Issue - meetings

To receive questions from members of the public, of which prior notification in writing has been received (no later than noon two clear working days before the day of the Council meeting).

Should you wish to submit a question please complete the online form at www.maldon.gov.uk/publicparticipation.

In accordance with the Council’s public speaking protocol, it was noted that the following question had been received from Mr David Sismey. Mr Sismey was in attendance and read his question out.

Question:

‘"Such was the huge impact of over 1100 new homes north of Heybridge, one of the key conditions imposed on the development when approved in 2019 was that the western end of the relief road would be complete and open to the public before 100 occupations on site. This was a planning condition imposed not by MDC but by the planning inspector on behalf of the Secretary of State and as the council knows, conditions can only be imposed if they are NECESSARY and ENFORCEABLE.

Most people are actually not against development. What people are against is councils failing to ensure that developments deliver the infrastructure and services necessary to support them - and in good time. The developer has had 5 years to build out this road and already failed to deliver it to haul road standard to support construction traffic towards the start of the project as originally committed. 

As we rapidly approach the 100 occupations point, can the council please confirm that it will not let more than 100 occupations occur on this site until this part of the relief road has been completed and opened to the public?  To fail to do so would not only illegitimately cast aside a decision made at a superior level in the planning system, it would also impose increasing traffic misery on local residents."’

The Leader of the Council then read out the following response which had been circulated prior to the meeting.

Response:

“According to the Council's Building Control records there have been 90 completions on the site and the Council has been informed that 77 are currently occupied, of those as far as the Council is aware 66 are paying council tax. Therefore, as it stands at present, the developer has not reached 100 homes occupied which triggers the planning condition about the relief road. I have received confirmation from the Council's Planning Enforcement team that they are aware of the condition and have already opened a planning enforcement case to ensure they can monitor the situation. Should a breach occur in respects of this matter, the Council will prioritise and investigate as required by its Planning Enforcement Policy. Presently, however, the developer is not in breach of any planning condition on the relief road.”

In addition, the Leader advised that if there was any breach, no matter the size of the development, the Council put priority into ensuring enforcement cases were investigated.

To receive questions from members of the public, of which prior notification in writing has been received (no later than noon two clear working days before the day of the Council meeting).

Should you wish to submit a question please complete the online form at www.maldon.gov.uk/publicparticipation.

In accordance with the Council’s public speaking protocol, it was noted that the following question had been received from Mr Tom Kelly.

Question:

‘Were the members of the strategy and resources committee and those of the car park task and finish working group fully aware of the fact that where there were once 10 free parking slots in the white horse lane, that five were removed which led to the chaos of people waiting for slots and that in turn was the excuse put forward by officers and members to remove the final five altogether, which is of no benefit members of the public attending the library, the only remaining bank or quick shopping or donating items to charity shops, as the new ones in the gasworks car park or butt lane are at a distance making it likely they will overstay their welcome.’

The Leader of the Council had provided the following response which had been published on the Council’s agenda.

Response:

The Council recognises the value of the 30 minute free parking bays to our residents and visitors, and is committed to ensuring that a number of these remain available to use whilst visiting the Town Centre area.

The White Horse Lane Car Park is our busiest car park, with a significant level of constant vehicle movements during the day. The relocation of free parking bays from this car park should ease the congestion caused by drivers waiting for the bays to become free, whilst retaining a number of free spaces at alternative car parks in the High Street, including Butt Lane and High Street East. We have also increased the number of free spaces in the town. Butt Lane car park is still very convenient for the High Street and the layout of this car park enables movement of cars more efficiently, reduces congestion and exhaust emissions that were being created previously.