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The consultation for the proposed traveller site at Purley Oaks Recycling Centre has opened this week.
Residents responding to the consultation stating their reasons for opposing the plans is the best means that we currently have to stop the traveller site from going ahead.
A consultation of this nature is a formal process and will form an important part of the larger quasi-judicial planning decision. As a result, it is important that responses to the Council follow certain guide lines. Simply writing to the Council and saying that you oppose the site is not enough – your message needs to make clear your reasons for why you believe the site is unsuitable.
I will be sending the Council my own response to the consultation in the next couple of days. I will make clear that the proposed site is inappropriate for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it will cause significant disruption to the area which is almost entirely surrounded by residential properties. As such, the traveller site would be completely out of place in a suburban environment.
The pre-existing, severe traffic congestion in the area has reached breaking point recently; with queues of vehicles trying to access the recycling centre from the main road. A traveller site would greatly exacerbate this situation.
A traveller site would not only disrupt the area around the recycling centre, but would become an obstacle to any expansion to the centre. Due to the high demand to use the Recycling Centre, it would be prudent to increase its size – and therefore capacity – in the future. However the traveller site would block any future plans to do this.
I strongly recommend that anyone living in the area should contact the Council as well. You can do this by emailing ldf@croydon.gov.uk.
The consultation will be open from today for the next six weeks.
Below is the Council’s own guidance on what a response ought to state:
Representations will need to contain a name and address and should ideally address whether it is considered the Local Plans have been positively prepared, are justified, effective or consistent with national policy, and the reasons why, using the below criteria below from the National Planning Policy Framework:
· Positively prepared – the plan should be prepared based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development and infrastructure requirements, including unmet requirements from neighbouring authorities where it is reasonable to do so and consistent with achieving sustainable development.
· Justified – the plan should be the most appropriate strategy, when considered against the reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate evidence.
· Effective – the plan should be deliverable over its period based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic priorities.
· Consistent with national policy – the plan should enable the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework.
