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Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/27 01:00The Council's position regarding its policy about it's land is contained in the newsletter sent out by Lewes District Council dated 1st of April 2007; which states. "The District Council owns a substantial amount of land in the North Street area. Most of this land is leased to firms that provide valuable employment in the town that must not be lost. Other parts are used for public parking and for our Recycling Centre. The District Council has not made any decision to sell its land to Angel Property or any other developer."
The letter referred to dated 13th February was written to our agent not to me and was written in response to a request for a dialogue regarding the possibility of relocating the Recycling Centre, and in relation to information requested by our agent regarding other freehold land in North Street. No offer had been made to the Council by Angel Property to acquire any land and the letter in reply did not as has been suggested here say that any decision had been made by the Council as to whether the Council would sell any land in North Street to Angel Property or any one else for that matter. This in turn correlates with the information put out by the Council on 1st April. "the District Council has not made any decision to sell its land to Angel Property or any other developer."
I therefore am very happy to confirm that what I am quoted as having said is correct and was correct at the time I made the statement.
'We have been told by Lewes Matters that Ann de Vecchi said that the Council were not going to sell us their land. I have not heard that that this is the case and I very much doubt whether any formal decision has been made on this.'
The model at the Town Hall shows a masterplan of the whole North Street area.
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sashka
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/27 01:58What Anne De Vechhi is quoted as saying is that "The Council does not intend to sell any of its land,to developer Angel property", "the land is for industrial use and employment and it is also where our recycling is based and a car park", "it is clearly the Council's policy that if we still require the land for operational use we do not release it" "this is existing Council policy, and the most important thing is the land is for employment use" "at the moment I cannot see why we would sell the land for development, the Council needs the land, the businesses on the land have long leases and the money for these leases are(sic) used for the whole district , not just the town"
The Council does not have the intention to sell its land. I think the electorate have every reason to question why anyone in their right mind would spend so much money on an application that is reliant on his acquiring land from a Council that has said it does not intend to sell. Would you or i spend money on plans for a house extension on a neighbours garden, if they had told us they do not intend to sell it?. The Council is fully aware of plans as they are available for all to see in the town hall. They can say what they like about the plans as they are not considering them as a planning application, but as landowners. I think it is reasonable to assume therefore that the Coucil is aware of the proposal and having been made aware does not intend to sell land for reasons stated. I am sure if someone asked them this they would be corrected if wrong. If the Council is not aware of the proposal then why are they making this comment at all? Development on this land is a key election issue. If the Council changed its intention after the election (pressuming there is no significant political change) I fail to see how this could be seen as rational, and proper. If the Council is even remotely aware of what has been happening at the Jam Factory, I wouldn't have thought they would want to go near these proposals that affect their/our land,with a barge-pole.
The Chief Executive as I understand it, is not the person who makes decisions, and I find it impossible to believe that he didn't explain to Mr Style the status of the land he was proposing to change. The District Plan makes it very clear that Phoenix is an industrial use site, and has been for centuries. Surely Mr Style's consultants are aware of this? Planning officers made a professional assessment of potential housing sites. They identified any site, whatever it may be, that would be appropriate for housing, even if it was already designated for industrial use. One of these sites was Wenban Smith. they did not identify the Phoenix as suitable for housing. If the Council did not consider the Phoenix site suitable for housing at that time, (when it was able to suggest the site just in principal regardless of actual use) then why on earth would they suggest it now. They rejected it then, even though there was no implication by suggesting it. Nothing has changed, other than that there is even less industrial space now, following approval of building on an industrial site on the flood plain next to the Royal mail sorting office.
