Gypsy & Traveller Local Plan

CBC submitted their plan along with all consultation responses to the Secretary of State on Monday June 23, 2014. The next steps were for an independent Planning Inspector to review all the documentation and check if the plan is sound. The expectation was for there to be a public examination meeting this autumn.

A recent email from CBC to a parishioner said:

In the light of the various matters raised by the Inspector, the Council is initiating a process to formally withdraw the Plan. When the plan is formally withdrawn the Examination ceases and the Inspector has no further involvement.

In the light of this prospect, the Inspector is keen to avoid any further time and effort spent on this by all parties. Accordingly, he is cancelling the hearings planned to start on 23 September and does not require the submission of any pre-hearing statements. He will do no further work on the Examination pending confirmation of the decision to withdraw. The Inspector appreciates that some parties will already have done work for the hearings.

The Council will write directly to all parties who have commented on the Plan explaining the reasons for the withdrawal.

Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan to the Secretary of State

1 April 2014

Central Beds have submitted their plan which does not include Moggerhanger, site 80. After some discussion we were advised by Tricia Turner our best course of action is to approve the current plan as submitted. The more folk who support the plan the more likely it will be approved by the Planning Inspector.

For more information click here then select Public Consultation and the page will expand. Paragraph 3 has a link for the online questionnaire. You can complete this and approve the plan.

PROPOSED GYPSY/TRAVELLER SITE IN MOGGERHANGER

You may already be aware that Moggerhanger has been included in the long list of 35 sites by Central Beds Council for consideration as a gypsy/traveller site. Today, 4 Feb 2013, a leaflet has been distributed setting out the proposal, showing where you can find more information and what you can do about the proposal.

The key points were:

The proposed site is almost opposite the Village Hall
There is a public meeting at Central Bedfordshire offices at Chicksands on 28 Feb 2013 which you can attend
Details are at www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/planning/strategic-planning/gypsy-and-traveller-plan.aspx (the web address given in the leaflet doesn’t work)
You can submit written comments to ldf@centralbedforshire.gov.uk or by post. Comments will be forwarded to the committee on 8 Feb 2013 and collated for the meeting on 28 Feb 2013

You will, no doubt, find this report on the Council’s website but it was sent to a villager on request recently by Central Bedfordshire Council. The proposed site in Moggerhanger is at pages 58 and 59.

At Assessment 3 on the Council’s website you can find these quotes:

Committee on 28 February to produce a short list of sites. Councillors will visit these sites before the meeting to consider their suitability.

We will publish a list of the sites that were rejected and the reasons for doing so as soon as possible and in any event before the meeting on 28 February.

We will formally consult on the short list of sites in May/June 2013.

About the 28 February 2013 Meeting

You may find this Guide useful

Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan to the Secretary of State

Chalton/Moggerhanger site 80

We understand that Tricia Turner MBE, our CBC Councillor, has said that there is no need to write and no need to attend on 14th unless you want to do so out of interest. Tricia will be there should anything unexpected transpire.

However, she suggests that we all retain any comments previously forwarded to CBC, for future reference….. in case.

PROPOSED GYPSY/TRAVELLER SITE IN MOGGERHANGER

Meeting at Central Beds on 28 February 2013

You may well have seen the Biggleswade Chronicle of last Friday or even attended the meeting. More than 15 residents attended from Moggerhanger and Chalton and some of them appeared on the front page of the paper and on Anglia News waving their placards with the slogan “Moggerhanger and Chalton Residents say ‘NO thank’ you.” The Biggleswade Chronicle for 29 February 2013 carried four articles about the Gypsy and Traveller Sites with a photo of one of our supporters holding her placard on the front page. You can view a report and a photo of our other residents outside the Council offices here on Biggleswade Today. There’s also a photo and report on BBC Beds, Herts and Bucks here

Sally Saville addressed the Committee and spoke strongly about this inappropriate development in our Parish. One of our Councillors, Ray Smith, bravely spoke live on Three Counties Radio and gave a very good interview. Numerous people have commented on what a good honest job he did on trying to protect the village.

Moggerhanger did not appear in the list of seven sites recommended for the ‘shortlist’. The seven sites put forward were numbers 16, 55, 58, 76, 78, 92 and 116.

The sites selected will now be included in the Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan and will be presented to the Executive for approval in March. If the Plan is approved by them it will be put before the full Council in April. If it is approve by the full Council the Plan will be published in May/June. A six week consultation period will follow during which interested parties can comment. Further details of the process to be followed after that can be seen at ‘What happens Next?’ here.

PROPOSED GYPSY/TRAVELLER SITE IN MOGGERHANGER

Chalton/Moggerhanger site 80

Central Bedfordshire Council has said that it will now refer the Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan to the Secretary of State.

The Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan, supporting evidence and all representations received will be submitted to the Secretary of State. An independent Planning Inspector will then be appointed by the Secretary of State. Their role will be to determine whether the document is ‘sound’ and legally compliant.

The Inspector will see the representations and see the amendments that the Council make as a result. The Inspector will judge whether the amendments have been properly made.

This part of the consultation exercise is the most important, being the formal consultation stage of the process and is the one that matters. The Council will not make alterations to the existing Plan, but will send it to the Inspector as agreed by Council. All the previous responses (many of which have been made by Moggerhanger residents) will be summarised to the Inspector.

The Council are required to send the full list of sites that were considered initially to the Inspector. He/she will look at the Council’s conclusions and reasons for selecting the shortlist, analyse all the responses from the formal consultation round, and decide whether or not he/she agrees with the findings, and if not will propose alternative sites from the long list. It is therefore imperative that submissions from Chalton/Moggerhanger be reiterated by residents.

The Inspector needs to know residents’ views regarding any of the sites previously considered by the Council even if they are not included in the short list. It is important he/she knows that residents’ views are still topical.

To ensure this happens you can contact the Council again and simply refer to your former submission by the date and the means of communication i.e. email or letter. This will ensure that you consider your previous comments to be relevant still. If you do this they will be included in the submission to the Inspector. The deadline for submissions is now 1 Jul 2013.

You can see more about what is happening on their website by following this link.