Exhibition about Plans for Walton Manor

The plans for the Walton Manor development, west of Walton Grange, between the H9 and Simpson Road, will go on display at SNAP in Bourton Low, Walnut Tree, on Wednesday 28th November, from 4pm to 8pm so that you can comment before the application is finalised.

The development will comprise up to 174 homes, and a much needed play area for the area.  A few homes will be accessed off Simpson Road, Walton Park, and the rest from Groveway, where we understand that a new roundabout is proposed at the OU junction.

You can see the brief the developers were given here – but they are free to propose other layouts if they want.

Please have a look and let us know of any concerns so that we can argue for changes.  Thank you.

Plan:MK Exhibition at Kingston Library until Sat 9th December

Plan:MK, which will define the Council’s current plans for development until 2031, is out for consultation until 20th December.  An exhibition about it is at Kingston Library until Saturday 9th December.

The Plan includes catering for the number of houses that MK’s growing population will need, and a wide variety of jobs to go with them, with most new jobs in “knowledge based” sectors, and new schools, health centres, community centres, etc. in the new major development areas as well as a major expansion in CMK.  It will see MK’s population rise to 350-400,000 by 2031.

A number of small sites for development had already been approved in Monkston ward, including:

  • Ladbroke Grove, Monkston Park (housing)
  • Lilleshall Avenue, Monkston (housing)
  • The schools at Kents Hill Park
  • Walton Manor (part housing part employment)

And very close to Monkston ward:

  • The Eastern Expansion area including Broughton Gate and Brooklands for housing, and Magna Park for employment
  • The Strategic Land Allocation along the H8 (A421) towards the motorway and to the east of Old Farm Park
  • The land on the corner of Towergate and Groveway in Wavendon Gate
  • The completion of Oakgrove

A few additional sites in Monkston ward are now proposed in Plan:MK:

All of these sites had previously been reserved for future development, and the Walnut Tree ones were in the Neighbourhood Plan, although Walton Community Council wanted a day nursery and more parking as part of the Wadesmill Lane site.

And sites nearby:

  • Land on the corner between Isaacson Drive and Ortensia Drive in Wavendon Gate
  • Land on the corner between Britten Grove and Byrd Crescent in Old Farm Park
  • A new major site extending the city between Wavendon and The Brickhills accessed from an extension to the H10

All in the Neighbourhood Plan.

Please have your say on the proposals by 20th December 2017.  The changes that can be made at this stage are limited, but if you have serious concerns about any of it please let Cllr Jenni Ferrans know, as well as responding formally, and we will see whether we can alleviate the issues.

Kents Hill Park Planning Application

A planning application has been submitted for the private hospital, and housing, at Kents Hill Park.  You can see more details on our leaflet Kents Hill Park Plans, and the full application on the Council’s website here, and search for reference 17/02616/OUT.

The application appears to allow 4-storey homes, whereas we had been assured that they would be a maximum of 3-storey, so we are asking which is correct.  Either way, the actual proposals will be decided in a further, detailed planning application next year.

STOP PRESS: Meeting re Kents Hill Park Developments

The developers have announced details of their meeting:

Consultation on Residential and Private Hospital Developments on Kents Hill Park
Thursday 21st September 2017 6-8pm
Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre
Swallow House, Timbold Drive, Kents Hill Park, MK7 6BZ

They are hoping to get the planning application in by the end of September, and there will be a formal consultation (but no meeting) then, but this is your chance to request changes before they finalise the application.

See you there!

Kents Hill Park West Plans

Spire Healthcare met with Councillors and Parish Councillors recently for a preview of the latest draft of their plans.

They are planning a private hospital and 140 homes to be built on the fields on Kents Hill off Timbold Drive. The woodland strip between that and the existing homes will stay, but they wanted part of it as private space behind the hospital. (Techically it’s private now apart from the bit the Parks Trust own.)  We told them that most residents wanted public access to the woodland.

The hospital will be a private hospital, which means that they plan it as a separate business, not as an integral part of local health care, but they do hope to take some patients under contracts from MK General Hospital.  They wouldn’t comment on how many.  They will have a critical care department, but they will not take in emergency cases so there should be no ambulances with sirens.

The hospital building will be in the area shown on our last Focus leaflet, and will be three storeys high, set down the slope a bit so that it’s no higher than the houses behind. It will have its own car park.  The housing will be 2-3 storeys.  There will be a shop and play areas.

What Next? – A Public Meeting

They are intending to hold a public exhibition/meeting as soon as they have finished checking their plans, in September.  We were given the probable date of the evening of Sept. 21st, but we don’t have any details or confirmation yet.  We will update this website when we hear.

They then hope to put the planning application in a couple of weeks after the public meeting, once they’ve made any changes from the consultation.  The application will be a full application for the hospital, and an outline application for the housing – saying how many homes, shops, etc, will be where, and where the access will be, so that traffic issues can be assessed.  All other details of the housing will be reserved to be decided later.  That application will be on MK Council’s website for public comments, before being decided, and they hope that work will start on the hospital in spring 2018.

After that, probably autumn 2018, they will put a “reserved matters” application in with the details of the housing. That will then go onto MK Council’s website for public comment, before a decision is made on that.

In the meantime, the Government Inspector has examined the policy to put a mix of the hospital and housing on the site.  His report won’t come for several weeks, but he appeared to be content with the policy.

