Objections to 19-02613-East Springfield Farm FULL

From Springfield Community Council

Springfield Community Council has held two public meetings regarding this planning proposal in the last two weeks.

In general, Springfield Community Council and residents who attended meetings have very little confidence that Fife Council planning will do anything but rubber stamp this Fife Council affordable housing project.  Site clearance has already begun even though the application has not even been considered.  There are indications that Springfield residents have already been allocated new houses by Fife Council in the unapproved development !!

Objections

Health and Safety of Neighbouring Residential Properties: Asbestos

Fife Council has already failed to protect the Health and Safety of neighbouring residents.  It was informed by ourselves that an asbestos agricultural building was being demolished without proper controls.  Senior Fife Council officers were provided with photographic evidence showing that the demolition was not being carried out in an acceptable manner, and they have refused to take action to halt the work on site, despite being requested to do so by Fife Councillors.

The site now should be considered as asbestos contaminated, until further independent evaluation.

This now the subject of a Health and Safety Executive investigation.

Outwith Local Plan Boundary

Much of the development lies outside the agreed village boundary in the Local Plan.  Springfield Community Council opposes the deviation that is being proposed.

Lack of mix in proposed development

Springfield Community Council is not against house building in the village.  We are objecting to the lack of mixed types of housing in the proposed development.  A mix of private and social housing would be acceptable.

Residents of Springfield do not want the village to become a dumping ground again for solely social tenants, just because there is a lack of social housing being built in neighbouring villages.  Social tenants are already over-represented in the demographic mix in Springfield.

Start of much larger development

Fife Council’s Affordable Housing in Fife have previously stated that this is the first of three phases that will eventually result in more than 120 houses.  However, there is a lack of transparency in this application regarding future phases and their impact. The layout plan shows two road terminations that could be activated in the future for further development.

We conclude that Fife Council is carrying out the larger project in phases because developments of less than 50 houses do not trigger various planning thresholds.  And that would attract greater scrutiny.

Therefore, this application must be considered as the first phase of a much larger development, with much larger impacts.

Vehicular access including additional traffic past school

The sole vehicular access route passes though the road junction adjacent to the main entrance gate of Springfield Primary School.  Most traffic will pass the school gate.

Plans for the first phase of the project (the subject of this planning application) show approximately 60 car parking spaces, and therefore we assume that approximately an additional 60 cars will be moving past the school entrance on a regular basis.

The Headteacher has not been consulted by the applicant about the impact of this proposal.

Existing parking in approach roads

Crawley Court is already congested in terms of access.  And there have been long standing problems with access for waste collection vehicles.  We do not consider that the access proposal is adequate or realistic.  Residents also have concerns that parking restrictions will be imposed on Crawley Court where there is already a lack of resident’s parking.

 

Existing lock up garages

The future of the existing lock up garages on Crawley Court is not clear.  These are valued by residents, and there is a waiting list for them.  As part of the proposed development, Springfield Community Council calls on Fife Council to improve this existing garage provision and add further garage provision.