would look to the Community Council to tackle the issue. Do not need the development in order have it achieved.
Q – Education of the driver is needed, not traffic calming.
A – Carr Road is not used by many as a through road.
A – Will there be a pavement put in alongside the main road at the affordable housing site? Why are they planning a path through the bog?
A – This is in response to guidance. They will do whatever roads dept ask.
Q – What will the distance be between Crannich Park back fence and the nearest back fence at the new development?
A – Reply was very approx 50m but he said that he could check this and inform us
Q – Why not mix affordable with the other housing?
A – Building at the main site will be staggered where as the affordable housing will all be built at once so wouldn’t fit in with the schedule.
Q – When was the traffic survey carried out?
A – April 2010 with a top up in October 2010, all during term time.
Q – At times there is a lot of farming traffic including lorries going to and from farms. Will they fit if there is road narrowing?
A – Has been highlighted and is another reason against putting in physical calming measures.
Q – How long will the whole development take?
A – Timescale will depend on the rate of sale. Approx 10 – 15 houses per year. This will be done in phases so as not to have a constant building site. The infrastructure between phases might slightly overlap.
Q – Are all the affordable houses to be built at once?
A – Yes, if funding is available. Possibly could be phased. Funding is given based on a proven need for housing.
Q – Need more family sized homes, three rooms or more.
A – Again, will be guided by proven requirements.
Q – Housing Associations are looking to make a profit too. What type of people will get the houses?
A – Associations will fill with anyone on their list. If someone is homeless they will be high on points and will be allocated before locals with fewer points. Local need criteria now exist.
Q – What will the mix of house types be?
A – Special needs (amenity housing), some to buy and some to rent. Will be influenced by list of housing needs – Council/Albyn/Cairn and CNPA. Should look at localised list – people who want to move to or have a connection to the area.
Q – How is a development of 97 houses appropriate for the area? It will be increased by a third again. What about the infrastructure?
A – The people who decide what is appropriate will be guided by the local/development plan. Authorities who adopt the local Plan should take the infrastructure in to account. If the present infrastructure is not suitable it will be put in place by Planning Gain paid for by the Developers. The original development was for 124 houses and Scottish Water had capacity then. The CNP will have a list of all houses built over the past 5 years and will take this in to account. Council and CNPA can still reduce or increase density (and therefore total numbers) of houses on the formal application
Q: Audit will have to be done by developer to show adequate drainage systems. Potentially could have disturbance while this was done. If there is any shortfall the developer will pay for upgrade.
Q: There will be a large increase in village numbers. Has it happened in other villages, so we can learn from them?
A. Housing allocation can happen that way; identification of the land was in the Local Plan (and the previous one). It should be noted that the number of houses has come down from 120 to 98
Q: Will the houses be holiday homes or for CarrBridge residents? What about amenities and the School
A: It will be a mixture of both residential and holiday homes. The school would have to be improved by Planning Gain (Developer contribution), but no shops were in the plans
There was an excellent Seminar held by CNPA on Planning Gain, and the Community Council should be consulted by their Planning Gain Officers
Q: Original Reporter on previous application said that Carr Road was not suitable for such a development. How can this have changed now?
A: Street Design Guidance is updated regularly and it has changed since then
Q: Numbers of houses had to be decreased as the area is only 45% of the proposed previous area.
Also what about squirrels and ants?
A: The area should avoid them, but surveys will have to be done
Q: Will bog be protected; drainage might affect it. Gaelic word Charr involves bogland, and this is some of the only remaining bogland so it is our heritage as well as ecological interest.
A: Development is to be left of bog, and this aspect will be part of Ecological Assessment. Post development it must remain the same as Pre-development. The result of the survey will feed into the new proposal
Q: Has impact of tourism on Infrastructure calculations been included in Reports?
A: It should have been included. Assessment will be done on year round requirements
Q: If residents felt the proposal was for too many houses, would Tullochs consider reducing the number?
A – They would naturally take village concerns into consideration.
Q: Are the two developments dependant on each other?
A – Yes it is all one application.
Q: At Ecclefechan site tree roots were damaged and trees had to be felled. How can this be avoided?
A: By Planning Restrictions
Q – Would all the houses in a phase be built at once and then sold or be built as they’re sold?
A – A black area. To an extent you have to build before you sell. Infrastructure for each will be done in advance. First phase will probably be five houses, a couple of which will be Show Homes. Aviemore is currently selling at 10 units a year.
Q: Why are affordable houses all at one end? Why can some of them not be at Carr Road?
A – Just the way it has developed. If an association comes along with funding and wanted units elsewhere, it would be considered. The affordable housing site was chosen where they could be built quickly.
Q: There will be more traffic throughout the village, not just in Carr Road. There are already concerns about traffic speed and other issues, like Safer Routes to School
A – All roads will be looked at. Tec Services might advise work to be done on an area remote to the development.
Q: Carr Road residents will be living with Construction traffic for 7 years with all the interference involved
A: Auditors will report on Traffic Calming measures for Carr Road, but these could be changeable. He would welcome ideas from CarrBridge. A dilapidation survey would have to be done to look at roadside verges, lights etc before and after and the work to correct any problems would have to be done
Q: It is important that all people interested should write with their opinions, as numbers count in a Reporters view. People should not rely on Community Council as they are counted as one response!
A: Sam Sweeney agreed with this statement, and said it was helpful to them as well
Also read: Pre-Consultation Response on Carrbridge Housing Development
