Local Issues Involving the PAB

Recent Issues

FLOODING AND THE DRAINAGE PROBLEMS THAT FOLLOWED JULY 2007

Like many parts of the country, Cheltenham residents suffered as a result of the unprecedented rainfall on that dreadful day in July 2007.
Prestbury village, for example, lies at the foot of the surrounding hills and has always been vulnerable to flooding. Nevertheless, a lot of the flooding problems had been caused by poor and inadequate drainage facilities, which PAB local councillors had been highlighting for a number of years.
It took the floods of July 2007 to make the Highways Department and the Environment Agency to realise that what we had been saying for years had now finally come home to them that the drainage was poor.
Soakaways, for example, are fine in dry weather but utterly useless when continuous rainfall makes the ground saturated.
We pointed out constantly, that drains spaced fifty yards apart were not capturing the water that fell and more drains were needed fifty feet apart.
Surrounding ditches, we told the authorities, needed to be kept clear of debris and dredged on a regular basis, and, we pointed out time and time again that additional housing developments in unsuitable locations only added to the flooding problems.
Our pleas and advice only fell on deaf ears.

We had persuaded both Tewkesbury Borough and Cheltenham Borough Councils to invest in land drainage projects for the longer term. Against the opposition from some councillors who preferred to spend the money elsewhere, we managed to get both councils to invest in a land drainage scheme. The joint cost of both schemes was nearly £1million and a lot of work was done for the money. The problem was that both councils started to lay the pipes at different parts of Prestbury village and we finally finished up with two sets of pipes lying in the ground for several years waiting for the councils, the county highways and the environment agency to come up with a final scheme that would connect up the two sets of pipes.

Like many instances in the past, it took a disastrous flooding situation to make these councils and agencies wake up to the fact that there was a major flooding problem in Prestbury.
PAB councillors argued with councils and agencies for months after July 2007 to act seriously with the Prestbury problem, but it wasn’t until the PAB Group wrote to the Secretary of State explaining the situation and our concerns that things started to happen.

Five separate drainage schemes have been introduced in various parts of Prestbury, some small and some large. More drains are appearing and areas that had no drains at all, or very few, are now enjoying their areas without the constant fear of flooding.
In January 2010, the link up of the two sets of pipes will take place together with other flood defence measures, which will divert surface water away from homes.

A great achievement for the PAB Group and shows what can be done.

DEVELOPMENT ON BACK GARDENS AND OPEN SPACES

One of the biggest problems that PAB councillors have faced in recent times has been the urge by house holders to sell their houses and gardens to developers who are eager to buy them in order to demolish and then build several houses in their place.
In Cheltenham, as elsewhere, it has become known as “garden grabbing”.

In some cases, residents have been persuaded by developers to sell just the rear garden in order for the developer to gain access to other open spaces where larger numbers of dwellings can be built.
This is not just a Cheltenham problem because it is happening across the country and has been the subject of debate in the House of Commons on more than one occasion.
The problem lies in the small print of the Planning Policy Guidance document that states that a ‘back garden’ is a brownfield site because it is attached to a dwelling and therefore is regarded as “previously developed land’”
This is quite ridiculous and can only be changed by central government.

The PAB Group could not wait for the House of Commons to change the law and decided to set up a working group, eventually with Council support, to stop back garden developments and the development of in-fill sites.
This has not been easy because surprisingly, some ‘political’ councillors thought it should not be done. The planning officers too were not over- enthusiastic for several reasons, not least we thought, because it would deprive them of possible ‘windfall’ site developments that would prevent the Council meeting their house building targets.
PAB councillors were more concerned about the damage that back garden developments were causing in the town, not least because the local environments were spoiled, the impact on adjoining neighbours caused a loss of privacy and a deprivation of the amenities they previously enjoyed.
Just as importantly, the character of the areas, particularly local estates, was changing and in the PAB view should always be protected.

As a result of a lot of hard work the working group came up with a set of proposals, which were debated internally and changed where needed and finally adopted by Cheltenham Borough Council.
The proposals are contained in a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which had to go out for public consultation for several weeks but was well supported with a few objections from possible ‘would-be’ sellers of properties.

