Trust Life #134
Controversy rules! More housing planned, very few affordable houses included, little if anything mentioned about infrastructure, current development proposals outnumbering the housing numbers required for the town, and little anyone can do about it….. or can they?
The Local Plan has now been adopted by Northumberland County Council, this plan which is agreed by parliament identifies the number of houses each settlement requires to maintain its sustainability for the next 20 or so years. Therefore planning departments now have guidance on housing numbers to work towards.
As Amble has already surpassed its revised 20 year target of 540 houses, one would assume that Northumberland County Council now have the ability to decline further developments that have not yet achieved full planning permission?!
Housing development plans continue to be submitted
As a note; I know many have submitted objections onto the planning portal for recent submissions. However, ‘not liking’ something or stating that ‘there are too many holiday homes’ does not constitute a legal planning reason for planners to reject an application. The exception would be if the town has a neighbourhood plan, or can prove there are over 20% of residencies that are holiday homes. Now the Local Plan has been adopted perhaps this is the time for reconsideration – they have the power!
On a cheerier note we have now had confirmation that all the conditions have been discharged on the Sculpture Trail. This will allow some of the sculptures to be erected however we do still require a licence for any that will be located on NCC land – at the time of writing we have no idea how long this part of the process will take. But some progress has been made at long last.
Construction on the bird sculpture trail will begin very soon
The Events Team have been busy working on the programme of activities for the Puffin Festival, which will include lots of entertainment, as well as showcasing some of the work done in school workshops for the Bird Trail.
The Trust will soon be unveiling the new town flag, and we would like to thank everyone who took part in the competition, as well as the independent judges who had the unenviable task of selecting a winner. We would like to thank NCC for their support with the Queen’s Jubilee funding that allowed the flag competition to go ahead. We also included Lily of the Valley plants in the application as they are the Queens favourite flowers, as well as trees for the community orchard.
At the Welfare, all the tree debris has been cleared up and as stated above we will be adding to the trees we have already planted in the orchard. We have a small group of very enthusiastic volunteers who have been integral to drawing up plans for the layout of the orchard and are eager to make progress as soon as possible, but obviously we are now heading out of the tree planting season. Once again we offer our thanks for sponsorship, this time to MKM Alnwick Brach for supplying a large number of High Viz jackets and protective gloves, which are greatly appreciated.For further information on the orchard contact; andrew@ambledevelopmenttrust.org.uk
Our job search facilities are now open from 9.30 – 11.30 each week day. If you would like to contact the Ambler, or require a CV you can do so on: 01665 712929 or email editor@theambler.co.uk or Julie@ambledevelopmenttrust.org.uk
Julia, all Trust staff and Trustees
julia@ambledevelopmenttrust.org.uk
