Consultation Responses - Natural England

The request was partially successful.

Dear Natural England,

Please could you supply under FOI/EIR:

All documentation relating to and/or supporting Natural England's response to West Berkshire Council's Housing Allocations DPD main modifications Consultation ( Amy Steel email - 27/01/17) regarding HSA19 (site HUN007)

All documentation held regarding Natural England's consultation response to planning application 16/03061/OUTMAJ ( Amy Steel email - 27/01/17)

Many thanks,

Yours faithfully,

J A Giggins

FOI (NE), Natural England

Dear Mr/Ms Giggins

Access to information request – Acknowledgement – Request No RFI 3847

Thank you for your request for the information detailed in your email below, which we received on 29 March 2017. We are dealing with your request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Your request is being considered and we will send out our response within the legal deadline of 20 working days which is 28 April 2017. If, for any reason, we are unable to meet the deadline we will keep you fully informed of the reasons for this.

Yours sincerely

Enfys Jenkins, Paralegal
Natural England, Legal Services, Area 3A,
Nobel House, London, SW1P 3JR

[email address]
www.gov.uk/natural-england

Natural England is here to conserve and enhance the natural environment, for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people and the economic prosperity that it brings.

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please do not use or publish its contents, contact Enfys Jenkins immediately then delete.

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Dear FOI (NE),

Many thanks for your acknowledgement, which I presume is a standard response.

Although I know it is rather cheeky to ask, is there any way you could prioritise the request? I believe the EIR regs actually require you to respond 'as soon as possible', and this is a matter of some urgency as the planning application quoted is to be determined by West Berkshire Council at a Western Area Planning Committee Meeting next week in advance of the Planning Inspector's consideration of representations on the Main modifications. The committee report has now been published and can be found here:

http://decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk/d...

I am seeking to establish the reason for the differences in the consultation responses and am wondering whether Natural England perhaps did not realise that the DPD site and the application site are one and the same with the exception that the application site has now been extended to 7.12 hectares as opposed to the 5.7 hectares consulted on as a 'Main Modification' to the DPD.

Yours sincerely,

J A Giggins

FOI (NE), Natural England

2 Attachments

Dear Mr or Mrs Giggins,

Please find attached our response to your request for information.

Regards,

Sarah

Sarah Waterfield
Lead Adviser – Access to Information
Legal Services
Finance and Governance

This email and any attachments is intended for the named recipient only. If
you have received it in error you have no authority to use, disclose, store
or copy any of its contents and you should destroy it and inform the sender.
Whilst this email and associated attachments will have been checked for known
viruses whilst within the Natural England systems, we can accept no responsibility
once it has left our systems. Communications on Natural England systems may be
monitored and/or recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for
other lawful purposes.

Dear FOI (NE),

Would it be possible to attach/supply the documents individually, rather than in a zip file which I can't open on any of my mobile devices?

Many thanks

Yours sincerely,

J A Giggins

FOI (NE), Natural England

8 Attachments

Dear JA Giggins

Please find the information released attached as separate files as requested.

Thanks
Darren

_______________________________________________________________
Darren Green, Senior Adviser – Access to Information

Legal and Governance Team

T: 0208 026 0936
M: 078101 56750

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Dear Natural England,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Natural England's handling of my FOIEIR request 'Consultation Responses - Natural England' as there is further information identified in the documents supplied so far, and also in the 'narrative response' which has not yet been supplied.

In particular Rebecca Davies of the NWD AONB unit refers to an email conversation with Kirsty MacPherson of NE about the site - this has not been supplied. Also it appears that NE were not formally consulted on the application, so who brought it to your attention? In addition, your narrative response refers to NE conducting its own site assessment from various viewpoints, but there is no documentation to support this. Surely there would be some paperwork involved, even if only travel expenses/out of office notifications/authorisations? I am seeking to establish who made the assessment , whether they were qualified to do so, who accompanied them, what they reported back and how this was translated in to a 'no objection' which effectively over-rode the AONB's detailed objection to the planning application. I would also hope that you would have documents on file that would confirm that the assessment was made on the full area of the application site ( 7.12 hectares) which has increased from the 5 hectares in the original Housing Allocations DPD and the 5.7 hectares consulted on in the Main Modifications.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

J A Giggins

FOI (NE), Natural England

Dear Mr Giggins

 

Internal Review – Acknowledgement – Request No RFI 3847

 

Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 you have a right to
have our decision reconsidered if you express dissatisfaction about what
information was provided. This is done by way of an internal review.

 

As a result of your email I will ask a colleague to conduct an internal
review.

 

This review will be undertaken as quickly as possible and within the legal
deadline of 40 working days which is 26 July 2017.

 

If you have any queries about this email please contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kate Donovan

Adviser - Access to Information

Legal Services

 

Natural England

Email: [Natural England request email]

 

Make a request for information to Natural England

 

We are here to secure a healthy environment for people to enjoy, where
wildlife is protected and England's traditional landscapes are safeguarded
for future generations.

  

In an effort to reduce Natural England's carbon footprint, I will,
wherever possible, avoid travelling to meetings and attend via audio,
video or web conferencing.

  

Natural England is accredited to the Cabinet Office Customer Service
Excellence Standard

 

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Dear FOI (NE),

Many thanks for your acknowledgement. I would definitely appreciate a quick response, as the planning application is awaiting consideration of a call-in request to the Secretary of State (DCLG).

http://planning.westberks.gov.uk/rpp/sho...

