The Portsmouth Society - News
| News | Southern Comfort Meeting | |
| Earlier news | The City of Winchester Trust hosted the Southern Comfort group of civic societies in Hampshire, Berkshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire and Surrey to discuss development pressures, planning issues and society matters at the Gurkha Museum in Peninsula Barracks. Our South East region is so large that it makes sense to develop interactive networks at sub regional level, especially since the regional spatial guidance will also be subdivided into more local areas. The skill and expertise of societies in this sub region and the many aspects of their work and commitment to improving our villages, towns and cities was very evident. The Effects of PPG3 A key discussion to the whole day was the effect of PPG3 - the Govenment Office of the South East's (GOSE) pressure on local authorities to allow more and more housing - in historic environments. PPG3 and CABE's design guidance 'Better Places to Live' aim to prevent low density housing being built across the countryside, but local authorities have given an absolute priority to numbers. If they do not fulfil their quotas, they do not receive the planning grant necessary to fulfil their planning functions. The balance needs to be redressed in favour of design, sustainability and infrastructure issues in a shared vision. In Southampton there is a strategic planning policy to preserve the character of the old town, and when the many semi-derelict areas are redeveloped a priority is a genuine sense of community and Section 106 agreements to improve the public realm. In Portsmouth the result is mega-schemes such as the city centre student hostel, the ugly Pompey Village plans, and the exciting scheme by the Naval Base Property Trust and developers Crest Nicholson. The Alresford population has increased exponentially in thirty years, but there is a lack of overall thinking on traffic, schools and impact on surrounding properties. It is difficult to identify which body to lobby; what is needed is a proper town plan and design statement. Local industries need to be regenerated if commuting and its disadvantages are to be reduced. Planning applications in many places are dealt with piecemeal. The planning process is in process of fundamental change, with the government now seeking more community involvement, which presents societies with a brilliant opportunity. We would also like the Civic Trust to try and put pressure on government to accept that there should be different policies for building on private gardens and for derelict factory sites. The PPG's design document gave examples of increased density, but not of smaller sites. Heritage Towns The Winchester Trust have proposed a new level of protection for special towns: 'Heritage Town Status', to strengthen existing conservation area legislation to include highway and transport matters. Greatly increased pressure had made it impossible for local authorities to resist undesirable changes in these towns, which had value for the nation as a whole. Car Parking Car parks could be excitingly and sustainably designed - to generate electricity as in Prague airport - or buried and the air cleaned by a fountain - as in Nantes. Old photographs of Gosport show a car-free society, but increased housing density need sustainable transport strategies, rather than the overloaded A32. One-way systems such as those in Farnham were hamstrung by the large amount of commercial off- street parking, much more extensive than public car parks. Portsmouth has had proposals for park and ride but no action; in Romsey the question is being looked at; and in Gosport parking is free, which means it fills up with people driving down to cross to Gunwharf! There are two ways of reducing car use: compulsion - developments with no parking - and allowing streets to clog up, so that people demand action. Public transport encourages social interaction, but it costs money in subsidies. Centralisation Centralisation of so many facilities onto fewer sites is having an enormous effect, and not only on traffic: post offices, schools in rural areas, benefits offices are closed, while local government is intensely centralised. These decisions are taken on purely financial grounds; their social or environmental consequences are rarely taken into account. Consolidation into 'super hospitals' such as Queen Alexandra in Portsmouth had serious access problems which were not being addressed. In contrast, Farnham, served by Frimley Park and the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, local pressure had resulted in a community health hospital, three GP's practices and a pharmacy and outpatients. In Alresford, centralisation not only of watercress but prepared salads for all over the UK, has resulted in heavy HGV traffic out of keeping with the local road system. Disputes between Oxfordshire and Berkshire over control of HGVs meant Reading was still full of them. Services should be taken to the people, instead of compelling more and more visits to highly trafficked cities and towns. Trees Attempts to breach tree preservation orders in conflict with CCTV and street furniture in Gosport High Street were successfully resisted by petitions. Publicly owned trees were more difficult to protect: small pines were planted in May/June in between the mighty Hunting don Elms on Southsea Common with no public consultation. Public undertakings and developers chop down trees at weekends when the arboricultural officer is not available. Roots of very large trees such as the limes in Alresford raise pavements so older people in electric buggies have to share the road with HGVs and buses! Street Signs Signs - legal and illegal - proliferate, but local authorities do have power to take action for their removal. Our problems, however, are nothing compared with those in Prague, where whole buildings in historic areas are covered with huge adverts! Referral of schemes to planning committees We asked societies about the criteria for when planning applications are referred to committee and others determined by officers. There was wide variation: in some areas any applications subject to a deputation request go to committee automatically, as well as those of significant public interest, or where there is a volume of representations, or where the application is in conflict with policy advice (see erarlier article). Training for Councillors Planning Committees now have the power to refuse applications on design ground, which means that it has become very important that councillors have the skills and confidence to do so. Training them and planners in good design could be an important new function of the Solent Centre for Architecture and Design now based in Southampton Environment Centre. They and the Southern Design Panel based in Chatham Dockyard can play a very useful role in negotiation with developers for better designed schemes - as shown in their cogent criticism of the current Fratton Park application It was difficult to engage with politicians, who rarely gave any political direction to planners, or to lobby other undertakings such as hospitals which caused major transport problems. MOD sites disposals were not anticipated and future land uses discussed in advance of closure. The whole issue was being discussed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Government Association and local MPs. In many people's view, the current Treasury-led system, with Defence Estates as the disposal agency seeking the highest bidder at maximum planning value needed reform in favour of local benefit and decision-making and government objectives such as sustainability and protection of the environment. Organisation Southern Comfort, instigated twenty years ago with a loose organisation and no bureaucracy has offered comfort, networking, learning and action. It would now be a model of networking to strengthen the Civic Trust South East. The Civic Trust used to be a campaigning organisation - for example the ground breaking legislation that introduced conservation areas. While societies were pleased with the Design Awards and Heritage Open Days, its role as a ginger group initiating planning legislation has diminished It was unanimously agreed that what was required was a campaigning, rather than an enabling organisation. A strong Civic Trust movement is needed, which is thinking ahead, identifying sustainable innovation, with people in positions of power to instigate change in directions identified by societies. This message and the many points made during the day would be offered to the Civic Trust South East and to the chairman of trustees - for positive responses on how they might be implemented. The history and recent redevelopment of Peninsula Barracks were enjoyably explained and demonstrated in architect Huw Thomas's lively tour of the site. Celia Clark, Vice-chair, Civic Trust South East |