As the pressure mounts on Barratt Homes to conjure up a credible plan for their development proposal, it appears that they have now stooped even lower and have resorted to game playing.   Having missed the deadline for the July Planning Committee, Barratt Homes should by now have submitted an updated plan in time for Council Officers, their consultants and residents to study and comment on, prior to the subsequent Planning  meeting in August.

However, it seems that Barratt Homes, having had more than enough time to prepare their updated plan, have chosen not to submit it in time to be included in the August Planning meeting.  The next Planning meeting is Wednesday September 16th.

“Refuse the application” I hear everyone shout to the Council.  But, even though this would be the right thing to do given the history of the application and the more than ample time Barratt Homes have already had, the council still have to be seen to behave reasonably toward them.   Barratt Homes have advised the Council that an updated application is on its way, so the Council can’t refuse the application just yet.  Given Barratt Homes’ record of dishonesty as recorded in our blogs, I somewhat doubt that they have anything like a credible plan and so are just playing for time in the hope that they can find some legal loophole to force the application through.

So for now we have to sit tight and wait for Barratt to reveal their hand, but the end game is getting closer and if they procrastinate further in an attempt to miss the September Planning Committee, then Council Officers will have reasonable grounds to safely refuse the application.

On a very positive note, our local Councillor, Daniel Jellyman is now the city’s Heritage Champion and has submitted a letter of objection to the Development Committee.

” As Heritage Champion for the City of Stoke-on-Trent, I believe that the field in question being a conservation zone is crucial to this city’s heritage. With other suitable building sites across the city, this field is not suitable on any grounds for any development”

The Keep Our Meadow Green Campaign is sad to announce the passing of John Ball from Chessington Crescent, Trentham.

John and his loving wife Jean were the subject of the KOMG recent campaign YouTube video entitled Johns Story.  John who was aged 79 years, passed peacefully on Wednesday 10th June 2015 whilst at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. He was a devoted husband of Jean and a loving dad of Simon, Judith and David.  John will be sadly missed by all his family and many friends. Continue reading →

Meeting with Principle Planning Officer

Yesterday, members of the Keep Our Meadow Green residents committee met with Principle Planning Officer Tom Coates at the Civic Offices.  Key news we can share from the meeting Continue reading →

Persistence pays!

In response to a residents letter of complaint, Council Officers have confirmed that an extension of time for the application has been requested and approved.

The date we’ve now been given for the extension is 31st July 2015.  This should be, but may not be the final date within which Barratt Homes have to make those inconvenient facts disappear from the reality of their exceptionally poor argument in favour of the development.  Good luck with that!

In the mean time, to show your support for the NO campaign, why not download this graphic and display it prominently in your window?  Every little helps 🙂

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

With things settling down at the council after the elections, we expect the application to move forward to the only reasonable conclusion….  that there is absolutely no case to justify Barratt Homes destroying the meadow and our community.

Transparency from the City Council has been somewhat lacking regarding this application, however we believe from our re-elected and newly appointed councillors, Terry Follows & Daniel Jellyman who attended our committee meeting last night that things will change.  We also understand that Barratt Homes have requested an indefinite extension to the application, which we assume is in a desperate attempt to magic up a credible argument despite all of the inconvenient facts against it.

However, the long overdue meeting between planning officers, councillors and the KOMG residents committee is now pencilled in for the 11th June.  There is quite a list of questions to put to the council and we’ll publish all of the questions and answers soon after the meeting, so watch this space.

The number of residences objecting to the application continues to grow and over 70% of households on the Meadow Lane estate have sent in objection letters and hundreds of residents on adjacent estates also objecting.   This is heading to be one of the biggest planning objection campaigns to a new development in the City of Stoke-on-Trent that there has ever been!

Please join in, object today!

Local Schools

One of the most common complaints we get, is that of the lack of local school places.  Many residents are already having to send children to schools far and wide due to lack of places at local schools.   If you are affected and your child could not get into the nearest local school in Trentham, please drop us a line at info@keepourmeadowgreen.org.   We’re gathering this information for planning officers to help them understand the extent of the problem we already face, let alone how it will go from bad to worse if this development goes ahead.  If you are affected, please invest a few minutes to let us know.

Planning application

The Planning Application process is now set to drag-on beyond the elections and although the Council will not confirm a date for the hearing, it’s most likely to be scheduled for sometime in June.

Planning Officers have been considering points raised in the numerous objections and we believe that Officers will recommend that planning permission is refused.  However, Barratt Homes and their associates are also busy, attempting by hook or by crook to patch over the numerous issues with their application to convince Officers to recommend approval or at least to give themselves a fighting chance with an appeal if planning permission is refused by the Council.

Barratt Homes are brazen enough, to not only have submitted a Full Planning Application rife with Continue reading →

Eagled eyed residents recently spotted a new document from “pba”, one of Barratt Homes’ associates.   The new document added to the councils planning website on March 19th titled “ADDENDUM NOTE – CORRECTION TO PLANNING STATEMENT” purports to correct previous errors in the planning application regarding the distances to nurseries from the site.  However, the “corrected” distances are in-fact “incorrect”.  Readers familiar with the tactics of Barratt Homes and their associates will not be surprised by this. Continue reading →

On Sunday March 29th, we’ll be on the Chessington Crescent Green.  Drop in between 10am and 4pm to get a first hand update from Keep Our Meadow Green committee members.

If you’d like to get behind the cause to oppose the development, you can publicly show your support in the way of car stickers and badges.  The stickers are cling-on so if you have a car or not, you can pop one in your living room window to show we’re all against this ill-thought out plan to destroy the Meadow.  I’ll be getting a few of them and the money raised will go towards the fighting fund.

Everyone is welcome, and if you’ve not already had chance to donate to the cause, pop-along and we’ll be delighted to accept your donation towards the professional expert assistance we need to fight the application.  All unused funds will be donated to The Donna Louise Children’s Hospice.

Easter Raffle

Thanks to generous donations from local residents and businesses, we’ve some great raffle prizes too, including a limited edition ceramic.  All funds raised support the cause, so we look forward to seeing you there and good luck with the raffle.