HINDON LANE TISBURY

Last evening the Cabinet of Salisbury District Council voted in favour of releasing Phase Two of the Housing Allocation. This means that the Hindon Lane Development has the been given the amber light, if not the Green. For maybe the decision needs to be ratified by the full Council?

Tisbury Action was at the meeting in force, several spoke to reiterate their view point. Residents can but try. A point someone made was that the other side of the argument had not applied to speak. The reason for that was that it should have been plain to any who read the Planning Officer’s report, that the matter was done and dusted. There was no way the Cabinet could have legitimately withheld their consent.

There was talk of a level playing field, and a proposal was made and seconded that the decision should be deferred for another six months. There was possibly one other supporter of that idea, but it was rejected by seven other Councillors.

The matter of Building off Hindon Lane, had been coupled with the prospect of alternatively redeveloping STATION WORKS as mixed Housing and Workshop space. There had been for the last six months a Marketing Exercise to see whether that former Parmiter Site, might be either Let or Sold. If there was no such demand then it would be regarded as a redundant Brownfield Site, and so become available for housing. In that circumstance there would be no current building on ‘Hindon Lane’.

THERE WAS A DEMAND for the continuing occupation of Station Works.

There were no offers to rent the place; seemingly because the proposed terms of a lease were alleged to be un- commercial. However there were two offers ‘on the table’ to buy the site outright at Valuation. Apparently the Site owner was/(is?) Unwilling to accept either offer as the owner seeks an amount in excess of the valuation sum.The which was affected by the inclusion in the deal of an ‘Uplift Clause’ which is a technicality that there is no need to consider here.

Both prospective purchasers were at the Cabinet Meeting last evening. One was an established Business Man who wished to relocate here from West Sussex. His intention was to bring ten employees with him, offer work to ten Tisbury persons, and provide seasonable employment for others. His firm would only occupy part of the premises, and his suggestion was that the rest be divided down into let able units for others to rent. Clearly there is a demand for workspace. There would remain the current Forty Jobs via UBS, and too the existing Office Space currently used by the Wiltshire County Council.

I believe the other would be purchaser was Messrs Fry the proposed Developer of the Hindon Lane Site. Their once stated intention was to divide down the whole and host work units. One might wonder whether this latter offer will ‘ remain on the table’

The Chair of the District Council stated that it had been unfortunate that the matter of Hindon Lane, had ever been coupled with the future of Station Works. The Chair also rejected a remark made, that associated the Forward Planning Report with Putin’s Russia. This is the second time that I have heard derogatory remarks in connection with the Hindon Lane scheme, it is uncalled for, and I think many in the Village might wish to be disassociated.

There is an existing Plan for Tisbury, one to which our then sole District Councillor put his name. That plan not only designated the Hindon Lane Site for mixed Development, but also dictated that there should be no houses built beyond the existing ‘Village Envelope’. It is no good to speak of alleged ‘Windfall Sites’ if they are way outside that envelope.

Any Council has a duty beyond the convenience of any particular group of residents. They have too a duty to the legitimate business interests of Land owners. If it as a Council fails on either front, then local Community Charge Payers are the ones who would be providing the financial compensation to an aggrieved Party.

I have over recent years followed the matter of Station Works very closely. Attended all the meetings, save one due to being in hospital. I have written all conceivable letters, been interviewed on Local Radio, and trudged the streets in the cause of Station Works remaining as a Tisbury Workspace. I have done so because I have had prior experience of a different manifestation of a ‘Station Works’ elsewhere. That was the Wellworthy sites at Ampress Works , and another in Lymigton Town Centre there by. We lost that battle. That we included the local workforce who had to decamp to a hitherto ‘Green Field far away’.

Having attempted to establish my personal (entirely altruistic) credentials on workplaces, I feel experienced enough to comment that one might have expected the former Tisbury Parish Council to have at least had a debate before approving the original application on Station Works. To have on subsequent occasions heard contrary comment with better grace. Surely they should have known that the Tisbury Work Force wanted Station Works to remain available for employment. Did anyone else bother to ask them?

It would have been better since the Station Works was so overtly linked to the Hindon Lane Project, that any Parish Councillor having an interest about Hindon Lane, should have declared such an interest before discussing the Station Works issue. I have seen only one ‘Minute’ that records any such declaration of an interest over either site. There are a lot of our Councillors from the Hindon Lane area. You will have to take my word for that since Councillors’ have been unwilling to publish their individual addresses.

Well what happens next ? If the approval of the full Council is required prior to the Development of Hindon Lane, and it is forthcoming; there will be a lengthy debate between the Planners and the Builder, before anything else happens.

As for Station Works. Either the site owner accepts that offer or another, or the site will be banked for future use. It may be that for a decade one might expect it to remain in the way it is.

‘ST.MODWEN ‘S historic performance suggests that they make £300,000 on each acre of land in their portfolio’ (Nick Hassell of the Times)

Thus do they expect to garner three million, not allowing for Inflation, from Station Works. That would be no ‘Mess of Potage’ The Price of the proposed New House on the Hindon Site will have been rising steadily during so many months of prevarication.
St.David’s Day 2007