Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

Barkway and Nuthampstead's villages and its Parish Council have in accordance with government guidelines spent numerous hours creating a suitable Neighbourhood Plan which had the approval of the majority of the parishioners. This plan was not ratified by the NHDC because they constantly changed the requirements. Therefore it is still not ratified.
The plan suggested an increase in house building of 65 extra houses on small sites of not more than 20 houses. Approximately half of this number have already been build or authorised. This number was considered to be appropriate for the size of the village of Barkway.
Please accept this letter as an objection to the proposed building of 140 houses on the BK3 site, which I consider to be wholly inappropriate in number for a village of 329 homes in 2011.
My objections are:
Site:
NHDC has previously rejected BK3. The site is profitable Grade 1A agricultural land. It is important the UK should have food security as one of its priorities, and supplying our own food instead of importing it is important. Therefore using agricultural land in this way is unethical. (NPPF Para 112 Agricultural land use). Building on this land would change the intrinsic beauty of the local countryside forever.
BK3 is on the Chiltern Ridge, which is part of the East Anglian Heights, which the NHDC has already highlighted the need to protect. (Proposed Submission Local Plan para 4.150)
BK3 is separate from the main village and is likely to remain insular from the rest of the village community.
The site is a roosting area for at least two types of bats (the common pipistrelle bats, listed as endangered, and the brown long-eared) (NHDC Character Assessment for Area 230 Barkway)
The site is part of the corridor used by herds of fallow deer. (Proposed Submission Local Plan para 11.62)

Transport:
Barkway has very little public transport, the nearest train station is In Royston 4 miles away. The bus service is minimal, which is inadequate for commuting, social activities, school runs or shopping. The building of an extra 140 homes on BK3 will increase the vehicle ownership in the village by at least 280 (using the village average). Commuting to work outside of the village would equate to a minimum of 560 vehicle movements a day, this does not include deliveries etc. There is no possibility of complying with any future carbon emission and improved air quality. (NPPF Para 95 and Proposed Submission Local Plan 3.7 Strategic Objectives, ECON7).
Infrastructure:
The village school (up to age 9) has some 20 spare places, which will be taken up by the building of BK1 and BK2 plus the other homes already authorised.
Barkway has one hairdressers, one pub, a garage repair / petrol station and one other car repair station, a village hall and social club. The nearest post office is in Barley (3 miles), as is the doctors. The nearest shops, banks, dentists are situated in Royston or Buntingford. (Contraventions NPPF 38, 55 and 72).
Safety:
Barkway is mainly a street light free village. The area near BK3 has no footpaths. The bus stops are not well-lit.
It is not possible to access the nearest village on footpaths or cycle ways.
The main road through the village is already compromised by the amount of parked vehicles on both sides of the road and the school entrance.
All the local roads, B1368 and the roads linking off of it are unlit. All are narrow and dangerous. There have been 28 serious accidents and 1 fatality (data supplied by the police) during 2004 to 2014.
It should also be noted that during a severe winter with snow fall these roads are dangerous, requiring a four wheel drive vehicle. Some are impassable without the intervention of road clearance.
In summary, the proposal for BK3 seems a wholly opportunistic attempt to make money by the land owners because of the inability of the NHDC to adopt the Neighbourhood Plan as presented by the Parish Council. Which has left an opening to exploit this land without regard to the village of Barkway, its inhabitants and wildlife.
While it is only right that the current villagers should point out the inadequacies of this development, we should not lose sight of the fact that many of the problems I have highlighted in the plan will also become the problems of the very people who will occupy these homes, should they ever be built.