Wards Affected: ALL ITEM 6 DELEGATED DECISION 27 MARCH 2018 RESPONSE TO MOTION PASSED BY COUNCIL ON 18 OCTOBER 2017 (VILLAGE GREENS) Responsible Cabinet Member: Author and contact: Councillor Gifford, Cabinet Member for Place Councillor Gifford, Cabinet Member for Place Duncan Sharkey, Corporate Director Place 01908 253411 Executive Summary: Two parts of the Council motion of 18 October 2017 regarding named Council owned sites specify a referral to Cabinet. 9. calls upon the Cabinet as the Executive Arm of this Council to urgently confirm its commitment to the removal of all these sites from development. This was already in place. 11. calls on the Cabinet to voluntarily register, the two sites in Woolstone (UCS072 and UCS073), one site in Springfield (UCS074), one site in Stantonbury (UCS100) and one site in Bletchley (UCS107) and the play area and buffer space of the Springfield Boulevard 1 site (UCS075) as Village Greens under the Commons Act 2006, section 15(8). This report covers recommendations relating to reinforcing the Council s position regarding open space protection and the registration of the named sites. 1. Recommendation(s) 1.1 That it be noted that Plan MK excludes all of the following sites from development and includes clear policies relating to the protection of Open Space: Woolstone (UCS072) Woolstone (UCS073) Springfield (UCS074) Stantonbury (UCS100) Bletchley (UCS107) Springfield Boulevard Site 1 Play Area and Buffer (UCS075) 1.2 That once Plan MK is adopted any future proposals by the Council to change the use of Open Space should explicitly start with the Plan MK protections before any other considerations are brought to bear. 1.3 That any sites proposed for development should not be brought forward without community support and a process for engaging with communities, which starts with the Plan MK (local plan) and any neighbourhood plan provisions, should be in place.
1.4 That the above protections to give sufficient confidence to local communities in the future be supported. 1.5 That, recognising that public confidence in the protection, of the named sites has been undermined, the publics confidence should be restored through: the voluntary registration of UCS 072, UCS 073, UCS 074; the voluntary registration of the Springfield buffer area (UCS 075) once the full planning permission for the development is granted); the voluntary registration of UCS100 and UCS107 once the Neighbourhood Plans are made, effectively reflecting community opinion. 1.6 That the Corporate Director Place be authorised to utilise the General Disposal Consent to ensure voluntary registration satisfies the legal requirement of s123 of the Local Government Act 1972 and other relevant legislation. 2. Issues 2.1 The issues in this section explore the council s role as provider of amenity as well as landowner and the background to the Commons Act 2006. The nature of each site is detailed in Section 3. 2.2 Milton Keynes Council has a range of responsibilities. The Council Plan holds in balance the need for services, jobs, houses and a good environment with more than one reference to green space. Plan MK also recognises this balance, including a mix of housing sites as well as the open space protections. The ongoing challenge from government and the planning inspectorate may well require MKC to provide more housing sites in the future. Communities need to be involved in this process. 2.3 Milton Keynes Council is required to hold up to date information about land use and status as part of the ongoing evidence base for the local plan (Plan MK). This was the purpose of the Urban Capacity Study, but it was not clearly understood. Future studies need to be clearly framed to avoid similar misunderstanding. 2.4 The Commons Act of 2006 updates the 1965 legislation and was further qualified in 2013. The section that deals with Village Greens is about sites which, while privately owned, have been publicly used for a considerable time and therefore used by the public as of right. Registration as a Village Green protects that right. Councils are the registration bodies and responsible for keeping up to date lists of registered Village Greens and for agreeing registration provided the public use can be demonstrated. 2.5 Voluntary registration by a landowner is provided for under the legislation and, in that instance, it is not necessary to prove public use. The rationale for a private landowner is the desire to protect part of an estate in the event of development. In the case of the council, public open space is available to the public by right in any case. 2.6 The professional advice is that it is not necessary or appropriate to register council land as a Village Green. Once the recommendation under 1.2 is in place such a course of action should not be necessary again, given the strength of
open space protections and the commitment to eliciting community support should a change of use be proposed. 3. Considerations 3.1 Each site is described below with commentary. 1. Woolstone (UCS072) (a) This flat triangular shaped site with a frontage onto Pattinson Lane forms part of an important open space and pedestrian link between Springfield (crossing the Grand Union Canal) and through the Ouzel Valley Linear Park to the River Ouzel. (b) The site includes a play area. (c) This site is not considered to be suitable for development. Comment: The site is in Council ownership and is protected in the Local Plan and held as open space. 2. Woolstone (UCS073) (a) This flat L-shaped laid to grass resembles an extension to the existing verge along Pattinson Lane and contributes to the green character of Pattinson Lane and Woolstone in general. (b) This site is not considered to be suitable for development. Comment: The site is in Council ownership and is protected in the Local Plan and held as open space. 3. Springfield (UCS074) a) This is a large site (approx. 1.6ha) to the rear of properties facing Walbrook and Springfield Avenue. The site is open at its eastern end so links directly to the Grand Union Canal. b) The site has quite a significant slope to it with a fair degree of tree cover. It also includes 2 small play areas. c) The open space is integral to the overall character of Springfield where there was clear design intent to create perimeter blocks of housing with public open space in the middle. d) There is potential for a limited amount of development but this would adversely affect the existing established character of the estate and should probably be avoided. An added complexity is that significant infrastructure will need to be included to connect the development to the road network. Comment: The site is in Council ownership. The site is protected in the Local Plan and held as open space.
