We asked the Environment agency to carry out an investigation of water quality on the Symene and about Nutrient neutrality on the FL site. Below is their response. We will continue to investigate and pressfor action on these issues

1. We are not able to implement additional monitoring with respect to planning applications as this does not fall under our current monitoring programme. There are other complex but related drivers which determine where and what we monitor. We currently have a water quality monitor in the Simene at Magdalen Lane that takes readings every 30 minutes. Whilst the purpose of this monitoring is to provide detailed information on sediment flux in the Simene, if we did find evidence of pollution we would pass this to our Environment Management team to investigate further.

A summary of Water Framework Directive classification status for the Simene catchment is given on the Catchment Data Explorer: https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB108044010110. The classifications are high for dissolved oxygen and ammonia and good for phosphate and invertebrates. We have assessed that the failure to meet good ecological status for macrophytes is due to morphological constraints rather than water quality.

The Wessex Water storm overflow at West Bay Sluices is equipped with an event duration monitor and Wessex Water are required to provide annual and bathing water (May to September) returns to us each year detailing the number and duration of spills. This is in line with design expectations. It is worth noting that the bathing water quality at West Bay West is currently classified as ‘Excellent’: https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/profile.html?_search=west%20bay&site=ukk2205-21000.

2. Does the Dorset Council statement have any relevance to the development at Vearse Farm Bridport?

No. Nutrient neutrality is not relevant to this development because it is not within a defined protected site or river catchment. These nutrient neutrality requirements are implemented by Natural England who would also lead on advising Dorset Council on planning applications which fall within these areas.

These notes are from the agreement made between Dorset Council, Melvyn Richard Sparks and Yvonne Sparks, Philip John Colfox, Hallam Land Management Limited, The Royal Bank of Scotland. They relate to Section 106 Agreement concerning the development of Land at Vearse Farm, planning application WD/D/17/000986. The notes outline the obligations and covenants set out in the Agreement. They have been prepared to facilitate the monitoring of phasing stages and trigger points relating to the development.

The definitions in the agreement do not oblige the Owners to construct Affordable Commercial Development facilities.

The Care Home MAY be provided.

The owners covenant not to commence the development unless and until a Commencement Notice has been served on the Council. (7.1)

The Owners will serve notice on the council when trigger points occur. (7.2)

Trigger points are: –

Commencement of development of each phase. (7.1)

Occupation of 1^st Dwelling in any phase. (7.2.1)

Occupation of 150^th, 200^th, 250^th, 300^th, 400^th, 500^th, 700^th Dwelling. (7.2.3)

Occupation of 75% of Open Market Dwellings. (7.2.4)

Occupation of 90% of Open Market Dwellings. (7.2.5)

Completion of each phase. (7.2.6)

All notices and written communication between Owners and Council shall be served by registered post or recorded delivery (7.4)

Any sum referred to in Schedule 3 shall be based on the Index from 3^rd November 2017 to the date on which the sum is payable. (Between 2017 and 2023 Index rose from 160 to 220, my approximation)

Schedule 3, Owner’s covenants

1. Not to Commence Development until a Notice of Commencement has been served on the Council. (1.1)

2. No phase to be started until affordable housing scheme for that phase has written approval from Council. (2.2)

3. Not to permit occupation of 75% of Open Market Dwellings in each phase until affordable units have been constructed and substantially completed and transferred to an Approved Provider within that Phase. (2.6)

4. The Affordable Housing provisions are not binding on a mortgagee (2.11.1)

5. If Self-Build plots are not sold within 2 years they may be disposed of as open market plots.

6. Not to permit occupation of more than 150 homes until Allotment Plan has been approved by Council. (4.1)

7. Not to permit occupation of more than 600 dwellings until Allotments are completed. (4.2)

8. Allotments should be transferred to Council or its nominee once no more than 200 dwellings have been completed for £1. (4.5)

9. Not to occupy more than 400 Dwellings until the Owners have notified the Council that Employment Land has been provided (5.1)

10. The Owners shall market the Local Centre from the date of the first Occupation of the 150^th Dwelling or completion of first Phase for a continuous period of four years. (6.1) If after four years there has been insufficient response restriction on providing Local Centre will cease to have effect. (6.2)

11. The Owners shall submit the Comprehensive Sports Pitch Scheme no later than the submission of the First Reserved Matters Application and will shall not cause or permit Commencement of the Development until Comprehensive Sports Pitch Scheme has been approved in writing by the Council. (7.1)

12. The Owners shall not occupy more than 400 Dwellings until Sports Pitches are completed (7.4)

13. Play Areas to be approved by Council for the part of relevant Property no later than date of submission of the first Reserved Matters Application for that Phase. (8.1)

