New development proposal affecting where I live

paul2louise

We live on a small close of only 33 houses. The street is fully enclosed by fencing and there is just access from one road. The street is 11 years old and we bought our house 11 years ago off plot.
Just adjacent to our street is an old police station which has been empty for sometime. The residents recently recieved a letter from a building company proposing a new development for a care home. The proposal shows that the care home is 3 storey 66 bedrooms and parking for 18 vehicles. The current police station is accessed from the main road but this development want to access the care home from our street.
My question is do i contact the developer myself as an individual or wait for the council to contact us when it gets submitted for planning. We have a number of concerns extra traffic, there is not enough parking on site which is likely to lead to parking on our street (regardless of where the entrance is), the size of the development (66 bed) means not only a large number of cars but also likely lorry traffic (laundry, deliveries, etc)

We are not opposed to the site being used for this purpose in principle (could think of a lot worse) but think these issues need to be addressed.
Talking to my fellow residents we wonder if objecting directly to the developer at this stage is a wise move tactically? This might allow them an easier passage when they do submit. Would it be better to hold fire and respond to the council when the time comes?

Tyler119

paul2louise wrote: »

We live on a small close of only 33 houses. The street is fully enclosed by fencing and there is just access from one road. The street is 11 years old and we bought our house 11 years ago off plot.
Just adjacent to our street is an old police station which has been empty for sometime. The residents recently recieved a letter from a building company proposing a new development for a care home. The proposal shows that the care home is 3 storey 66 bedrooms and parking for 18 vehicles. The current police station is accessed from the main road but this development want to access the care home from our street.
My question is do i contact the developer myself as an individual or wait for the council to contact us when it gets submitted for planning. We have a number of concerns extra traffic, there is not enough parking on site which is likely to lead to parking on our street (regardless of where the entrance is), the size of the development (66 bed) means not only a large number of cars but also likely lorry traffic (laundry, deliveries, etc)

We are not opposed to the site being used for this purpose in principle (could think of a lot worse) but think these issues need to be addressed.
Talking to my fellow residents we wonder if objecting directly to the developer at this stage is a wise move tactically? This might allow them an easier passage when they do submit. Would it be better to hold fire and respond to the council when the time comes?

I would certainly approach the councillor for your area? He would likely be able to supply advice on the stages that this situation will go through. It is not unusual for a development company to hold a public consultation, if the development is likely to affect a number of people. This is usually a good time for them to gauge what objections they will be up against when the plans are submitted. In fact the public consultations are usually not to benefit the public, but the developer. If the developer understands the objections they face, they have time to alter plans / argue against said objections before submitting plans.

While I can understand during construction them having an alternative site access, is there any reason why the completed care home cannot be accessed from the main road? In our town we have several care homes that are accessed from the main road going through the town and it causes zero issues.