The SPD is now a document, which must be used as a material consideration in
planning applications to develop rear gardens or in-fill sites in Cheltenham.
A great achievement for the PAB Group, which showed conclusively that a small group of independent councillors, can be an effective force for good in spite of political opposition.

An Integrated Transport Scheme

In recent months there has been considerable coverage of the proposed Parkway rail station. Rather than comment on what has been said we thought it would helpful to print some information on the whole scheme, of which Parkway is just one part.

The Integrated Transport at Elmbridge Court (ITEC) major scheme is vital to address existing and future transportation problems in the county. ITEC will benefit car drivers and public transport users.

The scheme features the following:

A new park and ride site attached to the station with 500 parking spaces (expandable to 1,000 spaces).
Improvements to the Elmbridge Court and C & G roundabouts.
A new high quality bus service between Cheltenham and Gloucester , calling at major employment and transport sites.
Bus priority measures.
A new train station at Elmbridge Court , off the A40 near Gloucester .
A 500 space car park for the train station.

The business case outlines the key reasons for promoting the scheme including:

Improved access to Gloucester and Cheltenham town centres.
Faster, more frequent and more reliable bus services.
Reduced congestion on M5/M6 corridor.
A projected cut in CO2 emissions of 13,000 tonnes per year – the same as 7,000 cars would produce.
Serving a catchment of 406,000 people – 71% of total population and 75% of jobs in Gloucestershire.
Provision of additional parking facilities that cannot be provided at existing stations – a benefit to the whole county.
Delivery of improved accessibility to the business markets in London, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester especially.

Gloucestershire County Council has submitted a bid for funding from the Department of Transport to fund the non-rail elements of the ITEC scheme. The County Council is currently opening discussions with a number of potential private sector partners to construct and operate the railway station without the need for any public money.

Green Space Strategy

Parks, People and wildlife – A Green Space Strategy for Cheltenham, is the heading for a new document to cover the period 2009 - 2024
The above document was presented to the Borough Cabinet and the full Council by the Cabinet Deputy (Built Environment) and received maximum support by the elected members.
PAB councillors were more than happy to support such an important document because it supplements what is already contained in the numerous Local Plan policies that protect the green open spaces in parishes and the wider town environment.
In the opening summary of the document it claims that it is “a landmark document that joins up the various elements of green space provision and management with strategic land management, sustainability, biodiversity and resilience to climate change.”

This new strategy focuses on all publicly accessible green space, regardless of owner or manager within the Borough.
The focus of the document is green space and it refers to all green space of public value and this includes opportunities for sport and recreation. The document also states that green space should also act as a visual amenity.

PAB councillors have always supported the protection of green space in the parish and there are several instances where our actions have prevented development on these important green lungs.
But the green spaces across the town are equally important and they help to make Cheltenham what it is, an attractive place to live.

It is surprising, therefore, as well as difficult to understand, how the same councillors who presented the new green space strategy and then supported its publication, could support an application to build on the wild life garden at Dunalley School with complete disregard to the new document as well as Local Plan policies.

The green environment is important and we make this clear in the PAB policy statement.

We were instrumental in the setting up of the working group to protect back gardens from development. A Supplementary Planning Document was established and it does just that, but what is the point of achieving these aims if others are prepared to ignore them?

We must not let up.

Underground Parking

Cheltenham Borough Council like many other local authorities is short of land for development purposes. Each L.A. is required to have land available for employment use at any one time and currently we are short of about 10 hectares of land.

The regional spatial strategy, when approved, will propose that Cheltenham Borough Council provides 12,500 houses of which a minimum of 30% will be affordable. To make sure that we do not harm the existing Green Belt land around Cheltenham it is important that we make good use of brownfield sites within the borough boundary.
Large tracts of land in the ownership of CBC such as the surface car park in Portland Street, the old Black & White sites are classic examples that with a bit of vision on the part of the Council the car park could be underground, still producing long term revenue and at the same time releasing land for development.