14. Not to occupy more than 200 Dwellings until first LEAP Area is delivered {Local Equipped Area of Play} (8.7)

15. Not to occupy more than 400 Dwellings until MUGA and LEAP are delivered (8.8)

16. Not to occupy more than 500 Dwellings until second LEAP Area is delivered (8.9)

17. The owners shall submit Open Space Phasing Plan no later than the date of the submission of the first Reserved Matters Application. (9.1)

18. The Owners shall not cause or permit Commencement of Development until 9.1 has been approved by the Council (9.2)

19. The Owners shall submit the Landscape Environment Management Plan no later than the date of the submission of thew first Reserved Matters Application and shall not commence Development until the Landscape Environment Management Plan is approved pursuant to Condition 7 of the Planning Permission. (11.1)

20. The Owners will invite the Council to inspect and approve Hedgerow Plans. (12.1)

21. The Owners will pay three Hedgerow Payments prior to the occupation of 250, 500, and 750 Dwellings respectively (12.2)

22. The Owners will pay 50% of the Bridport Leisure Centre Payment before 300 Dwellings are occupied. The remainder before 500 Dwellings are occupied (13.1)

23. The owners shall pay the Healthcare Provision Payment prior to the occupation of 250 Dwellings. (13.2)

24. Section 14 on Continuation Link is complex and detailed (but not very relevant)

25. The Owners shall transfer the School Site to the Council prior to the occupation of the 50^th Dwelling. (15.3)

26. The Owners shall not Commence Development until 5% of the Education Contribution is paid to Council. (16.1)

27. Not to Occupy more than 25% of Dwellings until a further 20% of Education Contribution has been paid to Council. (16.2)

28. Not to Occupy more than 50% of Dwellings until a further 35% of Education Contribution has been paid to Council (16.3)

29. Not to Occupy more than 75% of Dwellings until all Education Contribution has been paid. (16.5)

30. Not to permit the Occupation of any Dwelling until the Provisional completion of the Miles Cross Junction Works (17.2)

31. Not to permit the Occupation of any Dwelling until Contribution for B3162 has been paid to Council. (17.4)

32. Not to permit the occupation of 150 Dwellings until the provisional Completion of the New Footway/Cycle Access Traffic Calming Works. (17.5)

33. Not to permit the occupation of more than 150 Dwellings until Provisional Completion of the Mini Roundabout Minor improvement Works. (17.6)

34. Not to permit the occupation of any Dwelling until it has paid the Existing Public Footpath Improvements Contribution to the Council. (17.7)

35. Not to Commence Development or carry out any land clearance on THE PROPERTY until it has paid 20% of the Biodiversity Compensation Payment to the Council. (18.1)

NOTE: THE PROPERTY is clearly defined as land previously belonging to Vearse Farm, i.e. the hedge that has already been removed

36. Not to permit Occupation of more than 149 Dwellings until it has paid all of the Biodiversity compensation Payment to the Council. (18.2)

37. Not to Occupy any Dwelling in a Phase until a Surface Water Drainage Scheme for that Phase has been Approved and implemented. (19.1/2)

An urgent plea to National Highways, Dorset Council and Barratt / Vistry as the developers of Foundry Lea

Concerning Miles Cross Roundabout Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) and the Foundry Lea CTMP –

ADVEARSE has had communications over several years on this with National Highways.

Miles Cross Junction has long been a source of concern as evidenced by the long standing A35 working group which included the former MP and David Tett as a local councillor. This concern predates any additional construction traffic and is based on accident records and near misses. It is essential for those who are to take the decisions on the Vearse Farm development drive it to actually understand the dangers. Those who are not used to using the junction, get confused as to whether the right of way is with those waiting to turn right off the A35 or for those waiting in West Road to turn right onto the A35. Hesitation often occurs and this is compounded when the car turning into West Road sees a car speeding up the slip road off the East bound A35. Factor in busy times and frustration or nervousness and it feels like a black spot.

At present the planning conditions state that no occupation is possible until the roundabout is completed but construction can begin using an access road off the B3162 West Road. The CTMP for FL talks of 40/50 HGVs construction lorries per day plus 100 lighter vehicles. This amounts to 300 total journeys.

There are plenty of examples in the country – a good example being Crewe in Cheshire – where the roundabouts are installed before any development work commences. More locally, one is being installed in Chippenham prior to development commencing.

No CTMP for Miles Cross has been seen as yet. A CTMP for FL has been produced for Barratt and Vistry by GHPC. Dorset Council has indicated there is no formal right of consultation on this document or the discharge of Condition 20 in the OPP to which this relates, although the developers have indicated they are open to consultation.

We recommend that the planning condition related to this be revisited and urge

1. that the roundabout be constructed before any construction traffic is allowed on site.
2. That if this is not possible , no construction traffic approaching on the A35 from the east should be allowed to turn right into West Road
3. That the CTMP for Miles Cross and that for the Foundry Lea site should be jointly prepared so there is a clear analysis of the risks of running both together .

