Page 31 - MJC submissions

STEPS TOWARDS AN AGREED STATEMENT OF FACTS
And stipulations

7.3 Comments on Key Elements: Ancient Woodland (Continued)
The main buffer zone behind blocks 37-48 and 66-71 consists of a paved roadway and 14
parking spaces which are much closer to, and more intrusive than, the EDF car park. If there is
room for a short lawn, it is likely to be little larger than a blanket and of no effect.
The application fails to observe recommendations made by MSDC for central public open Page | 21
spaces and has no provision for children’s play areas or cycle paths. Instead it proposes
purloining the ancient woodland.

The adoption of ancient woodland as a substitute for internal open spaces and
pressurising its boundaries is central to achieving AHL’s density targets.

If the plan was required to fully comply with policies, the development would lose blocks
70-71, 37-45 and 14 parking spaces in the current project and at least two more blocks
planned for the WH:LIC site. This would make the developments unviable.

7.4 The Site Entrance
The single entrance to the site is critical, but amazingly was not included in the application or
in any of the supporting documents. The inference is that the current entrance is adequate
and will remain.

It is slightly under 5m wide and is shrouded in trees and bushes with limited splays. Views are
restricted to the north and south, making it difficult and hazardous to join the A22, where
traffic – including large trucks and HGV and container vehicles - flows at over 700 vehicles
per hour during peak periods.

Figure 8: The site entrance
Although the section of the A22 which connects to the entrance is in a 30mph limit the actual
average speeds are more than this. There is a 300+ metre stretch of the A22 marked with a
“wait on right turn (WORT)” central lane, shared by north and south bound traffic.