Savills wrote to some householders on Grange Farm on 31 January 2013 (and placed adverts in the local newspapers) inviting local residents to a Public Exhibition at Kesgrave Community Centre on Wednesday 6 February 2013 from 4pm to 9pm (the night of the England v Brazil football match). To many this seemed quite short notice. Reports were only about 200 people turned up at the Exhibition whereas Grange Farm has over 3,000 properties.
At the exhibition were 11 sheets on boards showing various aspects of the proposed development and representatives were on hand to respond to queries and take feedback. The main purpose of the exhibition was to take feedback from local residents so that Persimmon and their consultants could use this to develop their planning proposals further, prior to their planning submission. Persimmon Homes state that ‘a Statement of Community Involvement will be submitted as part of the planning application summarising the comments received and detailing the changes incorporated as a result of the consultation process.’
Savills have given a deadline of either Wednesday 13 February (per feedback form) or Friday 15 February (per their letter to householders) by which they want feedback comments. A number of local residents have questioned whether Persimmon are genuinely interested in the concerns of the local community or rather simply want the feedback to help hone their impending planning application so that delays are minimised.
Access to the new development was proposed through a) the exisiting farm access at Dobbs Lane and also b) by extending the Millennium Way road across the bridleway and into the new development. Persimmon propose a detailed application for Phase 1 (100 homes to be built from the Dobbs Lane access across to the new Millennium Way access) with outline planning permission for a further 200 homes stretching to opposite Cedarwood School, making 300 homes in total. The woodland/heath area bordering Dobbs Lane was to be retained. Persimmon stated that ‘The site is serviced well by existing schools’ which many residents thought was laughable. Traffic calming measures were to be installed.
An electronic copy of the exhibition boards can be obtained by email from Savills.