Further to the meeting convened by Symondsbury Parish Council on 8th May, I sent the following letter to Allington Parish Council……
Dear Allington Parish Councillors,
I attended the meeting hosted by Symondsbury Parish Council (SPC), on the proposed boundary changes instigated by Bridport Town Council (BTC). This I understand would put the Vearse Farm Housing development under the control of the Town Council not SPC.
The mechanism of BTC’s request is that the Democratic and Electoral Services Dept. (DESD), WDDC, have appointed a representative to initially generate a consultation (a Community Governance Review), for SPC and individual parishioners to comment on the proposed changes, the deadline for submissions being 4th July 2018. Responses are to be sent to elections@dorset.gov.uk
The appointed representative, Jacqui Andrews (Corporate manager, DESD) (jandrews@dorset.gov.uk) gave a short presentation outlining the consultation process, on Tuesday evening. We were informed that all Symondsbury parishioners were in receipt of a flyer, alluding to the proposed consultation process.
As an Allington parishioner, I felt that this fell short of the democratic process, as I had not received this information. I believe there is a significant issue here in that a significant portion of theVearse Farm development footprint is actually in the Allington parish to the south of the B3162. Historically, this, on grounds of simplification we were told, has been included in the SPC protocol for Vearse Farm. Ms. Andrews was unaware of this anomaly, when I mentioned it in the subsequent Q&A session. Many of you will be aware that the proposed, contentious access to the site is within this portion of the Allington Parish boundary. Furthermore, there is a proposed ribbon development of housing on the southern side of the B3162, from the Toll House westwards to the proposed access to the site. This area is significantly prone to flooding.
Therefore, is it not correct that this situation be redressed such that Allington PC claim responsibility for this sliver of potential, significantly important development land? Here is an opportunity to do so perhaps?
Thank you.
Regards
Richard Freer
I’ve received the following email from Allington PC today (23/5/2018), having suggested an open meeting with Allington and Symondsbury Parish Councils to discuss this important issue.
Perhaps in the light of the reply from the Allington Parish clerk, like-minded, concerned residents should attend this meeting on the 12th June……..?
Hi Richard
We will discuss the proposed boundary changes at our next parish council meeting in June and will make any comments directly to Jacquie (I have already messaged Jacquie about this in the first instance who pointed out that ‘The District Council has not yet considered whether any boundaries should be altered but are merely gathering evidence from
local people at this point in order to inform their deliberations’.),
however, we have been advised that at this point in time they have only
been asked to look at the Symondsbury/Bridport boundaries and not
Allington’s even though there is a small sliver of Allington ‘land’
within the Vearse Farm development. As per Jacqui’s discussion,
residents etc are being asked for their views in the first instance, and
the views of our parish council will be reported to her before the 4th
July deadline.
Kind regards
Parish Clerk
Allington PC
I am not aware (and can’t find anything helpful online) of consideration given to an existing population v the total population after a building project has been completed, but if an advised restriction of population growth as a percentage of the original population is generally taken into account when considering plans, I wonder whether moving the boundary so that the impact is compared against the higher population of Bridport rather than Symondsbury is a deliberate move to show the development in a more favourable light.
Hi Stephanie,
Being a cynic,I rather feel it is the financial gain to be had by whichever authority is in control of the initial build and subsequent receipt of taxation!