Affordable Housing in Eaton Bray
Posted on July 19, 2013
Suggestions for land for development of affordable housing were put forward by the Grand Union Housing Group at the July 2013 Parish Council meeting.
A copy of the proposed locations is shown below.
The council would like to gauge residents opinions on these sites, however it is important to note that the Parish Council is not endorsing these locations they are just recommended sites put forwarded by Grand Union and no decision as yet has been made.
Please email/write to the Parish Clerk (contact details on the Eaton Bray Parish Council website) with your comments by end October 2013.
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July 24, 2013
,Emma Brace says:My main concern would be whether the village has the infrastructure to support more housing.
The road surfaces in the village are already horrendous without the extra traffic.
We have one primary school which is already close to / if not at maximum class numbers.
We live in school Lane where congestion in the mornings is already a problem without extra families from additional housing.
Would these sites be in addition to or instead of the proposed development on Bower Lane?
July 24, 2013
,Adrian Roberts says:It's a bit late to be talking about "affordable housing" now dont you think? Why couldnt the houses built on the 5 bells site been affordable,or the ones being built behind the White Horse PH. The last time i remember about someone caring about whether housing in Eaton Bray was affordable was Lucille Ballinger back in 1987 who proposed 1 and 2 bed properties with priority to people already living in the village. That was rejected outright. Since then we have had nothing but 3 4 and 5 bedroom houses due to greed going up with the consequent chaos it has now caused with traffic and parking problems and strain on resources. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. NO MORE HOUSES ARE NEEDED IN EATON BRAY. GET THAT INTO YOUR HEADS FINALLY
July 24, 2013
,Dave Wallis says:It is said Eaton Bray should be built on for affordable housing because it is a desirable location. It's a desirable location because it's a small village, but if they keep building houses it won't be.
July 24, 2013
,Trevor & Anne Moxey says:Incredibly angry that you have put a map on public display, showing land owned by ourselves as possible area for development. We were contacted some months ago by a company asking to discuss purchasing some of our land for this facility. Although not wanting to sell we felt we should listen to the proposal. We saw the gentleman concerned, who gave us the suggestions, and proposed a fee for the land, which was not very high as it was for affordable housing, even saying to us "Do you not want to help people get on the housing ladder". I am afraid our answer was a resounding NO, we were not interested before he contacted us, and nothing he told us would have changed our mind, the land was not for sale. Hence you must appreciate our annoyance that our land is still shown. Not only are we angry at the Company concerned, but at the Council who we feel should have at least had the courtesy to contact us. Surely having been told the land is not for sale it should not have been part of the plan. It makes us question the Companies integrity.
Having refused an offer on our land it would then be hypocritical of us to say we agree to more houses being built, but not on our doorstep!!
July 24, 2013
,Concerned Resident says:Well said Trevor and Anne, how can we have faith in the parish council and proposed housing company, when they cant even consult with, or accept the response of, the relevant land owners!?
The roads in the village are in an appalling condition without yet more burden put on them.
No more development of Eaton Bray, get the basics sorted out first.
July 24, 2013
,Eaton Bray says:More reaction can be seen in the Parish Council Forum and on the Eaton Bray Facebook page facebook.com/EatonBray/posts/479897518762794.
July 24, 2013
,Eaton Bray says:You can also join the conversation on Twitter - twitter.com/EatonBrayNews
July 24, 2013
,Rachel says:Sounds an interesting idea but without proper consultation this issue could put a few people's backs up! I hope the council has thought about how this will affect the village's infrastructure in the future; especially if a decision is made for even more houses to be built. A formal consultation and assurance that forward planning is taking place would be nice?!
July 24, 2013
,Stacey says:I fully agree with the points that have been made about the ability of the village to support more residence. The main road through the village is falling to pieces and it's like driving a slarlom in rush hour going around the parked cars while allowing the on coming traffic through. This will be made considerably worse and dangerous with the addition of more traffic. The access roads to at least three of the proposed sites are completely inadequate for heavier use and have no room for improvement. Many houses in the village may find they are de-valued once surrounded by further houses rather than farm land. Although of late people seem to be building ridiculously expensive housing on any postage stamp bit of land they can find in the village, there is already a wide range of housing within the village affordable to a wide variety of people. One reason people come to Eaton Bray is because its a village, lets keep it a village.
July 24, 2013
,Steve Edwards says:I agree with all the above comments and doubt if there are many, if any, people in the village who want to see more housing, affordable or not. I suspect that some of the proposed developments will go ahead, no matter how much we all complain they always do. 5 sights are proposed, but there is probably only intension to build on 2 or 3 of them so the powers that be can say they have "given in to local pressure". Hence why some land is included that is clearly not for sale.
July 24, 2013
,Andy Swales says:I agree with all of the above most of all Trevor & Anne Moxey who own the land and arent selling, classic council ! Greenways have been asking for help with the parking problem but have been refused any help. now the council want to bring more people and cars into the area, great. how about updating the parks for the kids.
