I suggest we send a village comment on the Revision of the South Somerset Local Plan.
One issue that occurs to me is the lack of transparency and village consultation on how the number of houses planned for Martock is worked out and also the lack of discussion around where they should be. What we have experienced gives the impression that it has all been stitched up between SSDC and Barratts to get their housing number deficit under control. I suspect this is not the case but we need clear evidence to show that it is not.
Another issue the surprising lack of dialogue between SSDC planners and those at the front line here in health and education.
A third is the fundamental unreliability of the data that everyone uses to assess flood risk because no flow measurements have ever been made – all are estimated.
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Andrew Clegg
Andrew, It seems to me that SSDC are ignoring the Local Plan and have decided to revise it just so that they can get their deficit sorted. For example the proposed Coat Road development would take Martock well over numbers required, so SSDC has moved the goal posts to accomodate this. There seems to be no consideration, by SSDC, for the stuggles Martock services already have. GP services, Schooling, Bus services. General Traffic and lack of employment opportunities. SSDC cannot be allowed to put more pressure on these services.There are numerous brownfield sites that should be “developed” before any greenfield are considered. There should also be a plan for increasing local business sites, again on brownfield sites, in order to provide employment opportunities for local people, so they can earn the money to allow them to purchase/rent the affordable housing. It seems SSDC planning think they have the right to make decisions, and are in my opinion totally biased towards housing developers, no matter what damage is done to local communities and villages.