11 March 2009
Planning Control
Attn Case Officer: Mr
Nick Parker
Winchester City Council
City Offices
Colebrook Street
Winchester
Hampshire SO23 9LJ
Dear Mr Parker
Application reference: 09/00146/FUL
W number: 21368
Location: Black Wood, Bradley, Basingstoke Road, Micheldever, Hampshire
Proposal: Forest holiday park comprising 130 wooden holiday cabins, facilities building with reception, shop, cafe, forest experience room, managers accommodation, cycle hire, WC, back office and storage, maintenance yard, biomass boiler room, sewerage plant and electricity sub-station, access tracks, walking and cycling routes, cycle stands and car parking, and enhanced woodland management plan. |
The Dever Society is an amenity society for the Hampshire
Downs and the Dever Valley, and is a registered charity affiliated to the Civic
Trust. The Society’s principal
objective is to conserve, protect and celebrate the countryside in this part of
Hampshire. In particular, it is
concerned with the conservation and enhancement of the Hampshire Downs, which
comprise the rural heartland of the county.
The Downs provide a unique and valued resource for those who visit and
enjoy the countryside, as well as forming an essential feature of the
agricultural economy of the county.
The Society has a large and growing membership, drawn not
only from those who live in the Dever Valley, but also from a wide area of
Hampshire and elsewhere in Britain. The
Dever Society’s membership is over 6,000.
In promoting the benefits of the area, the Dever Society
welcomes safe and sustainable access to it.
We have studied the proposal carefully and attended consultations, but
regret that we must object to this planning application.
The Dever Society objects to the application for the
following reasons:
- Location
and scale
- Impact
on Black Wood and the surrounding area
- Traffic
and transport issues
Location and scale
Black Wood is a 500 acre wood bordered by either major roads
or privately owned arable farmland.
According to paragraph 2.4.1 of the Environmental Statement,
Forest Holidays has identified demand for a holiday village in the southeast of
England, and in 2007 it carried out a review of the Forestry Commission’s
landholding of over 1 million hectares to identify potential sites. It is unclear how or why, but Forest Holidays
then chose Hampshire as the southeast county within which the proposed holiday
village should be located. 12 sites in
Hampshire were assessed and Black Wood was chosen from these as the site that
best fitted the selection criteria.
All of these are on much larger sites and yet contain
significantly fewer numbers of cabins than are proposed for Black Wood. They also contain features such as water and
are within or close to some of Britain’s most beautiful and publicly accessible
landscapes and coastlines. In contrast,
Black Wood is a much smaller and - compared to the other sites - far from
“stunning” wood whose limited size, characteristics and enclosure by major
roads and private land preclude many of the kinds of activities provided on the
other sites. For example, the only
adjacent public right of way runs along the western boundary of the wood,
linking the busy Larkwhistle Farm Road with the A303 dual carriageway. Opportunities for recreation on land
surrounding the wood are therefore non-existent. All of this means that people are likely to want to travel
outside the park, particularly by car for day trips (see Traffic and transport
issues below).
According to Forest Holidays’ own figures, the 130 cabins
would generate an average occupancy of 364 people per day. This would represent a significant increase
in the population of the area. The
number of beds in the development make it a similar size to a very large hotel.
The proposal is therefore far from being the “low impact,
low intensity, low density development” described in paragraph 2.5 of the
Planning Statement.
Impact on Black Wood and the surrounding area
Black Wood is a quiet and largely undisturbed 500 acre wood
in an area with few large woodlands, and as a result is of great importance
locally. It is used by the public for
recreational walking, cycling and horseriding, and is highly valued as a
peaceful and tranquil place. Its
undisturbed nature makes it an important refuge for wildlife.
Forest Holidays’ proposal for 130 cabins and associated
infrastructure and an average of 364 inhabitants per day would have an adverse
and irreversible impact on the character of Black Wood. The outcome would be increased disturbance
and consequent harm to the wood’s wildlife, despite the mitigation measures
that would be carried out during construction and operation of the site that
are described in the Environmental Assessment.
In addition, its value to the public as a peaceful and tranquil retreat
would be lost.
The Planning Statement concludes that “The proposed
development will result in the quiet transformation of a commercial logging
wood into a peaceful and secluded asset for the benefit of the local community
and staying visitors” (paragraph 6.5).
The impression given by the use of the word “commercial” is that
chainsaws and other noisy and intrusive forestry operations are being carried
out on a daily basis, when nothing could be further from the truth. It is the “peaceful and secluded asset” that
exists now that would be lost if this development went ahead.
The application refers to anti-social behaviour in Black
Wood, but suggests that this would be reduced if the holiday camp were
built. With only one member of staff on
site at nights this is debateable. The
local community also suffers from anti-social behaviour, with incidences of
theft, damage to farmland and machinery and poaching on the rise. The huge increase in the numbers of people
that would be brought about by the development could exacerbate these problems.
Traffic and transport issues
Forest Holidays cites the railway station at Micheldever
Station as a viable alternative to the car for people staying at the proposed
holiday camp, particularly for those staying on short breaks, but the number of
car parking spaces provided for the use of those staying in the 130 cabins
(228, or nearly 2 spaces per cabin) shows that they expect most holidaymakers
to arrive by car.
The Transport Assessment states that “It is expected that
the level of traffic generation from [the] Forest Holidays [Black Wood site]
will be minimal as a result of the forest offering a destination in itself for
guests and the inclusion of an on-site shop and restaurant.” The number of vehicle trips that might be
generated as a result of the development has been extrapolated from data
collected at Forest Holidays’ Keldy site on Friday 19th and Saturday
20th September. This cannot
be taken as representative of the levels of traffic that might exist in the
high season. The Keldy data do
indicate, however, that despite the facilities and activities offered on site,
day trips away from the site are popular, since trip rates were higher on the
Saturday than on the Friday, even though Friday is the main changeover day when
it would be expected that more people would be entering or leaving the
site. Day trips would be likely to be
even more common from Black Wood, where there would be considerably less to do
on site.
The Transport Assessment accepts that traffic volumes on the
roads local to Black Wood “are light but speeds are generally high”, and
that Larkwhistle Farm Road (which runs along the southwest boundary of Black
Wood) “has no footway or street lighting” (paragraph 2.7). Despite this, it concludes that “due to
their lightly trafficked nature” and “in conjunction with localised
rights of way”, the rural roads in close proximity to the site “are
suitable for recreational cycling and walking” (paragraph 6). In fact, it is considered locally that
Larkwhistle Farm Road is one of the most dangerous local roads in the
area. Speeds are high, it has no street
lighting, it is narrow with no verges and high banks and visibility is poor
because of hills and dips and the patches of light and shade caused by the tree
cover. A large proportion of the
vehicles using Larkwhistle Farm Road all year round are HGVs and large
agricultural vehicles. In addition,
there are already a vehicle servicing firm and two major heavy goods transport
enterprises on Larkwhistle Farm Road, one of which has had its movement numbers
limited on planning grounds. The road
is clearly totally unsuitable for walking and for families cycling.
We respectfully ask that the City Council refuses this
application.
Yours sincerely
Douglas Paterson
Chairman