It seems there's another vacancy on Hay Council as Dawn Lewis resigned over the contentious issue of the building of eighty houses on the field by The Meadows, on the edge of Hay. She joined the Council in the hope that she would be in a more influential position, as an opponent of the scheme, only to find that her hands were tied by protocol.
There was a meeting on Monday night, which I didn't get to, though I read in the Hereford Times that one member of the public brought up the issue of the impact that eighty new families would have on the doctors' surgery and the school. And of course, where would they all find jobs?
Rob Golesworthy, the Mayor, is in favour of the scheme, because of the opportunity to have 30% of the development as affordable homes - various people have looked at other plots of ground around Hay, some of which are owned by Hay Council, but they haven't managed to solve all the problems associated with building on those plots.
In the end, the councillors voted against the scheme, partly on the grounds of extra traffic problems. The other problems with the site that they mentioned were flooding, environmental concerns (there used to be a rubbish tip there) and the fact that the original plans in the Local Development Plan were for 62 houses rather than the 80 which are now planned.
However, the application now goes on to the Brecon Beacons National Park Planning Authority, who might still approve the plans.
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It appears Hay Council have a problem. Dawn Lewis has now resigned joining the ranks of Ros Garret, Elli Spencer, Rhona Muirhead, Belinda Jenkins and the lady from South Bank House. All highly regarded residents of Hay. Has the present aged council got a problem having ladies sitting with them.
I would be very interested to read by whom you have been informed that; "She joined the Council in the hope that she would be in a more influential position, as an opponent of the scheme, only to find that her hands were tied by protocol"
I vehemently deny that this is true. To clarify, I joined the council in an effort to listen to and represent the view of the residents of Hay and have been actively involved in all council work.
I have worked on various sub-committees, none of which relate to planning, e.g. communications, town events, recycling and finance and also been involved in creating a town plan and the transfer of assets from Powys County Council.
It is true I am against this massive development as I feel that the only new homes we need in Hay are affordable/social housing for local people. Although this reason has been given for the Mayors support, in all my time with the council I had never heard this statement from him before.
To get these 24 affordable/social houses, the developers plan to build a further 56 to be sold on the open market. It should also be remembered that in the past developers have reneged from delivering the affordable element but have opted out by paying a penalty.
House prices in Hay are high and I think inflated in part by people of affluence, purchasing their second homes here. I cannot see that this development will be any different. There are still houses for sale in the Millbank Development and although in the past, houses in the town have sold quickly, recently some have been on the market for a very long time. I therefore think that the need to build these additional 56 homes has not been demonstrated. Also you have to consider the further 45 houses to be included within the development plan of Powys CC and whatever is built on the site opposite the Coop. A much better place to build the affordable/social homes would be on the old community site. This is brown-field site ready for development and is also nearer to the shops and school.
Hay is a small town where we have no community centre and it is already difficult to get a doctor's appointment. There are limited job prospects and our largest employers, PCI Pharma Services have jobs advertised at their Tredegar site but none in Hay.
Although Brecon Beacons National Parks Authority are going through the consultation process, they are targeted to deliver numbers and I feel they will give it the green light.
In my letter I have stressed that a new access road should be built, removing the need for new residents cars (there are to be 188 dedicated parking places) to travel through Gypsy Castle or the Meadows. I have also said that at this time of cuts, the cost of this should NOT be covered by Powys CC but by the developers themselves.
To resolve the flooding issues, an easement has been requested to take pipework through the old railway line which is owned by Hay Town Council. This is a valuable asset to the town and it is imperative that HTC negotiate to get as much remuneration for the town as possible, not as I was told in the past, we may or we may not charge them.
The blog of 22 October states that Dawn Lewis joined the Council as an opponent to a planning application.....Where was the source of such a statement ? The Council has, yet again, lost a very responsible Council Member who has worked tirelessly, on behalf of the people of Hay in many aspects Local Council responsibility. These include being an active member on sub-committee's dealing with : recycling, town events ( both overseas visitors and local events), financial matters, and communications. Yet again another highly regarded resident of Hay has joined the ranks of others as mentioned in the 'Hay Resident' comment above of 23rd. October 2015.
I apologise to Dawn Lewis for my misunderstanding of the situation. As I understood it, Dawn was very much involved in the resident's group which was opposed to the development before she became a member of the Council, and I believed that it was because of this that she put herself forward to be on the Council.
I am aware of the work she has done on behalf of the residents of Hay while on the Council which have nothing to do with the development, but I have also been in the Council chamber when discussions on that subject got rather heated, so that is my source for my statement.
Dawn Lewis's statement above is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in the development.
From Dawn's comments above.....
To resolve the flooding issues, an easement has been requested to take pipework through the old railway line which is owned by Hay Town Council. This is a valuable asset to the town and it is imperative that HTC negotiate to get as much remuneration for the town as possible, not as I was told in the past, we may or we may not charge them......
I think you will find that the developers will put the discharge of water etc into the hands of Welsh Water who will then put in for a compulsory purchase order after offering a derisory sum of money to HTC to cross their land.
This is what happened when WW wanted to discharge storm water from the Persimmon Homes site of Booth Gardens directly into the Dulas brook above the cottages in Dulas Terrace. We offered them a route across our land and then down Wyeford Road directly into the river,but they turned that down because the Dulas route was shorter and therefore cheaper for them. We refused so they invoked a CPO,which we fought at great expense to our family and eventually won but with no award of costs to us. WW then took on our original route, costing them far more money in labour and material costs,but we still received peanuts in compensation for crossing our land.
So don't go building your hopes up that HTC will get rich on this, if receive any money at all.
Who actually are the developers for this new site?
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