Mike Pearce, agent, and his colleague, Nigel Salmon, planning consultant, attended the planning committee meeting of Bude-Stratton Town Council, to present plans for a potential housing development at Howells Road, Stratton.
Mr Pearce explained to councillors that they were hoping to promote a residential development, with added car parking and allotments, to meet Bude and Stratton’s need for more dwellings.
There will be a total of 30 residential units, with ‘at least’ ten of those being affordable homes.
As he drew out his paperwork to display the plans on the table in front of councillors, Mr Salmon said: “A couple of years ago, the landowner did a scheme for 50 odd houses, but now we’re taking a different approach.”
He explained that the team behind the new scheme have already met with representatives from Cornwall Council for pre-application advice, adding: “This was to identify if this is a potentially suitable site for a development.
“Working with your neighbourhood plan is allowing us to take a different approach, and what I have come to understand is that Bude and Stratton has no allocated housing sites in the local plan. The policy — a comforting policy — is that it’s a small-scale development without overwhelming the existing infrastructure. What I understand is that Bude wants localised scales, so we’ve got up to 30 dwelling units in these plans.”
He continued: “Cornwall Council haven’t been particularly helpful, but this is just a starting point to establish your needs of the community and how we can deliver that. This is to see if the land in question is appropriate. We need a high level of community engagement. If, as a town council, you decide — look, this is not what we’re looking for — then we won’t pursue it.”
Mr Salmon explained that the lack of car parking in and around Bude is a ‘problem’, stating that he has tried and failed at finding a space to park when visiting the town himself. However, he told the meeting that the development would bridge across the watercourse in the location, and off that would be allotments. He said: “It’s a very nice back-cloth to the stream, and then the remainder of the site is housing developments, of which there would be 30 — and at least ten of those would be affordable housing. Because it’s in the countryside, the density would be lessened.”
The meeting heard that the potential development would meet some of the policies in the town’s recently adopted neighbourhood plan, including policy 3 and policy P8. Mr Salmon went on: “This area has been recognised as an area of landscape value, and it’s an attractive edge to the approach of the town. If this is to be developed, it must be a good quality development, so it must be very carefully considered.”
The provision of more public open space is also planned with this development, with Mr Salmon telling the meeting that ‘connectivity’ is very important in the process of the construction work, due to the site’s location at the edge of the countryside.
Cllr Lea Deely, a member of the planning committee, asked if access over the river would be provided with the development, to which she was told that ‘it would come off the development to provide that’.
The meeting heard that the land could be ‘gifted’ to the town council. The bridge would be an engineering cost, but the rest of it would be simply ‘gifted’.
Another member of the committee, Cllr Julia Bryson, asked if the area had succumbed to much flooding in the past. She said: “It’s a steep bank, and it can be a raging little river even if it looks soft in the summer months.”
The meeting heard that a car park would be part of the development, meaning more parking facilities for Stratton as a whole. However, this would need to be looked into further because of the ‘expensive infrastructure’.
Cllr Deely brought up some concerns. She said: “I do worry about that entrance, because that’s where the road narrows as people go from 60mph to 30mph. I think you need to negotiate very carefully at keeping that entrance safe.”
She added that it would be worthwhile slowing the traffic ‘further back’, as not to risk motorists coming into any trouble at this point. Mr Salmon said that this was something that the development could fund.
Councillors learned that the scheme put forward in 2014 was a total of 55 dwellings from an immediate scheme of 70. Now it has been reduced to 30. Cllr Deely asked how soon this development could be built, as she disliked how some people have been granted permission for land, but have put it on hold for some time.
In reply, Mr Pearce said: “The owner is very keen to get this developed as quickly as possible.”
Looking at the plans, Cllr Bryson said: “I very much like the fact that you have looked at the neighbourhood plan and are working towards 30 houses.”
Cllr Deely added: “And the extra car parking in Stratton!”
Cllr Bryson agreed, saying: “That will be very worthwhile.”
Gardens will also be of a good size to be ‘appropriate’ in the countryside surroundings. Mr Salmon added: “We don’t want a hard edge to it.”
Cllr Bryson touched on the need for housing in the area, and Cllr Deely added: “It looks a very good way of providing additional housing and additional car parking.”
In regards to moving forward progressing with the plans, councillors advised the pair to consult with the public, which they were keen to do. They said they would arrange a public meeting to be held for residents in the area to find out more about the plans and to express their thoughts on the proposed development.
Chris Jewell, a member of the public present at the meeting, said during public question time: “It’s refreshing to have someone to actually use their brain and propose something more acceptable. In my view, there should be no more housing, but maybe smaller schemes are the way forward.”
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