Travis Perkins development proposal

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TPPennyfarthing Homes Ltd will soon be submitting proposals for either a 23 or 25 home development on the Travis Perkins site in Lymington. The planning consultants Tanner Tilley welcome comments at planners@tanner-tilley.co.uk. We attach a scan of the letter they sent local residents with plans for both development options.

The society is reviewing the proposals and will comment in due course. To view the proposals click this link TravisPerkins

If you have any comments please feel free to post them here.

2013 AGM

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cropped-logo_small.jpgThe 2013 AGM took place at the Lymington Community Centre on 26th March 2013. The Chairman gave his address highlighting the Society’s achievements over the last twelve months. Elections to the committee were approved and the new web site was presented to the membership.

For full details of the AGM click here

Visit to Berthon Boatyard 7th May

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Tuesday 7th of May 2013  (6.00 PM to 8.00 PM)

Berthon

By kind permission of Brian May, MD of Berthon Boat Company, we are pleased to have been able to arrange a visit to look round this major and very important local business which occupies such a significant and historic site in the heart of Lymington. The Berthon Boat Company has been in operation on the site since 1877 and the Lymington Shipyard is reputed to have been in operation since Roman times.

The visit will comprise a guided walk around the yard in several groups if numbers determine, followed by a Drinks Reception in the Berthon Boat Company boardroom.

Entry £5.00 to include refreshments. Members only

Gordleton expansion: our planning response

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Gordleton update: there’s a new application registered 19 Aug 2013- see NFDC website. Then, add your comments on this website.

11033; Gordleton Industrial Park; construct buildings for industrial, storage and business use (Use Classes B1, B2, & B8) (Outline Application with details only of access, layout and scale).
GordletonUpdate: Application withdrawn by agent’s e-mail dated 10th May 2013.
The NFDC is considering an application to increase the size of Gordleton industrial park by around 30%. We are in favour of developing employment opportunities in Lymington and Pennington but this is not the right location.

Planning permission for the original Gordleton Industrial Park was granted at appeal in 1979. When it was first built Gordleton was the main option for expanding employment locally but there are now reasonable alternatives. Industrial capacity has been added in the immediate area and nearby, notably at Ampress. We understand there is a large unoccupied unit at Gordleton, together with undeveloped space within the existing site.

The capacity of the existing access roads is completely inadequate to bear the increased levels of traffic that this proposal implies. The size of lorries when Gordleton first opened was a lot smaller than today. The ambulance station at Gordleton has introduced additional pressure on nearby roads. This proposal would risk producing delays that could have serious consequences.

Contrary to Local Plan policy The Transport Assessment submitted with this application underestimates the impact of the likely increase in traffic. It does not make it clear that the only practical approach to the site for large vehicles is along the Sway Road. The increased traffic along this narrow road would deter other road users e.g. cyclists, pedestrians and walkers from using the road. The application cannot therefore be considered to comply with Local Plan policy CS24.

In 1998, a similar planning application was refused in part because the roads leading to the site were considered to be of inadequate width and alignment to accommodate the additional traffic likely to be generated by the development.

We understand that at a meeting on 18.04.2013, Lymington & Pennington Town Council decided to recommend refusal of this application. We ask the Council to support the recommendation of their planning officers and refuse this application. ENDS.

Application details: 13/10257; Gordleton Industrial Park, Hannah Way SO41 8JD. Proposal: construct buildings for industrial, storage and business use (Use Classes B1, B2, & B8) (Outline Application with details only of access, layout and scale).

See our objection and all comments on the NFDC website:
http://planweb3.newforest.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=_NEWFO_DCAPR_182684.

Sale of the Lymington Bus Station for Redevelopment

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Bus StationThe Lymington Society has been aware for several years of the likelihood that the bus station would one day be sold for development as it has previously been listed by the NFDC as a potential site in its housing planning guidance.

Now that the site is finally to be sold, the Society very much welcomes the fact that the bus services operated from the bus station will not be curtailed and that the funds raised will be used to support the continuation of a full bus service. We are also pleased to hear that there will be no redundancies due to the sale.

In these difficult times bus services provide a vital lifeline for poorer families and older people especially and we hope that all the current services will continue much as before. We hope that this opportunity will be taken to ensure that the service fully integrates with the train service at the railway station.Bus Station-3

Speaking to the A & T after the announcement of the sale of the Bus Station Lymington Society Press Spokesman said:

“Clearly any future development which emerges on this unique site will need to be carefully designed to fit in to the heart of the Georgian centre of Lymington and the Society will work with the community to ensure that any designs chosen are suitable.

However the prospect of a large new development right in the centre of the town which could contain new housing as well as retail and business elements is an exciting prospect.

A suitable development is certainly something that the Society would welcome as it could inject much needed vitality into the centre of the town at this difficult time for many traders and the local economy.

In combination with the exciting Redrow development which is now proceeding apace, any eventual development could have a major effect in helping to rejuvenate the town.

