As promised when we found out about the consultation by Pegasus for the Application for houses at Toton East, we submitted comments on behalf of the Neighbourhood Forum. Our comments can be found following this link.
We are pleased that a large number of people read our post (either from social media or our emails) and followed the link through to the Pegasus comments page and some of you shared your comments with us.
Some of the comments we received from you were “we don’t need any more homes”. However, Central Government and Local Government have already decided that our Area has a capacity for about 3,000 homes in the “Strategic Location for Growth” and the land cannot be re-designated as Greenbelt (we asked). We are committed to making developments: Sustainable; Energy efficient; Environmentally positive; provide the necessary Infrastructure (not just roads but medical facilities, schools, Active Travel, etc.); and provides Employment in the Area. It is on these requirements that we have provided our response.
We’ll let you know as we hear more.
If you wish to comment to us regarding any of this, please use our “Contact-Us” form.
Updated: Pegasus has now closed this consultation. Our submitted comments can be found following this link. We would still be interested in your views contact us if you have any comments to make.
On Monday 12th February 2024 we received the attached from Pegasus Group who are preparing a Planning Application for housing on the land to the east of Toton Lane.
The Steering Group will be preparing a response on behalf of the Neighbourhood Forum, calling on the Neighbourhood Plan Policies and other related documents. However, this will only be one submission. It is therefore important that as many people as possible make their opinions known. We can’t instruct you as to what to say (consultations tend to ignore submissions with identical wording) but the topics we would suggest you consider are: Infrastructure, Environment, Housing & Sustainability, Urban Design, Leisure Heritage & Community and Employment/Business.
The consultation only runs until the 26th February (hence the urgency).
We’d also be interested in knowing whether (and when) you received one of the leaflets as it will identify who Pegasus are consulting.
Finally, we would be interested in your response to the consultation so if you are willing to share your response with us, please respond to this email or complete our contact us form.
Good afternoon
I am acting on behalf of Bloor Homes and Peveril Homes in preparing a planning application submission for 260 dwellings (including affordable homes) and formal and informal open space at Toton East, off Stapleford Lane (forming part of the Neighbourhood Plan area).
This development will also include the provision of a vehicular access point from Stapleford Lane, a safeguarded road link into the Chetwynd Barracks, pedestrian and cycle links across the site connecting to the tram station and existing rights of way, the creation of green corridors and the provision of supporting infrastructure and utilities.
The site forms part of an already allocated area in the Local Plan known as “Land in the vicinity of the HS2 Station at Toton (Strategic Location for Growth)” (identified in Policy 3.2) as a sustainable location for residential development for at least 3,000 dwellings.
We are keen to share our ideas for the site, which will deliver the first homes of this larger allocation and will facilitate the delivery of the wider allocation and Chetwynd Barracks to the south.
We are undertaking public consultation consisting of a leaflet drop (in the local area to c.850 properties) and a consultation website (www.totoneast.co.uk<http://www.totoneast.co.uk>) which is due to go live on 13th February 2024. The consultation will run until 26th February 2024 and any comments received will be taken into account prior to the submission of a planning application to Broxtowe Borough Council.
Please find attached a copy of the consultation leaflet and Masterplan for the development.
If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Alan
Alan Siviter Principal Planner E Alan.Siviter@pegasusgroup.co.uk M 07971 539832 | DD 01509 279835 | EXT 5008 | T 01509 670806 4 The Courtyard | Lockington | Derby | DE74 2SL Expertly Done. LinkedIn | X | Instagram | Our Charity | Our Website DESIGN | ECONOMICS | ENVIRONMENT | HERITAGE | LAND & PROPERTY | PLANNING | TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE
At their meeting on the 6th February 2024, the Broxtowe Borough Council Cabinet unanimously approved the Chetwynd: The Toton & Chilwell Neighbourhood Forum Neighbourhood Plan, when modified as per the Independent Examiner’s recommendations, to proceed to Local Referendum.
This means that (at last) we can see the end of the long process of establishing our Neighbourhood Plan as part of the Planning Process for developments in our Local Area.
“All” that is left to do is to update the text of the Plan in line with the Examiner’s Recommendations (not a small task) and to publish the final version. Broxtowe will then organise the Referendum. We will let you know when the Referendum will take place.
One of the links in this weekend’s Toton Battery Storage post is no longer working. To view the planning application go to the Broxtowe Planning Application Search page and enter 22/00799/FUL into the search box.
Following on from last week’s post, the Examiner’s Report received on 17th January and concluding the Examination of the Neighbourhood Plan, has now been published on Broxtowe’s website here, and is also linked through from our website Plan page.
The next step of the process is for the Council’s Cabinet to receive and consider the report at its meeting on 6th February, and if no issues raised recommend that the Neighbourhood Plan can move forward to Local Referendum for approval by the community the Forum serves. The agenda and papers for this meeting will appear on this page next week, and there is also a link to watch a live stream of the proceedings from 6pm.
However before the Referendum can proceed, the Neighbourhood Plan will need to be fully updated following the Examiner’s recommendations on the proposed amendments put forward, and be in its final version along with any other supporting documents. This inevitably will take a bit of time, but we aim to start this process next week.