Ladbroke Grove Development

MK Development Partnership has appointed a developer to develop the site off Ladbroke Grove in Monkston Park.  The site will be developed for general housing after plans for older people’s housing fell through.  The plans should be submitted soon.

Please let us have your email address if you want the Lib Dems to notify you when they come in.  We hope to have an exhibition of the plans on Monkston Park.

Developments near Walton Grange

The MK Local Plan designates the area around Walton Grange for development, and a number of plans and development briefs have been prepared that will shape the developments.  This article gives you an overview, with links to more information about each part.  It will be updated as things change.

The phase 1 plans (see below) are now out for consultation, until 25th October, so have your say!

Overview

A planning brief defines the development opportunities and constraints and suggests a broad general shape that the development might follow.  For larger developments, Outline plans and Reserved matters (the rest of the detail) then follow, while for smaller developments, we go straight to a detailed plan.  Both the development brief and the plans are consulted on, so you have the chance to express your views.  However, it’s important to understand that what the Council is allowed to insist upon, and sometimes even what they are allowed to propose, is limited by planning law.

The area around Walton Grange is divided into two: the area currently owned by MSD, the company opposite across Hulwell Gate, and the area currently owned by MKDP, the Council’s development arm.

The MKDP land

The MKDP area, known as Walton Manor, was the subject of a Development Brief consultation last year.  If you want to see what was consulted on, then please click here, and search for the keywords Walton Manor.   The brief was delayed for a variety of reasons, and extra technical information has led to a change.  The new version is being prepared at present, and will be published soon.  We will update this article when it comes out. We’re not expecting any plans until well into 2016.

The MSD Land

MSD also want to develop their existing land, in three phases.

Phase 0 covers the land immediately across Hulwell Drive in front of the flats on Walton Grange.  The plan is to build a very small water treatment plant (basically relocating one they already have), together with a small visitors car park, and a row of landscaping by the road to screen it a little from the flats.  You can see the information we put out on it here.

Phase 1 will include building a new small production plant (to replace an existing one) on the land further in beyond the treatment plant, with landscaping to screen it, and extensions to the car parks near the V10.  They will also add an extra lane to the HGV access within the site, so that vehicles can queue there, and not on Hullwell Gate.  See our leaflet for more details and search for plan 15/02293/FUL on the Council’s website here.  The planning application is out for consultation until 25th October 2015, so please get your comments in, and let us know if you still have any questions.  We have obtained mock-up views of the plant from outside the Abells Close flats and the Harley Drive flats.

Phase 2 will cover two more buildings within their site, and a new large car park near the H9 and access from the H9.  That may reduce traffic on Hulwell Gate.  They have not finalised the planning application yet, so there is nothing to see, but they will do so soon and we will update this article when they do.  The leaflet describes a little more about the phase 2 intentions.

Development Consultation on Kents Hill Park

The Council’s consultation on the planning brief for the developments on Kents Hill Park including both the housing and the schools will close this Sunday, Sept 13th, so please get your comments in to them!  The development proposal comprises:

  • a secondary school to serve the MK south-central area
  • a primary school to serve the new housing plus an extra junior class in each year to take the existing overflow from the area
  • 286-303 homes or small commercial or mixed use units

 

For more information on why it’s happening, and the process being followed, see our Development Special published early this year.

For more information on the proposals and the school proposals, see our KentsHillSpecial2.
Update: Heronsgate have agreed to take the 2016 intake to the junior school, and those children will then stay at Heronsgate until they move up to secondary school.  It’s intended that the new school will open on the new site on Kents Hill in September 2017.

To see the questions residents asked at the meetings the Parish Council convened, and the answers, see our Kents Hill Questions and Answers.

To see the planning brief that the Council is consulting on, see MK Council’s website at
www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/consultations/Consultation/1361

Walton Grange Water Treatment Plant

MSD, the company opposite Walton Grange, are intending to start the further development of their land.  Cllr Jenni Ferrans and a local resident went to see the site and got more explanation of what they are planning.  You can see a diagram here, or the plans on the MK Council website here and search for 15/00385/FUL.

  • A new small water treatment plant will replace the existing one on the site.  It will be fully contained.  The waste water is piped into sealed tanks, and treated.  That is the same way that it operates at the moment and there was no odour standing just outside the tank shed.  The existing pump can’t be heard or felt even 2 metres away, let alone across the road in a building, so there should be no disturbance from that. The new one will be similar.
  • The existing glass crusher is not moving from its present site, or changing. But they are to fit a canopy over the top. So there will be no disturbance from that
  • A new access road within the site is to start to help reduce congestion on the main road.  They will do more work within the site once the first changes are done, that should reduce the queues significantly.  It won’t change the amount of traffic along Hulwell Gate.
  • A new small visitors parking area will normally only be used in office hours and gives them only a few more spaces than at present.
  • A loading/unloading bay will only be used to deliver chemicals to the treatment tank: one vehicle once a fortnight during office hours.

Both Cllr Ferrans and the resident agreed that there should be no impact on residents apart from the loss of the green field view. Sadly, since the whole area is designated as industrial, there is no protection for that.

Update: the plans were approved in summer 2015 and work will start in November/December 2015.

Development at Kents Hill West

The sites under discussion at Kents Hill

The sites at Kents Hill

Development of some sort will come to the west of Kents Hill near the V10 over the next few years.  Our special Focus edition explains why, what is being considered, and how you can input to the decision.

We’re fighting to ensure that, whatever comes, adequate infrastructure comes with it, so that existing residents don’t suffer as a result of the new development.