The Lymington Society would welcome the opportunity to take an active part in consultations with the eventual owners to try and obtain the best result possible for the town on this important site”

Greenbelt development 2013

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Public hearing on ‘green belt’ housing in Lymington & Pennington 23rd April at Glasshouses_at_Pinetops_Nurseries,_Upper_Pennington,_Lymington_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1748941.30 pm. As part of the Sites & Development Management plan the New Forest District Council is looking at sites that could provide an additional 150 new homes, up to 70% of them affordable homes, on ‘green belt’ sites at Pinetops nurseries (listed as ‘Lym 1’ in the plan) and at a site to the north of Alexandra Road (‘Lym 2’). The Council has acknowledged our input at each stage of consultation on the preparation of the plan. The final stage of the formal adoption process is a public hearing at which a Planning Inspector tests the ‘soundness’ of the plan. The hearing began in February but some sessions had to be re-scheduled, owing to the Inspector’s illness. The session on ‘green belt’ housing in Lymington & Pennington is now scheduled for 23rd April at 1.30 pm at the NFDC offices at Appletree Court, Lyndhurst. See details for the public hearing at: http://www.newforest.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=10281

The Society understands and supports the need for affordable housing locally but there are reasonable alternatives to encroaching onto these green belt areas. Planning policy allows small scale exceptions to the prohibition on green belt development in special circumstances but the scale of the development proposed cannot be considered small scale. Neither of these sites is suitable for the scale of development proposed which would have significant implications on traffic and infrastructure locally. It would urbanise and significantly alter the character that is valued locally and highlighted in the Lymington Local Distinctiveness SPD.

We think that the sites and development management plan fails to properly consider reasonable alternatives for the location of additional housing locally – including affordable housing – and will be arguing strongly against the allocations at Pinetops and Alexandra Road at the hearing.

Background: The NFDC Sites and Development Management plan sets out the detailed proposals required to implement the planning strategy for the area agreed through the Core Strategy (adopted in 2009). The plan allocates a limited amount of greenfield land for new development to meet the local need for additional housing, affordable housing and employment. Between 2006 – 2026, the overall South East Plan requires 3,920 additional dwellings.

The Society’s view on the listing of the Sea Water Baths

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Sea water Baths

The Lymington Society has been aware for some time that English Heritage was considering a possible listing of the Lymington Sea Water Baths and that they had commissioned a detailed report on the historic significance of the baths.  We now very much welcome the outcome of their deliberations and their decision to list the baths as Grade Two Listed

The Lymington Society has been concerned for some time that the unique charm and historic settings of the Lymington Sea Water baths could be under threat from some of the more ambitious schemes that were being debated around the town.  Whilst appreciating that the maintenance of the baths and their safe operation had become increasingly problematic in this more safety conscious era, we were concerned that the rumoured redevelopment proposals could threaten the future of the baths as many have known and loved them for generations.

Speaking after the announcement by English Heritage Don Mackenzie Lymington Society Spokesman said:

We made enquires several months ago with English Heritage as to how the Society could take forward the listing of the baths.  We found that a request had already been made to English Heritage and that rather than reject this application they had produced an in-depth report on the history and significance of the baths.  We were pleased to add our support to the original request from a member of the public for listing to be granted.

 We felt that in view of English Heritage’s findings concerning the great historic importance of the baths that they would be more likely than not to agree to the listing.  Now that English Heritage has completed their assessment and has decided to list the baths we are very pleased and fully support their decision which may be the key to the baths long term retention and improvement.  

 Whilst understanding that this decision may be viewed by some as making necessary redevelopment of the baths more difficult, we sincerely hope that the listing of the baths will now in fact make it easier to obtain the vital funds that the bath need in order to guarantee their long term future. We hope that the authorities will understand that despite the listing, some sympathetic development of the baths and the area around them may well still be needed to give them a long term future.

Lymington Society AGM 26th March 2013

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community-centreThe AGM will be in the Wellington Room at the Lymington Community Centre at 7:30 pm on Tuesday March 26th 2013.
The Lymington Society AGM is the main business meeting of the year when Members get a chance to stand for the Committee or nominate fellow members to the Committee. Election of officers takes place for the year ahead and following a report from the Chairman on the Society’s activities in the year; current important issues are debated and discussed.
Following the business section of the meeting we are pleased to announce that well known local historian James Jude will be giving an illustrated talk on the development of the railways around Lymington.

Randolph Schwabe. A Life in Art. Private View 29th January 2013

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Private View at St Barbe Museum
6.00 PM—8.00 PM Tuesday the 29th of January 2013

SchwarbeVisitors to St Barbe’s Women’s Land Army exhibition in 2008/9 were struck by the heroic figures in Randolph Schwabe’s powerful and evocative oil paintings and drawings. The unprecedented interest in this neglected yet scholarly artist has resulted in a major retrospective exhibition curated by Dr Gill Clarke MBE which will showcase Schwabe’s varied output and demonstrate his significant contribution to 20th century British Art. He was employed as an Official War Artist in both world wars, producing a series on ‘Women on the Land’ in the First World War and portraits and drawings of bomb damage in the Second World War. This exhibition will also include his theatrical and ballet drawings, etchings, watercolours and book illustrations, many of which have not been on public display before.

Entry £5.00 to include refreshments.