New Housing Development in Yateley
In December 2005 English Nature issued a paper to Local Planning Authorities outlining their proposals to facilitate new housing development within 5 km of the boundaries of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area for Wild Birds. Until that point English Nature had been recommending refusal of permission for all new dwellings and potential dwellings which appeared likely adversely to affect the integrity of the SPA. Until English Nature issued their new guidelines Local Planning Authorities appear to have accepted English Nature's advice concerning large potential estates (such as Elizabeth Barracks in Fleet) but not for, say, small flatted developments such as Robin Hill House on Monteagle Lane.
English Nature's current advice is that Local Planning Authorities include three tiered buffer zones around the SPA in their Local Development Frameworks. Within 400 metres of the boundary no net new dwellings will be allowed. Practically the whole of the Civil Parish of Yateley is within 2km of the SPA boundary. Within the next zone (400 - 2000 metres) developers should provide 16 hectares of new open space per 1,000 new population. The big questions for housebuilders are (a) the availability of suitable land to convert to public open space and (b) the adverse effect on the economics of housebuilding of providing the mitigation land. All undeveloped land in Yateley is likely to be priced as potential development land with 'hope value'.
A Report to the South East England Regional Assembly with respect to the SeeraPlans\Draft South East Plan summarises the current situation, and proposes that SEERA carry out an audit of existing open space to determine whether its usage can be intensified, and what land in other uses could provide new open space. An additional question S5 Q8A has been added to the Yateley Health Check to determine where 'mitigation land' might be found in Yateley.
English Nature's new policy recommendation, if it is finally adopted by the planning authorities, and survives without challenge in British and European Courts, will have a considerable and lasting influence on the future of Yateley. If new housing estates are effectively banned, nevertheless development for commercial use, amenities and facilities usage are not likely to be affected. English Nature's delivery plan may well accomplish the objective which the Yateley Society has been trying to achieve since the publication of Circular 22/80 twenty-five years ago.
It should be remembered however that English Nature's delivery plan is seeking to protect the Special Protection Area (SPA) whilst enabling building of a very large number of new houses in the South East Region. The Draft South East Plan calls for the construction of 4,000 houses in the northern part of Hart District. Building additional houses in Zone 2 in Yateley as infill can be accomplished if the developers can locate and finance suitable 'mitigation land' as new public open space. We look at the possible 'mitigation land' as our answer to Worksheet S5 Q8A(c) to assist the SEERA audit.
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