Our key points

1. Why does the FL construction traffic mean that the Roundabout should be completed before any construction begins on site? This is because of the dangers to road safety. A heavily laden brick lorry wishing to turn right off the A35 from the starting from a stop position with the limited visibility of traffic coming from the Chideock direction will be lucky to get across in time. National Highways spokesman has explained that the two schemes can work together for reasons of ‘proportionality and viability ‘. We commented to him that if by the latter he means Barratt need to sell houses to pay for the roundabout that is putting commercial gain above public safety and we would suggest that Barratt have plenty of reserves to pay for the roundabout.

2.There is no safe time in the day . Much of the discussion has centred on holiday traffic and the need to have limits on times when construction traffic can approach. We would argue that it is even more dangerous when the road is quiet and traffic, which has been slowed in Chideock, speeds down towards Miles Cross. The latest fatality took place at about 5.30 am! It should also be noted that the ‘holiday period ‘is no longer confined to the 6-week school holiday.

3.Both CTMPs should specify – No Right turn off A35 for construction traffic. In the early stages of the development at Vearse Farm there was talk that construction vehicles coming from the east (Crown Roundabout) would not be allowed to turn right into West Road. This would require the construction traffic to go to the Charmouth roundabout before turning and returning. The CTMP for FL is very vague on this and the matter needs a thorough investigation and a clear statement issued.

4. Would temporary traffic lights help? We think not. This is at first glance a good suggestion and ,of course, our priority must be to provide safe driving conditions. In that sense, we would support it if it was the only option left.

However, when traffic lights were installed at Broomhills the National Highways insisted that there would be no right turn across the lights. Their argument will have been on safety grounds. We would assume they would object to a right turn at Miles Cross on the same basis. We would be very disappointed if we are prevented from turning right at Broomhills in a saloon car, but multimillion Barratt/ Vistry is allowed to have 50 HGVs a day turn right at Miles Cross.

Secondly, the temporary lights would presumably involve a filter system. As we know from the Bridport Town Hall lights, this means that the traffic coming from the direction without the filter has less time to negotiate the lights and the queue is that much longer. Imagine the queue back through Chideock over the summer.

Our other concern with the temporary traffic lights is that, should they appear to be working OK, the roundabout will never be built. This is the expectation of many people anyway who fear Dorset Council has little leverage over the developers.

4. Informing the Bridport Public It is interesting to note that local people are assuming that the roundabout will be completed first. We have yet to meet a single person who agrees that it is possible to do other.

4. Enforcing the CTMP – Dorset Council has responsibility for monitoring the CTMP – Who thinks Dorset will have the resources to do this? We are in danger of seeing restrictions on construction traffic repeatedly ignored.

We would like to see in writing the sanctions for breaking the CTMP.

Conclusion – We as a group have warned about this issue for many years . As we get nearer to the actual start of work it is urgent that the issues are addressed .

The chaos and potential risks which will result which will result from this failure to plan properly for the road construction must be addressed . We ask that you collectively revisit the issue and engage with local people in the decision making. We would appreciate a detailed response to our concerns and an explanation of what decision you make.

We understand that the developers (Barratts and Vistry) will be making an effort to rectify the damage as best they can.

This will involve replacing the 19 trees that were chopped down with 25 semi-mature native trees from a local company. Although the hedgerow root system is still in place and will grow back, they will also be planting new hedgerow too.

If anyone sees any of this activity then please let us know.

https://www.bridportnews.co.uk/news/23161459.ancient-hedgerow-destroyed-vearse-farm-developers/

ADVEARSE is aware of the widespread anger which has been created by the destruction of two large lengths of hedgerow at the sites of the planned entrances to the Foundry Lea development . We understand that there was a mistake made by those carrying out the work.

The developers announced that the preliminary site clearance work would be “….the removal of small sections of the hedge line ..” and comply with the “Hedgerow removal” on the tree retention plan 10042-E-D approved by the Dorset Council Tree Officer.

Instead contractors working for the developers have been responsible for wanton destruction of decades-old mature trees and ancient hedgerows.

We are at a loss as to how this could have occurred when the plans for protecting and retaining these trees and hedgerows were clearly spelt out. The developers claim that they will put this destruction right is laughable. Dorset Council must launch their own investigation and take legal action against the developers to ensure that this transgression does not go unpunished. Also additional monitoring of the developers actions are put in place with these additional costs being paid for by the developers.

The start of the work has brought home to residents the reality of what such a massive development will mean within the Dorset AONB . The developers have set out in their plans to preserve some of the environmental features on the site. But this will by no means cover all the hedges and trees. We hope that residents will continue to monitor the work being carried out to ensure that the developers stick to the conditions of the planning consent.

