-----Original Message----- From:
Brendan Tinney Sent:
22 October 2007 10:03 To: Subject:
Profitable Plots query.
,
Following your most recent e-mail I have spoken with our policy section who have provided the responses below.
By your reply i surmise that while the land is not likely to get planning permission in the the next year , you can't rule out the possibility of it NEVER getting planning permission in the medium to long term ie in the next 5 years.
Whilst we are unable to predict significant changes to national and regional policy, any developer of the site would need to demonstrate exceptional circumstances before any sort of major development could take place in the green belt.
Also the fact that it is possible to build on greenbelt since you did not confirm that the developments in the north west are indeed on greenbelt land.
The 'Profitable Plots' site is within the Borough's green belt.
You mentioned forseeable future which is a relatively vague term..what would you define as the forseeable future. I also understand from my discussions with the kind people at the Mayor's office that the London Plan itself is undergoing a review and the area around Heathrow has been designated a Opportunity Area so its not possible to exclude changes to the greenbelt or development in this area. Would you be in agreement with this ?
Hounslow Council has had very early meetings with the GLA on the Heathrow South Opportunity area and does not at present have any plans to undertake further work on this project. Any review of the existing Green Belt boundary is a separate exercise but will be undertaken through the local plan making process in the context of national and regional guidance which seeks to maintain the protection of London's green belt.
The other thing i wanted to know was whether the site itself has ever been used as a graveyard or if it could be designated as such.
You would need to request a land search to determine the history of the site ([email address]). A planning application would need to be made to change the use of the site to a graveyard.
The reason I am asking this is to evaluate the site for future long term personal investment. I do understand that while there might not any immediate plans , changes in the forseeable future could open this site up to development as has happened to many such sites..for example Stockley Park. Would you disagree with this statement?
Stockley Park is outside the borough of Hounslow so we are not able to provide comments on this development.
The people at Profitable Plots have been most upfront about the long term nature of land investment and its heartening to note your confirmation of their submissions to the council. Of course i am tempted to ask if these opinions that you forward are your personal views or do they reflect the current policy of the council which can be subject to change with the change in policies in the forseeable future.
The policy of the Council is that development will only be permitted in the green belt if exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated in accordance with national planning guidance.
Would the increase in the need for housing and jobs in the area neccessitate a change in prevailing policies. I would also like your forebearance in answering some of my earlier questions.
To consider a site in the green belt it would have to be demonstrated that we could not achieve our current target for new housing development. The Council has demonstrated that we have enough housing land on previously developed (brownfield) sites available to meet its housing target for a least the next 8 years, and potentially considerably longer.
We have also demonstrated through a recent development plan document that we have enough existing land capacity to meet current employment growth projections for at least the next 10 years.
Regards,
Brendan Tinney. ___________________________________________________ Brendan Tinney - Planning Officer West Area Team
London Borough of Hounslow - TW3 4DN Tel +44 (0)20 8583 4992 Fax +44 (0)20 8583 4900 [email address] www.hounslow.gov.uk
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