CONSIDERATION
OF
PUBLIC PETITION PE
1112
Save Cavalry Park Campaign
New: http://www.bewareofwimpey.com/
"Like a lot of people we bought a George Wimpey home and I suspect like many of them it is a decision I regret. I have developed this site to warn potential house buyers of what to expect if you buy a home from George Wimpey. My aim is to reduce the number of people having the same problems as I'm having and hopefully (I know this is wishful thinking) get wimpey to improve there standards of building and customer service. My advice don't buy one.
In November 2007 we became the owners of a George Wimpey home in Kirkcaldy. At first it was great we had this nice looking new house but within a couple of months went past we began to spot problems and it just goes down hill from there....................."
See also: Wimpey poor standards: "TWELVE other properties on our development have suffered water leaks"
But this campaign isn't just about Wimpey being a bad housebuilder. Far from it - we don't even want brilliant houses on our park - not even free ones ! You see, for over twenty-five years, people in Kilsyth have been fighting tenaciously to save Cavalry Park, a unique eighteenth century parkland and an integral part of the historic Colzium estate, from the greed of housing developers. We take issue with Wimpey Homes' plans to build a huge housing estate here: this area floods, and new housing would make the flooding much worse: Check out the video (June 2007) - this is the Stirling road just below Cavalry Park. Shortly after I took this film the road was closed: I had to carry my grandson through these floods with help from the Fire Brigade because the double-decker bus he was in had stopped and the driver refused to carry on.
September 2009
Wimpey and the entire housing industry remains in a desperate state, with housing prices well down and Wimpey shares still very low but climbing slightly at around £0.48p - around ten per cent of their value just two years ago. Do we care? Not really ... it was their greed and arrogance that caused this crisis in the first place, but the people who will pay the price are the hapless public, not the greedy developers.
It has been a roller coaster for the developers in one of the most brutal markets of living history:
52 Week High 370.00 52 Week Low 4.27
Rumours abound that Cavalry Park has been sold on to another developer to raise funds, but nothing is clear. If they - or anyone else - does decide to build, then a brand new planning application is fairly inevitable, and that can be contested. As for the new District Plan, its' status is uncertain and awaits a Public Inquiry. The Scottish Government wants to encourage the housing construction industry, but unless housebuyers can obtain cheap mortgages and developers can obtain massive up-front bank loans, the game is up. The "credit crunch" has taken a heavy toll on very expensive green field developments like this, with homes built on soft peat requiring heavy shoring and foundations adding an invisible cost of maybe £50,000 to each home. Watch this space, the battle is not over, but for now nothing much appears to be happening.
March 2009
Wimpey has won the right to build houses at Cavalry Park - but the lengthy delays caused by this campaign have left them without the resources they need to send in the bulldozers and start work. Their share price has crashed from a high of £4.50 to a few pence, and they have been disposing of land in a desperate bid to avoid bankruptcy. Cavalry Park may already be in other hands.
This is an expensive site to develop due to the soft peat and flooding dangers, and the profit margins on homes of this type have crashed. It is unlikely that any developer will wish to risk the high costs of developing this site for at least a year or two. So the immediate threat has receded ... but this campaign has had more than its fair share of twists and turns over the last decade, so it is very uncertain what new threat will arise - and when. Builders are sitting on a large amount of land, completions and sales are way down, and without major new capital investment, nothing will happen. The development at the nearby Waterfall Village site has also stalled - indefinitely frozen despite spending millions of pounds of expensive groundworks as the cash dried up.
The boom and subsequent downturn - caused by house price inflation in the first place - has shown the folly of conventional planning. NLC planners - with their grandiose documents and projections - must be wondering why it all turned to dust and ashes on their watch.
The projections of housing need and fancy analysis that led to them declaring this precious part of the Green Belt available to the developers for profit were always deeply flawed. The model of housing as a failsafe form of capital investment and savings led to the overprovision of expensive larger homes in suburban locations. We argued right from the start that what was needed was sustainable, affordable housing for ordinary families, not land-hungry, carbon-guzzling large detached homes in the beauty of the countryside. NLC just looked at the rateable value and rubbed their hands together in anticipation.They failed to listen to local voices or read the warning signs that the boom in house prices fuelled by 100% mortgages and easy credit had to burst, sooner or later.