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s.Oliver
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/27 10:44I am sure I am not the only person who would like to see a copy of the letter sent in February to Mr Style's Agents, apparently stating that the Council did not intend to sell the land it owns on the Phoenix site.. Perhaps Lewes Matters would ask for a copy, and post it here. I am sure Mr Style is furious with his agents that they did not pass on such crucial information, and must be considering their competency. I also note Anne de Vecchi's comments about Angel's description of their proposals as the Phoenix development, which give the misleading impression that areas of land are involved in an overall strategy, when they are not. Sashka's comments above, about investing in plans for a site you do not own raise interesting issues. I do hope that Angel will re-exhibit their model clarifying which areas are on land that the owner has no intent to sell. Without doing so, it could be argued that the consultation is misleading, and therefore invalid. My personal view is that whilst it may be legal to propose plans which include land that you own, I would question why Angel has chosen not to be transparent as to which stages of development relate to land that they already own, and which they do not. I am also surprised that Angel did not establish if Lewes District Council was even minded to sell their land before they invested in proposals for it. Mr Style seems to be giving the impression that Mr Crawford the Chief Executive did give him this impression. Perhaps Mr Style would like to elaborate further?
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Harry
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/27 13:26I understand that some of the land in what we now have to call the 'masterplan' may be owned by Lewes Town Council. When Mr Style replies to the previous questions, can he let us know whether Angel have also failed to clarify with the Town Council their attitude towards selling that?
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charles style
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/28 14:13We are in the process of preparing a masterplan for the North Street area and have been consulting on this publicly since September 2005.
At the same time Lewes District Council are undertaking a Vision Statement exercise for the area. The whole idea of the Council undertaking a Vision Statement exercise and involving a cross section of local Stakeholder Groups as well as English Heritage, East Sussex County Council and The Environment Agency is to take an overview of the strategic opportunities for the future of this area, as part of the work they are doing on the Local Development Framework. The area also includes land in the ownership of Lewes District Council.
In undertaking this Vision Statement exercise it is clearly important that the Council keep an open mind as to the possible future use of the area until that exercise has been completed, otherwise the whole process is compromised.
There is a strong level of support for the idea of the area becoming a mixed use area. The Lewes Matters survey regarding the future of this area found that 3 out of 4 people felt that this area should become mixed use of residential, live work and retail. Many of the Vision Statements received from the stakeholders also support the idea of mixed use.
The masterplan approach for this area has been welcomed by English Heritage, The South East Regional Design Panel, Friends of Lewes and Lewes Chamber of Commerce amongst others.
Government guidelines also favour mixed use on brownfield sites in towns, which are in need of regeneration.
Quoting from ppg13.
Key Sites
21. Local authorities should seek to make maximum use of the most accessible sites, such as those in town centres and others which are, or will be, close to major transport interchanges. These opportunities may be scarce. They should be pro-active in promoting intensive development in these areas and on such sites. They should develop a clear vision for development of these areas9, prepare site briefs and, where appropriate, consider using compulsory purchase powers to bring development forward. Local authorities should review their development plan allocations and should: allocate or reallocate sites which are (or will be) highly accessible by public transport for travel intensive uses (including offices, retail, commercial leisure, hospitals and conference facilities), ensuring efficient use of land, but seek, where possible, a mix of uses, including a residential element; and allocate or reallocate sites unlikely to be well served by public transport for uses which are not travel intensive.
And quoting from pps6 The Government is concerned to ensure that efficient use should be made of land within centres and elsewhere. Local planning authorities should formulate planning policies which encourage well-designed, and, where appropriate, higher-density,multi-storey development within and around existing centres, including the promotion of mixed-use development and mixed-use areas. The considerations in paragraphs 2.19 and 2.20 are also relevant to the consideration of planning applications.Guidance on design and implementation tools will be published separately. 2.21 Subject to other planning considerations, residential or office development should be encouraged as appropriate uses above ground floor retail, leisure or other facilities within centres.The inclusion of housing in out-of-centre mixed-use developments should not, in itself, justify additional floorspace for main town centre uses in such locations. 2.22 A diversity of uses in centres makes an important contribution to their vitality and viability. Different but complementary uses, during the day and in the evening, can reinforce each other, making town centres more attractive to local residents, shoppers and visitors. Local planning authorities should encourage diversification of uses in the town centre as a whole, and ensure that tourism, leisure and cultural activities, which appeal to a wide range of age and social groups, are dispersed throughout the centre.