4. Stantonbury (UCS100) a) This flat site laid to grass is located adjacent to the gable end of an existing terrace of housing. The site is located adjacent to Ashfield close to but on the opposite side of the V8 from Railway Walk and Stonepit Field Park. b) The site has been identified for protection from development in Policy SNP 1: Open Space and Leisure in the draft Stantonbury Neighbourhood Plan. Whilst the site might be suitable for development both the Local Plan and draft Neighbourhood Plan offers protection for the site. Comment: The site is in Council ownership, is protected in the Local Plan as open space and is proposed for protection for leisure purposes under the Stantonbury neighbourhood Plan. 5. Bletchley (UCS107) (a) This site is laid to grass and is located adjacent to existing housing on Tweed Drive. (b) The site is afforded protection as Open Space in the draft West Bletchley Neighbourhood Plan (formal consultation has been undertaken). (c) The site is considered suitable for development in itself however compared with other parts of Milton Keynes Bletchley, particularly this part of Bletchley, has very little informal open space. Comment: The site is in Council ownership. The site is protected in the draft Neighbourhood Plan and Local Plan and held as open space 6. Springfield Boulevard Site 1 Play Area and Buffer (UCS075) a) The overall site is allocated in the Submission Version of the Campbell Park Neighbourhood Plan (February 2018) for housing together with the opportunity for a small community facility. It is allocated for housing in Plan:MK. b) This site is laid to grass and is located between Springfield Public House and the rear boundaries of a terrace of housing. The site includes some trees and a play area. Vehicular access can be obtained from the end of a cul-de-sac which currently serves properties fronting Springfield Boulevard. c) This site is considered suitable for development. Comment: The motion seeks to protect the play area and buffer associated with the allocation. Fixing an (effectively) immutable boundary prior to full planning consent is unwise as it removes any flexibility which the planning or development process might require. Further it is not in line with the Neighbourhood Plan, who did not define such boundaries before a planning application is considered. The registration should take place once planning
consent has been granted, in line with the Neighbourhood Plan. 4. Options 1. Do nothing would be to disregard the council motion. 2. The recommendations are respectfully respond to the council motion whilst taking into account legal advice, the council s wider responsibilities and the public interest. This option is preferred as it gives sets clear guidance for the future. 5. Implications 5.1 Policy The Council has a wide range of responsibilities including a commitment to growth. The Council recognises that the area is not delivering the required volume of new homes. Further the Council is striving to secure a 5 year land supply and better control of speculative, potentially unwanted, developments. There are existing protections for these sites that still allow acts of management to be undertaken. Changes, such as installing community facilities, or changing site boundaries which may be needed to meet future community needs could be precluded under Village Green status. 5.2 Resources and Risk There are no direct financial impacts of this decision. Advice has been sought regarding the Best Value duty and the impairment of assets. An Asset Management Plan is in preparation. N Capital N Revenue N Accommodation 5.3 Legal N IT N Medium Term Plan Village Green Legislation Y Asset Management (a) (b) (c) Any landowner has the ability to voluntarily register their own land. The process for voluntary registration by a landowner is set out under Section 15 (8), (9) and (10) of the Commons Act 2006. These subsections state that the owner of any land may apply to the commons registration authority (which is the Rights of Way department of the Council) to register land within their ownership as a village green. An owner may only apply for voluntary registration with the consent of any leaseholder (with a lease of more than 7 years) and anyone with a charge over the land. Only the owner of the land however, can make an application to voluntarily register land as a village green. Where an application under section 15 (8) is made for voluntary registration, the registration authority must grant the application,
provided that all the relevant consents have been obtained. (d) (e) (f) It is important to note that the criteria/tests, set out in section15 of the Commons Act 2006, that apply to someone who is not the landowner and is submitting a village green application do not apply to a landowner voluntarily registering land as a village green. The trigger events that can stop a registration are set out in Schedule 1A of the Commons Act 2006. The trigger events all relate to events within the planning system. The trigger events however, do not apply to voluntary registration of village greens. Advice has been received that voluntary registration could be considered as a disposal under the terms of s123 of the Local Government Act 1972 which requires the Council to dispose of land at best consideration. The General Disposal Consent 2003 allows disposal at lower values but there is a process that must be adhered to. This process includes securing valuations and should be followed in this case. N Equalities/Diversity N Sustainability N Human Rights N E-Government N Stakeholders N Crime and Disorder Background Papers: Minutes of Council Meeting 18 October 2018 Council Meeting18 October 2017