Community Gains for the Village of Thurston
DC/23/02429 - Application for Full Planning Permission - Erection of 5 no. dwellings @ Land at Norton Road, Thurston
and
DC/23/02430 - Application for Outline Planning Permission (access points to be considered, appearance, layout, landscaping and scale to be reserved) Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) - Erection of 8 no. dwellings with garaging (6 No new and 2 No replacement dewllings ) @ land West of Barrells Road, Thurston
The Parish Council would like to record that it supports the above planning applicaitons in order to provide significant community benefits for the village of Thurston to be held in perpetuity by the parish council. The applications are linked and both are supported to ensure that the benefits are able to be enjoyed by as wide a section of the comunity as possible.
The significant benefits to the Parish of Thurston, none of which have been achieved on any of the significant planning applications as negotiated by the Local Planning Authority on other sites within Thurston are:
- Freehold of the 10-acre New Green site including the Centre - this will enable the Parish Council, in conjunction with strategic partners, to build a centre fit for the village of Thurston
- Safeguard the new allotment plots on Barrells Green as this land will pass to the Parish Council to be held for the village - it is expected that a Thurston Allotment Society will be set up to allow effective engagement with allotment holders and the Parish Council who will hold the freehold of the land
- Gain the freehold of 3.22 acres of land north of Norton Road and due east of the new Primary School Academy. In gaining this freehold the following will be enabled:
i) A new community orchard can be established for the whole of the community
ii) Assist The Primary School with its application for Forest Academy status
iii) Further allotments can be established owned by the Parish Council
iv) A footway can be continued from the school zebra crossing along the north of the busy Norton Road to the footpath crossing Thurston Park (Footpath No. 6) enabling safe pedestrian access to the Church/ Recreation Ground on Church Road, Cavendish Hall and the east of the Village.
Should the planning applications not be supported and be refused, there will be significant consequences.
The parish council has debated this at length and came to the conclusion that the benefits outweigh the harm that a further 11 houses (over two sites) will have.
Consequences of a refusal of the applications will be:
- The above opportunities will not be repeated - the freehold of the New Green Centre will be uncertain as the current landowners are moving away from the village. The future will be out of the control of either the Parish Council, New green Trust or the villagers themselves as there is an intention to sell the freehold.
- The existing allotments on private land to the West of Barrells Road will cease -'notice to quit' has already been served by the private landlords in March 2023 with the expectation that all the allotment holders would be moving to the new allotment site for the start of March 2024 season. These allotments, on private land, are rented on an annual licence only. It should be reiterated that there was never any intention to remove the allotments on the private land - merely to move them and gift the land upon which they will be situated to the community of Thurston in perpetuity.
- The whole of the field to the west of Barrells Road will revert back to agriculture either arable or livestock and the landowners have indicated that they or a tenant farmer will exercise their right to pass and repass along the drive, leading from Barrells Road, a right which was granted when the frams were purchased in 1981.
- If planning permission is not granted, Appletree Cottage and the Bungalow on Church Road will be subject to a planning application for demolition and replacement with 2 new houses.
In these circumstances there will be no gain to the village.
There will be the loss of future allotments (as well as the current ones on private land), loss of land for a community orchard, loss of the provision of a footway for safe access along Norton Road, uncertainty over the future of Open Space and Community Centre at New Green.
The gain to the village will be a small CIL receipt from two replacement houses.
The situation with New Green Community Centre and plans for its expansions will be difficult to progress, as in order to be able to apply for certain grants, the remaining portion of the lease is too short (less than 60 years) - hence the Parish Council's agreement to be party to the proposals as the applicants, (who have had long-term family connections to the village), are willing to gift the freehold to the Council.
This gifting of the freehold would give security and longevity for any project to be commenced for the benefit of the growing community of Thurston - without this the future of the centre is uncertain.
In terms of allotments, the only gain will be access to the 9 plots of allotments on Thurston Park.