Whoever takes on this site will have to re-apply for planning permission unless they stick to exactly the same layout of homes. Any new application will be the subject on intensive scrutiny by local activists and residents.
The Local Plan will also offer opportunities to challenge issues around the green belt and planning - the Campaign is not over until one side or another finally prevails.
Wimpey an early victim of the credit crunch:
By Marc Roca http://uk.reuters.com/article/companyOutlooksNews/idUKL3024160520080630?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 LONDON (Reuters) - Builder Taylor Wimpey (TW.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said it was seeking extra funds as it warned of a "significant downturn" in the UK housing market and an expected 660 million pound ($1.3 billion) writedown in the value of its assets.
North Lanarkshire is entirely responsible for flood maintenance, irrespective of any planning conditions or agreements: In a committee report dated 31st March 2004, the Director of Planning reported to Committee that the Council carries the can, "regardless of any planning agreement"
In view of this it appears that whatever tripartite agreement is reached with private housing developers, at the end of the day the buck stops with NLC:
One reason for making this point is because the experts can get it very badly wrong:
For example:
Dr John F. Riddell, BSc, Ph.D, MICE, MCIWEM - a supposed expert, wrote to Wimpey on 22nd April 2003
"I think that the risk of water overflowing from the canal feeder is very small"
In fact on 12th January last year it overflowed: the photographic evidence is here:
If local knowledge and hard evidence is ignored or bypassed, mitigation measures are based on evidence from "experts" like Dr Riddell, and any flooding occurs in future, then this exposes the Council to serious risk of litigation in future.
07 Feb 2008 Residents urged to contact their insurance companies with a view to securing the right for homeowners and insurance companies to be consulted about any contract with Wimpey regarding flood mitigation and defences - our houses border the property and we have the most to lose if the works are inadequate and defences fail.
06 Feb 2008 Complaint lodged with the Ombudsman regarding maladministration by North Lanarkshire Council - the approval is based on outdated estimates of housing needs and land supply, and several new windfall brownfield sites have become available recently. Ist December 2008 - Ombudsman finally delivers report saying "I am satisfied that in considering the planning application, the Copuncil acted properly and applied their normal processes and procedures with all the relevant information at their disposal .... I see no evidence of maladministration or service failure on the part of the Council" .It was worth a try, and the fact that the investigation took nearly 10 months shows that there some very real issues to consider.
31st Jan 2008 Rob Kay, standing as the Green Party candidate to raise the profile of the environment, gains third place in the local by-election, ahead of the Tories, Scottish Socialists and Lib-Dems. Cavalry Park is a key campaign issue.
CONSIDERATION
OF
PUBLIC PETITION PE
1112A Petition
by Robert Kay, calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government
to clarify the circumstances in which Scottish Ministers would not accept the
decisions of a local planning inquiry and a public local inquiry, particularly
in relation to housing developments on green belt land, such as that at
This was
considered by the Public
Dec 2007 North Lanarkshire Council Planning Committee votes to support Wimpey Homes bid to build 162 houses at Cavalry Park subject to a legal agreement about flood mitigation works.
November 2007 SNP Minister decides to send the application back to NLC for a decision
News (Summer 2007) Ministers continue to deliberate - further delays. Heavy flooding in June closes the Stirling Rd again.
News (Spring 2007) Planning officials recommend approval of the latest planning application, despite 70-odd objections, and the worthy Councillors vote yet again for Wimpey to send in the bulldozers, albeit with a much reduced majority. Both the officials and North Lanarkshire Councillors are impotent: it's the incoming SNP Minister (and the reporter) who will ultimately decide. Maybe Wimpey think it's a case of third time lucky? .But ever-hopeful Tom Barrie, newly-retired veteran Labour councillor, former Provost, and one of only about three people left in Kilsyth who still supports Wimpey, has according to the Kilsyth Chronicle apparently already named the roads at Cavalry Park. There's nothing like blind optimism, is there?