Yours sincerely,

J A Giggins

J A Giggins left an annotation ()

Natural England's response to the DPD consultation can be found here: http://consult.westberks.gov.uk/commonSe...

Thank you for your consultation on the above dated 09 December 2016 which was received by Natural England on the same day.
Natural England is a non-departmental public body. Our statutory purpose is to ensure that the natural environment is conserved, enhanced, and managed for the benefit of present and future generations, thereby contributing to sustainable development.
Whilst Natural England have no specific comments to make, we offer the following advice in relation to policy HSA 19 (site HUN007) due to the site being within the North Wessex Downs Area of Natural Beauty (AONB):
Landscape
As this site allocation is within the North Wessex Downs AONB we advise that the relevant Management Plan for this area is taken into account.Your authority should also seek the views of the AONB Partnership to avoid significant impacts on protected landscapes and early consideration should be given to the major development tests set out in paragraph 116 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Green Infrastructure
Green infrastructure refers to the living network of green spaces, water and other environmental features in both urban and rural areas. It is often used in an urban context to provide multiple benefits including space for recreation, access to nature, flood storage and urban cooling to support climate change mitigation, food production, wildlife habitats and health & well-being improvements provided by trees, rights of way, parks, gardens, road verges, allotments, cemeteries, woodlands, rivers and wetlands.
Green infrastructure is also relevant in a rural context, where it might additionally refer to the use of farmland, woodland, wetlands or other natural features to provide services such as flood protection, carbon storage or water purification.
A strategic approach for green infrastructure networks should support a similar approach for ecological networks, as outlined above. Evidence of a strategic approach can be underpinned by Green Infrastructure Strategy. We encourage the provision of green infrastructure to be included within this policy for this housing allocation.
Natural England offers the following advice in relation to policy HSA 19 (allocation HUN007)
Climate change adaptation
Climate change adaptation should be considered along with the role of the of the natural environment to deliver measures to reduce the effects of climate change, for example tree planting to moderate heat island effects. In addition factors which may lead to exacerbate climate change (through more greenhouse gases) should be avoided (e.g. pollution, habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity) and the natural environment’s resilience to change should be protected. Green Infrastructure and resilient ecological networks play an important role in aiding climate change adaptation.
For clarification of any points in this letter, please contact Amy Steel on 0208 225 6386 or amy.steel@naturalengland.org.uk.
For any further consultations on your plan, please contact: consultations@naturalengland.org.uk.

THIS TURNED INTO A 'NO OBJECTION' TO THE PLANNING APPLICATION FOR A LARGER SITE SUBMITTED A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER TO WHICH THE NWD AONB STRONGLY OBJECTED.

FOI (NE), Natural England

3 Attachments

  • Attachment

    RFI 3847 Giggins Internal Review response.pdf

    88K Download View as HTML

  • Attachment

    Outline planning application for up to 119 dwellings public open space and landscaping.pdf

    48K Download View as HTML

  • Attachment

    RE Planning application for 119 dwellings at land off Salisbury Road Hungerford West Berkshire.pdf

    116K Download View as HTML

Dear J A Giggins,

 

Please find attached our response to your request for an internal review
of RFI 3847.

 

Regards,

 

Juliet

 

Juliet Melvin-Sparks

Team Leader

Legal and Governance

 

 

From: FOI (NE)
Sent: 30 May 2017 13:46
To: [FOI #398108 email]
Subject: Internal review - Acknowledgement - Request No RFI 3847

 

Dear Mr Giggins

 

Internal Review – Acknowledgement – Request No RFI 3847

 

Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 you have a right to
have our decision reconsidered if you express dissatisfaction about what
information was provided. This is done by way of an internal review.

 

As a result of your email I will ask a colleague to conduct an internal
review.

 

This review will be undertaken as quickly as possible and within the legal
deadline of 40 working days which is 26 July 2017.

 

If you have any queries about this email please contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kate Donovan

Adviser - Access to Information

Legal Services

 

Natural England

Email: [1][Natural England request email]

 

Make a request for information to Natural England

 

We are here to secure a healthy environment for people to enjoy, where
wildlife is protected and England's traditional landscapes are safeguarded
for future generations.

  

In an effort to reduce Natural England's carbon footprint, I will,
wherever possible, avoid travelling to meetings and attend via audio,
video or web conferencing.

  

Natural England is accredited to the Cabinet Office Customer Service
Excellence Standard

 

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J A Giggins left an annotation ()

Despite receiving some information, I'm still no nearer to understanding why Natural England provided different responses to the DPD consultation and the planning application itself and gave a 'no objection' response to a Major Development in an AONB, which appears to have been taken to over-ride the more detailed & informed objection by the North Wessex Downs AONB who pointed out that the tests of Para 116 of the NPPF had not been satisfied.

It is obviously understandable that the landowner would sieze on the 'no objection' from Natural England without acknowledging the informative re Para 116:

http://planning.westberks.gov.uk/rpp/sho...

It is less understandable why the response was summarised in the Western Area Committee Report as:

NATURAL ENGLAND "No objection. Do not consider that the application will harm the purpose behind the designation of the AONB. Council decision should be guided by the advice in para 115 of the NPPF"

http://planning.westberks.gov.uk/rpp/sho...