The regeneration of the site by the nature of the fact that it is at risk of flooding cannot be planned in a piecemeal way. There has to be an overview, as flood protection cannot be installed in one section only. The buildings are of no architectural merit and many are at of or near the end of their useful life.
The prospect of anyone being able to fund the regeneration of this area and the provision of flood protection based upon a continued business use only is not a reality.
This has been verified by an independent survey conducted on behalf of East Sussex County Council. Quoting from the Vision Statement from Locate East Sussex.
“The provision of quality business space appropriate for high technology companies is a significant element missing in the County’s property offer, and this is what we would like the development to deliver. However, we accept that the extraordinary costs of developing on a brownfield site, in addition to providing the flood defence works required by the town (not least by businesses to ensure resilience of their operations) limits the quantum of employment space that can be delivered viably without an enabling residential development .
The needs of the District and the Town are more diverse than just the provision of low grade industrial space and surface car parking and include a severe shortage of affordable housing as well as the need for new flood protected employment space, retail space, visitor car parking, leisure and community facilities.
We have never assumed that the land that is owned by Lewes District Council would be sold to us or be developed by us. Lewes District Council will form a view and make decisions on what the future use of this publicly owned land should be and will no doubt consider a wide range of factors before deciding whether to sell this land or to redevelop it. How to relocate the existing occupiers, operations and car parking would clearly be a major determining factor in any future decision making. They will also, no doubt, consider the outcome of the Vision Statement Exercise in making decisions in the future.
Although a masterplan provides a means to take a look at an area as a whole, it can be delivered in phases and by different developers over time. We would hope that in the future, as long as the Council were satisfied that the occupiers currently using their land could be satisfactorily accommodated in new purpose built, flood protected space either on the North Street site, or elsewhere in Lewes and as long as sufficient car parking was provided to make up for any public car parking lost by the redevelopment of their land that they would support the redevelopment of the Council owned land as a way of delivering on a wider Vision for the area.
Cllr Ann de Vecchi is quoted as having said "it is clearly the Council's policy that if we still require the land for operational use we do not release it" "this is existing Council policy, and the most important thing is the land is for employment use" "at the moment I cannot see why we would sell the land for development, the Council needs the land, the businesses on the land have long leases and the money for these leases are(sic) used for the whole district, not just the town"
What is clear is that in the statement Cllr De Vecchi says “at the moment” and “if we require the land for operational use”. Clearly if things change this position can be reviewed. If alternative satisfactory or improved land and buildings are made available to relocate these businesses, operations and car parking to, and if the Vision for the area changes then one would expect the Council to consider how best to ensure that the best interests of the Town and the occupiers and operations are met and would in fact consider whether to release the land for development. This is clearly not a decision that can be made at the moment, nor is it a decision that has been made by the Council yet.
We will only be making a planning application for land we own or which we have agreed to buy. The masterplan looks at a wider area and its future delivery would depend in part upon the future decision of the Council on how to or whether to be part of delivery on this section of the masterplan. When our planning application and masterplan are submitted, which will be after the Vision Statement is published it will follow the strategic vision set down in the Vision Statement we receive from Lewes District Council. All the reports and materials that have been prepared for both the masterplan and our planning application will be displayed on our website www.thephoenixquarter.co.uk at the time of our planning application.
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Andy
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/28 17:40What I genuinely don't understand is this - why has it taken this long to extract the above from the parties involved i.e. Angel Property & LDC? It seems to me that there are a couple of possibilites - either it was deliberately being hidden or we, as townspeople (and thus, by the way, in effect the owners of a lot of this land), were regarded as being too stupid to understand. I AM REALLY ANGRY ABOUT THIS AND INTEND TO DO SOMETHING (not sure what yet, but something). Why couldn't the parties involved have been open and honest about the whole thing, instead of it being extracted little by little over a protacted period. IT'S AN ABSOLUTE INSULT AND INEXCUSABLE BEHAVIOUR BY ALL CONCERNED.
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