News (3rd Feb 2007 ) NLC publishes their consultation draft local plan - read it here Lots of good environmental policies and principles, but the review of the Green Belt is still going on. Are all the fine words and aspirations worth the paper they are written on, or will it be another case of "public virtues, private vices" ? It'll be at least another year before we really find out whether NLC has learned their lesson and lost the will to fight, but clearly Wimpey are prepared for siege tactics to protect their £750,000 investment in a useless (for housing anyway) bog, not counting their mounting design and consultancy fees to - amongst others - former senior NLC council planning officials, otherwise why build the huge new fence below?
Cavalry Park stays in the listing of potential housing supply sites despite two reporters rulings, but with 10% of urban space in North Lanarkshire designated as derelict and vacant is hard to see how consent could ever be granted for housing given the other fine policies about sustainability etc..
News (29 Jan 2007) : Fence erection - The resident buzzard seems to enjoy having a new roost! But what is Wimpey up to - this is high enough to be a deer fence - or are they planning to keep protestors out?
News mid-Jan 2007: See the impact of flooding over the Lade onto Cavalry Park "A wall of floodwater was crashing over the embankment towards our homes" - eye witness.
Q: What can I do about it? Please email Chief.Executive@northlan.gov.uk , to have your say.
Our own Community forum is a good place to share ideas or volunteer
Roe deer, kestrels, buzzards and herons are amongst the many exciting wildlife attractions of this unique site.
Site updated:
View over the heart of Cavalry Park (marked on the map within the green square) to the Kilsyth hills. Wrecking this view is worth at least £12M profit to developers. To us, Cavalry Park is simply beyond price. Photo taken from the the middle of the "S" in Kilsyth on the map. Cavalry Park is the grassland section in the middle of the picture, and Colzium House is in the trees.
Still have doubts?
New: Read these ten reviews of Wimpey sales technique, after sales care, and sub-standard workmanship
More complaints - from just one Wimpey estate
www.snagging.org/ TWELVE other properties on our development have suffered water leaks
Think we cant beat Wimpey? - think again, the highly effective Shrub Hill campaign in Edinburgh achieved just that.
Shrub Place PR 31 Aug 2004 Wimpey Homes Scotland concedes and walks away.
Wimpey, whose option to buy Shrub Place expired at the end of August, have decided to cut their losses and walk away from the deal.
Having spent five years on the project, Wimpey did not come up with a design for the £30m site that satisfied local campaigners and failed - despite several attempts - to win approval from either the Planning Committee or the subsequent Public Inquiry. The Inquiry decision is widely regarded as a landmark case that will help improve design standards throughout the industry. The campaigners are pleased that the Reporters' decision has set a precedent for similar development proposals across Scotland and the UK.
Feb 2007 - very incomplete draft local plan is published, with good and bad parts - now for a lengthy consultation.
Jan 2007 - as the New Year dawns, we still await the delayed new District Plan from North Lanarkshire Council, which will let us know whether we have to take this fight on to yet another Inquiry, or maybe two. The key issue at stake is the preservation of the Green belt - currently this protects Cavalry Park from development and has helped us win two full reporters inquiries. Meanwhile, new flooding breaches the Lade and again threatens Kilsyth town centre, demonstrating the folly of building houses on this raised peat bog.
March 2006 - Wimpey submits another planning application to fill virtually the whole of Cavalry Park with detached houses, most of which will be priced well over £200,000 - Kilsyth Community Council holds a well-attended open public meeting and votes, once again, to reject the bid. Wimpey decides to put the application on hold, presumably awaiting their "lobbying" on the new District Plan which is being prepared. The battleground is now the Plan itself - is it for local people or the developers? History inclines us to be pessimistic - North Lanarkshire Council has not listened to us sympathetically in the past......to their cost.
Feb 2006: In the UK, the George Wimpey operations saw turnover of £2.2bn and operating profits of £278m - and yet they are still moaning that there is a shortage of new green belt land releases. Pull another one!
June 2005 - The Reporter recommends to Ministers that Wimpey's application be refused: Victory! A fantastic result for the campaigners, for common sense, for the environment, the Green belt and the planning process itself. But there is absolutely nothing in law stopping Wimpey, a company that makes hundreds of millions of pounds a year profits from shoddily-built identikit houses, from coming back to try their luck again. The new local plan now becomes the key battleground - ensuring that our elected Councillors and greedy land developers respect our democratic will to retain green spaces between our towns and villages for recreation, wildlife and farming. North Lanarkshire has vast swathes of derelict brownfield land - the developers must take the responsibility of cleaning them up before despoiling the few remaining unspoiled acres for profit.
