Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I write to object to the inclusion of the site known as BK3 in NHDC's Local Plan 2011-2031 and ask that it be removed from the plan.

It is my belief that BK3 breaches many National and Local Planning Policies and I am particularly concerned about the effect that this disproportionate area of housing would have on our historic village. NHDC has proposed the allocation of three sites at the north end of our village:

* BK1 - 13 dwellings
* BK2 - 20 dwellings
* BK3 - 140 dwellings

The addition of these 173 houses, in addition to those already built or for which planning has been granted since 2011 will create an increase of 62% in the village size, wholly inappropriate for our rural community.

Whilst I am not against development within our community I do consider that they need to be proportionate to the existing village and not to change the scale or character. I personally have no objections to sites BK1 and BK2 within Barkway as I believe they are proportionate to the size of our village. BK3 however is unsustainable as a development.

Barkway is extremely limited for amenities and is dependent on the need to travel (by private transport) to access facilities in neighbouring towns and villages. With our extremely poor local bus service, I think it would be safe to assume that almost every journey would need to be made by car. On average Barkway residents have two cars per household, thereby adding for site BK3 alone, another 280 cars to our local roads, with multiple journeys each, per day.

I understand that in previous drafts of the Proposed Submission Local Plan, site BK3 has been excluded or rejected and none of the grounds for these previous refusals have changed, so quite how it can be included now is beyond me.