OPTION EA3

This is the most suitable of the three options identified by the Council as it includes sufficient land for the school improvements, with the site being able to accommodate a larger area for residential development. However, we believe that the site area is not sufficient to deliver a high quality scheme, which meets parking and amenity standards and provides for all of the wider requirements of the Core Strategy. The site area should therefore be amended to include additional land to the north, for reasons set out below.

We note that the Council considers that "the site to the north would not provide a defensible green belt boundary". A Preliminary Landscape and Visual Appraisal has been undertaken to examine this. This report reveals that although the area of countryside is within the Green Belt, its intrinsic value and sensitivity of the landscape is low. The land parcel to the south of Brays Lane is well enclosed and has little relationship with the outlying countryside. The southern third of the northern parcel also has no publicly appreciable relationship or visual link to the outlying countryside and development here would not affect the character and the openness of the remaining Green Belt land. Further north the site does have some visual link with the Green Belt, however influences are highly limited. Development would not bring significant changes to the scene that cannot be mitigated. It is also possible that good design of the development edge could result in an enhanced urban edge. This option has a total site area of 5.44 ha and is capable of accommodating around 123 dwellings at a density of 30 dwellings per hectare. Given that extending the site boundary further to the north has limited impacts in terms of landscape and visual amenity, it is submitted that any harm will be outweighed by the positive contribution to housing supply in a sustainable location.

In considering detailed proposals for this broad location a scheme was sought that met a number of criteria. These included meeting the objectives of the Core Strategy, providing a viable scheme given the substantial contributions required and ensuring that the proposals would be technically acceptable and that the impact on the Green Belt and landscape would be kept to a minimum.

As stated above, we put forward a preferred option, EA4, which is shown on the attached plan (ref. 010036/06). This option is considered in greater detail below.