May 2005 Standards Commission investigates and fails to uphold complaint about the possible misconduct of Councillor Tom Barrie
Feb 2005 - following a full five day public enquiry held at the Coachman Hotel, the Reporter retires to consider the evidence presented by all parties.
23rd March 2004 - now it goes to the Scottish Executive. Following a tightly argued case put forward by community representatives, North Lanarkshire Council and Cllr Tom Barrie supported Wimpey Homes bid to wreck the Colzium by a huge margin despite the fact that this runs right against their own Local and Regional Plan and the recent decision to retain the green belt by the Reporter! Read the minutes of the meeting and find out who the heroes and villains were.
high quality photos of Cavalry Park from all points of the compass - new page
Scottish Parliament Motion submitted: *S2M-860# Margaret Mitchell: Development of Cavalry Park, Supported by: Mr Ted Brocklebank, Mrs Nanette Milne, Phil Gallie, Ms Sandra White, Mary Scanlon, Carolyn Leckie, Robin Harper, Shona Baird, Chris Ballance, Tommy Sheridan, Frances Curran, Donald Gorrie, Mr Brian Monteith, Dr Jean Turner, John Swinburne, Bill Aitken, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton—That the Parliament notes with concern the proposals for a housing development in the historic Cavalry Park in Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire; .......... and, in light of this, believes that North Lanarkshire Council or the Scottish Executive, or both, should reject any planning application to develop the site.
2nd Feb 2004 Committee paper published, planners support application
The superb landscape around Colzium has been formed over the past thousand years around the site of the ruined medieval castle, 18th Century Mansion, and fine country estate which were gifted to the people of Kilsyth in 1937 by the Lennox family. The ancient lime and beech avenues adjoining possibly the oldest purpose built curling pond in the world were planted around 150 years ago during the Victorian restoration of the house. This unique landscape now faces a serious and permanent threat from new housing.
OCTOBER 2003 - Planning application submitted by George Wimpey, West Scotland Ltd. to develop 160 housing units at Cavalry Park, Kilsyth. Photos below show the site on Saturday 11th October 2003. Whilst there is some ugly modern development quite near the site this scarcely detracts from the authentic 18th century parkland views which the walker, rider and motorist enjoys, and is not a justification for further desecration. The solution is to eliminate or beautify inappropriate modern development, not to create more of it!
Photogallery All photos by Rob Kay, may be reproduced freely if acknowledged.
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Above - Cavalry Park from the Stirling Road - unimproved meadow and bog habitat provides perfect cover for deer and small mammals and supports many types of birdlife and bats |
Looking east along the Cavalry Burn - small fish, frogs, toads and newts abound and there is constant birdsong from the grasses and small trees |
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October colour at the north end of Cavalry Park is just beginning to paint the fern with a vibrant palette. |
View from the Covenanter garage path - open country with magnificent views of the ancient beech avenue and peat bog. |
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Prospect of Colzium House from the Couches shows the unspoiled harmony of Cavalry park meadow, house, ancient woods, and distant Kilsyth hills. Sublime landscape - under threat ! |
View of historic Colzium House from Cavalry Park, through the beech avenue which borders the Lade (a 250 year old canal which feeds the Banton Loch and the Forth and Clyde canal) |
Campaign details - planning history
Campaign action 1980 - 2004 - A twenty-five year siege by developers
4th Feb 2004 Committee votes to make site visit and to have a hearing.
2nd Feb 2004 Committee paper published, planners support application
17th Jan 2004 - KCC emails all members of the Planning Committee requesting support
4th Dec 2003 - NLC report on the development of Colzium House and Estate. To date the Department has secured £1,454,944 through ERDF Objective 2 Programme and £ 1,300,000 through the External Funding Group.
1st December 2003 - Kilsyth Community Council submits detailed response
29th October 2003 - Public meeting at Burngreen Hall, Overwhelming vote to oppose the development
15th October - Kilsyth Community Council meets at the Burngreen Hall to decide how to take the campaign forward. Responses have to be submitted by the end of November.
