ePetition details

We the undersigned petition the council to return land in East Handforth to green belt status. The parcel of land to which this petition refers includes the plot (currently designated RT6) between Handforth Hall and footpath 91, the field between footpath 91 and the A34 bypass and the field between Wadsworth Close/Hill Drive and the A34 bypass.

The occupants of any residential development on this site would be very dependent on travel by car. This runs contrary to a principal aim of the NPFF, i.e. to reduce the need to travel by private car.

Community facilities (e.g. post office, medical centre, bank, library, church, railway station) are not located within easy walking distance of the site.

Any residential development on this site would require road access through the environmental barrier that exists between the site and the A34 bypass. Partial loss of the environmental barrier would increase the level of traffic noise and traffic fumes experienced by local residents.

Any residential development on this site would inevitably increase traffic congestion on the A34 bypass, particularly between the two roundabouts that bracket the Handforth Dean shopping complex.

The Handforth area possesses a number of brownfield sites and, according to the NPPF, such sites should be developed in preference to greenfield sites.

The planned building of 1,000 houses on the former Woodford airfield located nearby would represent gross over-development of the area.

Part of the site (designated RT6) forms an important part of the curtilage of Handforth Hall, a listed building. Development of this site for homes would have a deleterious effect on the Hall and its grounds.

During periods of heavy rain, a watercourse runs from the pond just east of footpath 91 across the footpath and the RT6 land. The result has been flooding within outbuildings of Handforth Hall. Development of the field to the east of footpath 91 and/or the RT6 land is likely to aggravate the problem.

Hall Road is badly affected by car parking on both sides of the carriageway. At times, therefore, it is impossible for emergency vehicles to access Handforth Hall and properties in Old Hall Crescent and Wadsworth Close. The car parking problem in Hall road stems not only from the St Benedict’s “school run” but also from the fact that the eastern end of Hall Road is used as an extension to the car park for the Handforth Dean shopping complex. Any housing development on the site that is the subject of this petition would further aggravate the problem.

The land referred to in this petition contains ponds that are the habitat of the great crested newt. It also contains two ancient hedgerows that provide important nesting sites for wild birds. The larger of the two fields is situated close to what is arguably one of the most beautiful parts of Handforth, namely the bluebell woods that border the banks of the River Dean. Development of this field for housing would have a profound and deleterious effect on the environment and its wildlife.

A major part of the land involved has, for many years, been in agricultural use and is currently planted with a cereal crop. In these days of soaring food prices it is important that agriculturally-productive land is conserved.

This ePetition ran from 28/05/2012 to 31/12/2012 and has now finished.

231 people signed this ePetition.