THE NEED FOR A MORCOTT FUTURE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY .
Currently, the village of Morcott, designated as ‘a small village’, has
been given an expectation/ target to provide 5 new dwellings up to year 2020.
If the Burghley ‘White Horse’ project proceeds to approval, Morcott
would be seen to have exceeded the target to provide 5 dwellings, which
should satisfy Government and County expectations.
LPR/MOR/01, the Burghley site is partly outside the village PLD, but
because the proposal includes the provision of community amenities lacking
in Morcott, it has been viewed as a special case by Rutland County Planning.
Other sites offered for development that are outside the village PLD
cannot claim to provide any such service or amenity to the village that is
needed and as a result are low in consideration as viable potential building
sites.
In order for Morcott to plan, it would be prudent to assume that Government could increase its demand on County for new
housing in Rutland.
A Neighbourhood Plan for Morcott.
On first examination, the purpose of a Neighbourhood Plan is to
facilitate village development, this objective does not appear to sit well with
the intention of preserving or enhancing a small conservation village such as
Morcott; further to this, the definition of a N.P. states that an N.P. cannot be
used to prevent development.
Morcott village is surrounded by privately owned land which is
viewed by some of its owners as high value land with building potential. The
village and Parish Council are therefore always placed on the back foot and
in the position of reacting to proposals to develop. This need not be so.
If Morcott Village were to create a Neighbourhood plan positively
focussed on village development, researching and evaluating the capacity
and constraints of the village core services and features, land drainage,
sewer system, water, gas and power supplies, road and pavement system
access to main roads and rail services, and important local vistas, all factual
information gathered into a Neighbourhood plan that would evidence the need
or otherwise for more housing in Morcott, establishing the capacity of the
village and its services to absorb new development if required.
By involvement with creating a Neighbourhood plan villagers could
also, establish village opinion in identifying potential sites for any future built
development that was justified.
In short, a positive village plan, created by villagers, identifying, with reasoned factual research’ what the village of Morcott needs’. The positive
Neighbourhood development plan would be a powerful tool in rejecting any
proposals that are agreed to be unacceptable.
NH. 30/01/2017.