Yesterday we residents of Denny Avenue received a letter from Orbit Homes. Here is my response to that letter which I have emailed to the Senior Projects Officer. Laura Handford. Dear Ms Handford. Thank you for your letter dated 7th Nov to the residents of Denny avenue. I would like to point out to you that the concerns I and others have for this proposed development as residents of Denny Avenue. 1. Loss of play space. Overall provision of play space is on the other side of the village. So the younger members of our community living in or around Denny Avenue would have to walk along a very narrow road with no provision of footpath, then cross a very busy urban road that is used as a bus route, and therefore a massive obstacle for a young child. Safety of our children has not been factored into your equation at all on this it would seem. Playing on this area, in sight of home, and parental supervision, and at a time when the government tell us to encourage our children to play outside and get away from TV and computer screens, seems to have been side stepped. OUR community, not YOURS. Would you accept this on your doorstep? No. You would not. We were told you had other sites that you were looking as alternates, by one of your people. So where are they? They do not nor ever did exist. This land has been used as a community open space for 50 years, and should remain so. Land that you have no right to, but are being GIVEN by the council. Land that is worth a lot of money, to which the council should by rights be demanding money for, as they are always short on funds. 2.Car Parking - 3 Vehicle turning. The scheme allows for 2 spaces per new dwelling, but removes spaces for the dwellings already in Denny avenue. Why do new houses qualify for this provision, whilst you remove ours? The turning areas as you call them, have not been used as turning areas for a very long time. I have lived here for 20 years, and this area has been providing parking for residents in all of that time. Regardless of being called Turning area. You also fail to mention the fact that you are not providing parking for the incumbent residents, or the fact you are intending to remove some. Your colleague told one of our residents to park on the front garden. Its a garden. Not a parking area. Who is going to cover the cost of turning front gardens into parking areas? ORBIT? Mid Suffolk? NO. The residents. Dropped kerbs are nearly £1000, and block paving and drainage would also cost a further 2-3 thousand pounds. Displaced parking from the closing of the garages, which was undertaken way to soon, and has lost the council vital revenue, has now caused residents to drive over green space causing damage, and a further loss of safe area for our children to play. You also seem to have forgotten that the access to this site would be very small. What sort of vehicles are you proposing to use to bring in equipment and materials? I drive a 44 ton truck for a living, and can assure you that vehicles of the size you will require will have great difficulty in servicing this site. Having had to do this task in my line of work, I am very aware of the space required to service sites. There is inadequate space or access. Do you propose to widen Windgap Lane, and provide a footpath so our children can negotiate their way to the playing field at the other end of the village in safety? Probably not, as the cost would be prohibitive. 4. Overlooking. Whilst the design of the interiors may mitigate some of this issue, you fail to take into account the residents of Ladyfield whos homes will be inaccessible from the rear due to this development. As you propose to return Bixby residents to the new homes being developed there, a short term move to Stowmarket or a nearby location, a move which it would seem they are being given a large sum of money to cover would be more conducive to locality. As these residents will be gaining a BRAND NEW home too move into when Bixby is redeveloped, I am sure they wont be worrying to much as to where they are placed, as they will be returning. The trees on this area are mature and enhance the look and feel of the area, but you will have to remove them to place dwellings, as the roots would surely one day become an issue. Trees outside the boundary may also cause a root invasion at a later date, if they survive the developments building phase. 5. Surface water drainage. Surface water may not be an issue, but as the overworked and constant blockage of the sewerage system is already a problem, this development will cause even further problems. Are you going to provide a new system, separate to the one that already exists? As the land is at present low lying, why will it not flood? I suspect it will, and frequently. Your reassurances do not in anyway make me think for one moment that you have any feeling one way or the other to the residents of Denny Avenue, Windgap Lane, or Ladyfield. Whist your investment in this development will make a return for your company in the long term, it will ruin any investment in our childrens future well being, and of the look and feel and community spirit of our small area of our village. I and most of the people who will be affected by this development appose it and your plans for it in the strongest terms possible. We hope the council see the sense in our objections to it, and that it fails to get the planning permission required. As your offices are in Norwich, which is in a different county, I doubt very much you will be affected by any decision, but we the residents of a village to which you probably had never heard of until very recently, will be. I hope this goes someway in showing you the feelings locally about you project. Please feel free to contact me to discuss these issues further. I am making the content of this email and any responses to it available to the media and Social media, on Facebook at The Denny Avenue Windgap Lane Ladyfield Action Group. Thank you for your time. Yours Sincerely I urge you all to do the same, so we can show these faceless officials that we do not want or need this development to go ahead.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 19:01:23 +0000
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