Although dependent on the outcome of the Cabinet meeting, we are aiming to be ready for Broxtowe to be able to hold the Local Referendum on 2nd May, the same date as the County Council and Combined Authority Mayoral elections. This should ensure a good turnout as opposed to going ahead on its own.
Following the meeting on 6th February, we should have a better idea of the timeline for the remaining steps to adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan. It has been a lengthy eight years in the making, and it doesn’t seem possible that we started this journey in 2016, but we did!! We have all travelled a long and winding road (to quote Lennon & McCartney) and we’re looking forward to reaching the end, for a bit of a rest, at least for a while!
As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this week’s latest bulletin or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.
We have received a notification from Broxtowe that an appeal has been launched against the Planning Committee’s decision to reject this application 22/00799/FUL for a Battery Energy Storage System at Southfields Farm, Common Lane in Bramcote, which is in the Green Belt. Although this lies outside the Forum Area it would nevertheless impact residents in Chilwell as well as Bramcote.
At the time of the original application the Forum submitted a representation opposing this development, and fully supported the decision to reject it. We do of course support battery energy storage, but this proposed location in the Green Belt rather than for example in the Toton Strategic Location for Growth (SLG), close or adjacent to the existing electricity sub-station on Toton Lane, doesn’t make any sense. The SLG is, as you will be aware, no longer in the Green Belt, and already ear marked for major development.
As an appeal has now been lodged with the Secretary of State by the developer (Toton Battery Storage Ltd.), the Steering Group will now review this and provide a further representation to the Planning Inspector.
As always in these cases, the more responses the better. See the notification letter 240126 Battery Storage Appeal (with personal details removed) for how to do so by 27th February.
To answer this question, here is a recap of the past 12 months or so:-
The submission version of the Plan underwent Independent Examination in November 2022. Following the hearing, the Examiner requested substantial changes to sections of the Plan, in particular following the publication of the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan (i.e. that there would no longer be a HS2 station at Toton), but also taking into account the various representations made prior to, and at, the hearing.
Members of the Steering Group worked closely with the Broxtowe Planning team (with support from a Locality appointed consultant) to make the necessary proposed modifications to the Plan. Following a lot of time & effort by all concerned, these modifications were submitted to the Examiner in March 2023. Due to the significant update to the Plan that would result from this, she requested a further ‘Limited & Focussed Consultation’ on the proposed modifications only. Due to the local elections last May in Broxtowe and the period of purdah surrounding this, the limited consultation was held over until the summer and concluded in early September 2023.
The representations received were sent to the Examiner at the end of that month, following review by the Forum and Broxtowe. Unfortunately, due to her other work commitments and schedule, she was unable to review these until December. This timeline is provided on our website Plan page.
Just before Christmas we received a ‘Fact Check’ version of the Examiner’s report. The Forum & Broxtowe provided a combined response picking up points of accuracy & typos, together with a small number of points for clarification. This was submitted to the Examiner last Monday 15th and we are pleased to say that the corrected version came back quickly on Wednesday 17th, which concludes the Examination of the Neighbourhood Plan.
However, we are unable to publish it here just yet until we have been given the green light by Broxtowe and/or it has been published on their website, because as the Local Planning Authority, Broxtowe control the process. Having said that we expect to receive permission to make the Examiner’s Report public next week, so by this time next weekend it should be with you.
As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this week’s latest bulletin or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.
We have been asked by Councillor Teresa Cullen (Ward Councillor for Toton & Chilwell Meadows and current Broxtowe Mayor) to provide the following update in relation to controlling the Oak Processionary Moth, that you may remember caused a lot of concern last year.
Last summer there was a positive sighting of Oak Processionary Moth Caterpillars at Toton Fields, off Banks Road in Toton. The Forestry Commission sprayed insecticide on to the infected tree to deal with the infestation. No further nests were identified during the summer period.
However, the Forestry Commission has recently written to the Council to say that they are planning to undertake further control measures in and around the tree that they identified as affected. At Toton Fields, the Forestry Commission have identified five Oak trees, that are over 15 metres in height, that were in close proximity to the initial infected tree, that they would like to crown prune. These works are due to take place in January and February this year, and the Forestry Commission will inform the Council, when they have an exact date.
We are grateful to Cllr Cullen for providing this advance notice and explanation to hopefully avoid any consternation when the works start (as has happened previously without any warning e.g. around the power lines). Once we have been provided with the dates, we will update this post.
For more information about the Oak Processionary Moth, and what to do if you spot any of its caterpillars, see this Leaflet and Poster
There are two recent consultations that you may be interested in responding to:-
1. Nottinghamshire’s Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy – see here
The link to the consultation is at the bottom of the page and is a very short survey, which closes on 12th March. The Forum’s Infrastructure Focus Group has already responded to this one on behalf of the Forum, but as always the more individual responses the better.
2. Sandiacre Parish Council (in neighbouring Erewash) has produced a Neighbourhood Plan for their parish, the Area being identical to the parish boundary. Their Regulation 16 consultation has just opened and will run until 28th February. The Plan, supporting documents and how to respond can be found here
The Forum Steering Group will review this in due course and respond as appropriate, as although not directly adjacent to our Forum Area, it is close by. Please do feel free to make individual representations in addition to the Forum’s.