18th June 2003. NLC approves use of Cavalry Park as a "preferred site to meet the Structure Plan requirement" following SEPA review of flood risk.
11 December 2002 NLC Planning Director David Porch removes Cavalry Park from preferred list of sites: but Committee defer decision for further reports.
October 2002 Test boring commences at Cavalry Park
August 2002 Kilsyth Community Council opposes inclusion of Cavalry Park in the Interim Statement on the main grounds that:
The consultation process was flawed.
Direct conflict with strategy to promote Colzium Lennox estate for tourism and leisure - the proposal would ruin the open views
Destruction of valuable wildlife (especially amphibians, deer and birdlife) and unimproved wild flower meadow habitat in greenbelt (nb not cattle grazing as stated in plan)
Kilsyth is not part of a conurbation (yet!) and therefore the planning assumptions (re future needs) are flawed
There is already a massive development on the Stirling Road taking shape at the Waterfall village.
July 2002 : NLC Publishes Interim Housing Land statement - Draft consultation Paper - Cavalry Park included as Appendix VI - suitable for "130 - 160 houses"
2000,2001 - nothing of note happens, maybe they all hope we will all go away! But the folk who paid £750k for a useless bog at Cavalry Park are just biding their time....they want a return on their investment...
December 1999 Kilsyth Local Plan produced - opposes development of green belt for housing
26 October 1998 : Kilsyth Local Plan: Public Local Inquiry - Miss J M McNair reporter - concludes that "a development of the scale and extent which is proposed would be a very significant intrusion on the Green belt, even with structure planting".... "allocating this large site for housing cannot be justified in terms of this policy at this time. However, it has some factors in its favour and would remain for later consideration should the circumstances change".
1996 Kilsyth Local Plan finalised source
1980's/1990s : Kilsyth and Cumbernauld Council resists repeated attempts to develop Cavalry Park for housing
April 1983 Kilsyth Local Plan adopted source
Flooding risk: There are repeated reminders through history of violent flooding caused by the close proximity of the Kilsyth Hills. In these circumstances it becomes apparent why locals in the know have not favoured Cavalry Park for housebuilding - or any other purpose. To take just three recorded examples from many:
“In the year 1738, on the 27th of June, a very remarkable thunder storm took place. The morning was fair, the sky clear, the sun bright. About eleven a.m. a gleamy kind of darkness overspread the sky; a water-spout seems to have fallen; numberless torrents poured from the hills, sweeping houses, bridges, corn, and cattle all before them. Several acres in the valley were covered with stones of all sizes, from 20 tons to small gravel; in some places, from 4 to 6 feet deep”. (New Statistical Account 1841)
“In the year 1832, June 14th, we were
visited with a similar waterspout and thunder storm, with hail, and torrents of
rain. For two hours, the storm was truly terrific, and threatened awful
devastation”. (New
Statistical Account 1841)
November 1953: “Stirling County Council
decided to seek compensation from the British Transport Commission, owners of
the Forth and Clyde Canal, following heavy flooding at the temporary school in
Stirling Rd., Kilsyth. A canal feeder from Banton Loch overflowed following
heavy rain. The school was evacuated. Even the sewage system broke down. A
second downpour flooded the town centre”. (Kilsyth Chronicle Nov 19th
2003, Flashback section)
The topography of the valley means that violent and sudden flooding of Cavalry Park is inevitable if the Lade (the canal feeder) becomes overwhelmed. There is certainly no defence possible against the thunderstorm of 1738 apart from leaving the valley bottom well alone, and the uncertainties of global warming mean that it is only a matter of time before major flooding occurs again.
August 1957: "A GALE and
torrential rain over the weekend caused heavy flooding at Stirling Rd and
Parkfoot St in Kilsyth. (Kilsyth Chronicle Aug 29th 2007, Flashback section)
New: (Jan 2007) See the impact of flooding over the Lade onto Cavalry Park below this was following a relatively minor rainfall event.
Please email David Jones: JonesD@northlan.gov.uk , to voice your objections to this proposal ever going ahead.