Last month Foundry Lea received the reserved matters approval with the help of the votes of our local Bridport councillors on the Dorset Council planning committee. This means that we have no leverage to ask for any changes in the detailed plans or improvements in the local infrastructure.

Any changes or improvements now rest on the goodwill of the developers or Dorset Council.

We have a good relationship with the developers who told us directly that they would be open to consider ideas from the local people but any which impact on their profits of extend the Foundry Lea timescale would be rejected. We have found it very difficult to secure any constructive dialogue with Dorset Council.

At present we are continuing to secure better outcomes on some of the main issues which concern our supporters. We are pressing hard for the construction of the roundabout to be completed before any construction traffic can enter the site . We will also be chasing up concerns about sewage discharges and will be attending a meeting called by the local business Chamber with Western Power about ensuring there will be sufficient capacity of electricity. We are reflecting hard on how our efforts may be best targeted. We see no real prospect of getting anywhere on our other main requests eg increased use of renewables, further independent assurances on flood risk, bringing forward the provision of employment land, improved traffic safety, medical centre funding etc.

On a positive note Bridport Town Council have set up a Foundry Lea Working Group which includes some local councillors, local interest groups, the developers and a Dorset Council representative. The aim of this group is to facilitate the Foundry Lea development. Advearse have been invited to join this group and will attend the next meeting

At our last meeting we discussed the latest situation and considered the future of Advearse and its role going forward. We would really welcome your feedback as we decide what to do.

In particular:

Do you see a value in Advearse continuing and if so want do you think its aims should be?

Do you think Advearse should take up the seat on the Foundry Lea Working Group?

Would you like to be a member of the Advearse team and take an active role in furthering these aims?

On 22 August we held an Advearse meeting and discussed the outstanding issues and actions we had after the recent reserved matters approval.

We noted that this approval meant there was no leverage that we could bring to bear on the developers or Dorset Council to force changes to the development plans. Any changes remain at the goodwill of the developers.

Bridport Town Council have set up a Foundry Lea Working Group which will periodically meet with the developers and other interested parties during the course of the development over the next 5+ years. This should provide a means for local people to raise concerns about the development and its impact on the town. Advearse have been offered a seat at this group and we are considering if/how to take this up.

We are also considering the future of Advearse and will be having a meeting on 14 September to look at our options. We would be very interested to hear from supporters about what they think we should do.

A quick update on our actions and the outstanding issues is noted below:

1. We wrote our local MP to ask for his support in asking for changes to the development plans. His response was that it was too late to request changes.
2. We have written to Dorset Council raising yet again our ongoing concerns with pedestrian access from Foundry Lea to the town centre and the local area. These concerns were dismissed at the recent reserved matters planning meeting as being immaterial and that the narrow footpaths were considered to be safe!
3. We are in correspondence with National Highways regarding plans to start the construction of Foundry Lea alongside the building of the Miles Cross roundabout. There are serious traffic congestion and safety issues about these happening at the same time.
4. We have made an official complaint to Dorset Council about how the reserved matters application was conduction. For example limiting the ability of the public to speak at the meeting and the failure of the council planning officer to directly address the questions/concerns raised.
5. There are legal issues relating to the development not complying with the 2010 Equalities Act by failing to provide sufficient housing which addresses the needs of disabled or elderly people. The council have dismissed these concerns so we will be raising with relevant organisations and charities to see what else can be done.
6. Concerns about the impact of Foundry Lea on the local electricity network remain unanswered. These were ignored when raised at the planning meeting. Western Power have told us that the Bridport electric network is out of date and not suited to a mass housing development of the size of Foundry Lea. But as the development has been given permission they have no choice but to provide access to the local network.

Bridport Chamber of Trade and Commerce are concerned about the impact of Foundry Lea on the local electricity network and are holding a Zoom meeting on 4 October to dicuss this issue.

Their intention is to gather support and put pressure on Western Power to take action to ensure that Bridport power supply is safeguarded.

Anyone interested or concerned should join the meeting. We will provide full details in a later post.

A local resident on Magdalen Lane has raised concerns about the Simene river bank not being in a stable stable condition. This issue would not only impact their house but also other residences in the locality.

The river banks are weak and will not tolerate extra water pressure which could come as a result of the Foundry Lea development which is next to this stretch of the river.

It is well known that the field next to the river floods every winter. Flood precautions are promised but work is also needed to protect the river banks ensuring the integrity of the river Simene from the proposed application site to its joining the river Brit.

Works would be needed to the development side of the riverbank especially where the foot/cycle path is and where run off pipes for surface drainage are positioned. Strengthening works to only one part would put more strain on parts not addressed especially with the additional water flow.

We have raised this concern with Barratts/Vistry and are awaiting a response.