Melton North Action Group (MNAG) responds to the Core Strategy approval

Melton North Action Group (MNAG) has today issued a statement - following last week's decision by Melton Borough Councillors to approve the Core Strategy - with a clear message "The town's challenge to the Core Strategy is not over." Their full statement is below:

"The Council's decision to approve the Core Strategy, with the Housing Growth Option situated to the North of the town, was fully expected by the Melton North Action Group (MNAG).  

However, the residents of Melton Mowbray must recognise that this decision is not the end of the process to challenge the soundness of the Core Strategy; it is the beginning.  The end point will be determined by Planning Inspectorate who will decide whether the Council's Core Strategy focuses on the critical issues of economic, social and environmental factors necessary for approval.  

Thus far the public debate has ignored these critical elements to concentrate on a debate over traffic flow through and around Melton Mowbray town.  The Planning Inspectorate will conduct an objective analysis of all the critical issues and review the process by which the Council reached its decision.

We look forward to the above debate and analysis because the Council meeting on Wednesday confirmed again that the Council has not publicly debated the critical issues; and that, alarmingly, some Councillors may have closed their minds to listening to and discussing the concerns of residents.  To acknowledge receipt of correspondence related to housing growth, and then to state that the correspondence has been ignored, may be indicative of a Council that is out of touch with its electorate.

The priorities for the MNAG will now concentrate on the following areas:

• To form partnerships with residents and organizations across the town because it is important that the views of the town are heard and understood.  The majority of town Councillors voted against the Core Strategy; it was the rural Councillors who voted the Strategy through.

• To focus the debate on the long term sustainability of the Core Strategy and the critical elements of employment, the economy, quality of life and the environment.

• To accurately predict the number of houses required and determine where they should be built to reflect revised government strategies and the new Localism Act.  We believe the figures quoted by the Council to be excessive and the Core Strategy build locations to be an inequitable distribution between the rural areas and the town. The Strategy indicates a build rate of between 135 and 190 homes per year, which is too wide a margin of error.  The proposed requirement of 20% of the houses for the rural areas is half the current build rate and not enough to meet the demand for housing in these areas.

• To investigate any conflict of interest associated with the County Council offering to fund any element of a link road associated with the housing growth when the County Council is a major landowner in the North of Melton standing to earn millions from the sale of their land in Melton North to developers. Until 2009 the County Council had always insisted that the Melton Mowbray bypass should only be funded from developer contributions.  At an early MNAG open meeting a Conservative Councillor was confident that the County Council would fund the bypass and it will be interesting to see if this comes to fruition when the County produces its budget this week.

• To analyse in detail the traffic reports that were used as a prime reason for locating the SUE in the North. The latest LLITM report is a traffic model based on data provided in 2009 .Since then there have been a number of changes, for example did it take account of changes in traffic patterns such as the closing of King Edward V11 School and the significant corresponding growth in the John Ferneley Academy. The report also assumes that houses in the North will have fewer occupants than those in the South, leading to fewer journeys .This is an example of many assumptions that seem somewhat difficult to understand.

The town's challenge to the Core Strategy is not over.  The challenge starts now with the ultimate decision on the Core Strategy to be determined by an independent and objective analysis of the Core Strategy by the Planning Inspectorate."

• Click here for the story of 'What happens next with the Melton Mowbray North Extension (SUE)'

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