July 24, 2013
,Emma says:Whilst there may be a requirement for affordable housing in the village some of those sites really aren't suitable.... Park Lane is barely wide enough for two cars, has no footpath and no plans to install one even with the current development behind the White Horse and the one street light in the road hasn't been working for 6 months despite reporting it at least three times by different people - hardly a safe environment. In addition to that I echo all that has been said elsewhere about village services, the state of the roads and the traffic levels. Whilst I do not dispute the principle that more housing may be needed I think shoe-horning pockets of development into every available nook and cranny will spoil the overall feel of the village and be a strain on facilities.
July 25, 2013
,Concerned Resident says:I can't believe that these proposals have been put forward to the village without asking the permission of the land owners! I also can't believe there is the suggestion that more houses will be built on Park Lane!! As the previous comment stated you can barely fit 2 cars as it is, and there is no pavement and no parking. Why do the parish council not utilise some the land around the outskirts of the village, instead of attempting to make it as built up as possible, with no access, or parking! Before considering possible future residents, I think the council should consider the opinions, concerns and feelings of existing residents!!
July 26, 2013
,Bernie says:I agree with most of the above comments especially Adrian who has it spot on.
As to the Parish Council who are at the moment not endorsing the project I think they were wrong not to contact the land owners before publishing the map but if anyone has the hump with a council I think it should be aimed at CBC.
It seems a strange coincidence that all of the proposed sites are ex council and that CBC retain a 99 year uplift on said sites. (see forums)
CBC should be getting the grief not the Parish.
July 26, 2013
,Stuart says:What concerns me is the immediate use of green field sites rather than scrub or disused industrial land. There are delerict green houses and unused pasture around the village, but the proposed locations are all healthy green field sites. The easy damaging option is always to build on fields which are lost forever.
August 1, 2013
,Stuart A says:There is a huge demand for new housing as we have not delivered sufficiently in the last five years. Government initiatives are attempting to kick start new housing starts and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) assumes a presumption in favour of sustainable development. However, the Localism Act empowers communities to have a louder voice on the development of their communities and actively encourages the preparation of neighbourhood plans.
I suggest that the Parish Council should be actively examining where development may take place, what impact it will have on road networks, education, healthcare etc and identify that if development is to be permitted what services should be improved to accommodate the extra housing.
To do nothing will only lead to more development proposals that will always be fought on the back foot rather than on the grounds of fact and evidence which a neighbourhood plan would provide.
Unfortunately, "not in my backyard" is an expression that doesn't hold much weight with planning authorities who, under current legislation, are seeking housing opportunity.
Parish Council, please consider a neighbourhood plan for full consultation with the community. In the meantime these sites should NOT be endorsed.
August 7, 2013
,Catherine says:We moved into Eaton Bray because it was a village! Not urban sprowl of Dunstable. That said I opbject to the continued indiscrimate building of houses in the village. The houses at the end of Park Lane have now been built leading the way for more houses on the car park of The White Horse pub for which appeals and objections were raise but to no avail.
Affordable housing is being built in Leighton Buzzard and Dunstable which runs into the hundrds surely this is enough for the mid bedfordshire "affordable housing requirements".
As for Eaton Bray can we still call it a village or is it quickly becoming a town? There are many reasons to say no! The village does not have the infrastructure to accomodate more housing, value of current properties, with more residents increased crime to name but a few. My biggest concern is that no matter how many objections are raised if they want to build they will what has happened to the voice of the people
August 16, 2013
,A concerned resident of Eaton Bray says:I echo so many of the comments above, Eaton Bray can not support further development. Why is consideration even being given to spoiling our lovely village, creating a less desirable place to live for existing residents, increasing congestion through the village, pressure on schools and services.....I could go on. It's just not acceptable.
If those of us who have left comments on this forum are a cross section of villagers, then surely the council can see that we wholeheartedly object to ANY more development in OUR village.
August 16, 2013
,Sandra says:What about the extra traffic while building the houses?? Roads and parking are a nightmare already!!!!
September 4, 2013
,Neil says:I agree with all comments above. This is a village, desirable to live in for that reason. It is in danger of becoming a small town, already linked to Edlesborough due to housing developments. There has been ample opportunity to build affordable housing on sites in Eaton Bray that have been "missed". Our answer, as a community, must be NO.
September 8, 2013
,Eaton Bray Parish Council says:Thank you for your comments/points raised.
For your comments to be officially recorded, please email/write direct to the Parish Clerk (contact details on the Eaton Bray Parish Council website) by end October 2013.
September 10, 2013
,Tony says:Firstly, I agree wholeheartedly with everything that has been said and I do agree that affordable housing is necessary but not at the expense of existing infrastructure, residents quality of life, road and pavement safety, and most importantly green belt and the wild life that exists here because of it.
We came from a town that is forever being developed, nooks and crannies has been mentioned, and it is now rare to see a tree in a garden in that town, or an abundant hedgerow and all because of money and the greed it leads to. I echo the sentiment,'enough is enough', stop destroying our natural surroundings and the life it supports.