The decision on the Newmarket Development will be made on or before 30-05-2012!

hope it goes our way, rugbyleague's way, and the district's way.

why the hell does it take so long?

Just to note this is the latest the decision will be made, hopefully it will be announced before.

Hopefully they won't take the maximum amount of time and it will all be boxed off by the end of March.

I would hope it is much earlier than the end of May, I believe its expected around easter.

Afternoon.

This morning I have received in the post (and suspect some of you guys have too) confirmation from the Planning Inspectorate that the Secretary of State will issue their decision on the Newmarket Public Inquiry on OR before the 30th May 2012.

We of course have always said that we we didn't know and that know one had confirmed the actual time-frame for the decision, but we were guessing it would be around April 2012. So this is a few weeks later than we potentially anticipated but at least now we have a drop-dead date for a decision.

Before the doubters come flocking and calling this a 'delay', it clearly isn't! This is just confirmation from the Planning Inspectorate of exactly when the drop dead date for the decision is, because we didn't actually know, until now, we were just guessing! It also does say, on or before the 30th May 2012, but I suspect if it does come out early it will not be until May earliest and I actual think it will come out on the 30th May 2012... because I just do!

So, the date is now known and the wait is almost over!

I do also have an update in respect of the LDF and LDF hearings! Procedures have changed here due to the adoption of the localisms act which came into force on the 15th January 2012... so just a few weeks ago! I have just learnt that there is now a requirement for yet another, but small, public consultation step in respect of the whole site specific LDF process!

It is probably better to explain how this used to/was going to work, before the change in law on Jan 15th, and then explain how it is now going to work!

Originally, the public hearings would have closed and then the Inspector (Mrs Bussey in this case) would have gone away and written her report and any amendments & changes that she felt were needed would simply be incorporated as part of her report. These changes/recommendations used to be, in effect, binding because the council either adopted her recommendations or rejected the whole report and started again. As these amendments/recommendations are generally minor (in the scheme of things) then of course a council would just accept these recommendations and that would be that... and that is what we thought was going to happen... but the new act has changed things slightly!

So, now rather than making these minor recommendations/changes herself in a her report the Inspector has to now, following what she has heard at these hearings, 'suggest' that the council consider making some amendments to parts of the document before she can close the hearings and submit her final report. So she has indeed 'suggested' that the council look at making approx. 40 minor amendments to the document. Some of these can be as minor as slightly changing a paragraph in the report to be more clear (following feedback at the hearings) or in some cases slightly more significant, while still minor in the context of document. This interesting bit is she can't actually say much about exactly what she would herself like to see changed, because she has not written the report yet, but she can makes suggestions in the areas she thinks the council could change!

Now, this all sounds very cryptic but in actual fact it is not as cryptic as it does sound because the team from WMDC have sat through the entire thing and although she can't tell them EXACTLY what she thinks they should change it is fairly obvious to WMDC what areas of the document she thinks should be tweaked on the basis of what she said and the questions she asked during the hearings! If you had been at the hearings, this makes sense, if you weren't then I think a few people might struggle to get their heads around it... but trust me, and I will explain with an example on Newmarket in a second!

So, the Inspector 'suggests' areas that need tweaking, the council now take a very well informed and educated stab at changing the document hopefully in the direction the inspector thinks they should. However, the council then have to make these amendments and once again offer them for public consultation for 6 weeks because of the localism act!!! Once they have done this, the Inspector hopefully has a report that is closer to the one she would have done herself and then only has to make very minor amendments, which this time will be binding!

Using a school type analogy, WMDC were given 8/10 for their report by the teacher (Inspector) when she read their report out to the class. Previously, she would point out to WMDC (and the class) their mistakes, correct them, and make the report a 10/10 and hand it back to them to read out again. Now, the headmaster (the new law) would like the WMDC to have another go at getting the report to a 9/10 or even a 10/10 on their own, with the teacher just pointing out some areas for improvement. Hopefully, WMDC will get a 10/10 but if they only get a 9/10, the teacher will correct them at this stage anyway.

I do find the whole thing a little odd, given that the idea of the localism bill was to reduce bureaucracy but the law has in effect made them add another stage, several months and added much cost to this process!

Anyway, the Inspector has asked WMDC to take a look another look at the sites they have allocated for the B8 on the M62 corridor!

At this stage, you might start to panic... please don't... I think this is very good news!

Right, from here on I am taking an informed and educated guess on the changes I think the Inspector wants and what WMDC will do when they issue the revised document in the next few weeks.

I think the Inspector would like WMDC to make a recommendation to take MORE land out of greenbelt at Newmarket for technical reasons! As you may recall I posted that this might happen because of questions she was asking about defensible greenbelt boundary's and also access to the proposed B8 allocated site. Basically, the area of the site right in the top corner bounded by the M62 & Aberford Road is due to stay in greenbelt in the LDF, although in the planning application this is the area where the business starter units will go. If it does, and forgetting the current planning application, this presents a problem with both defending that greenbelt boundary and also means that any new access to the site (if felt required by any future developer), would still have to cross a small area of greenbelt if the current Newmarket Lane was not used for access. So, I am guessing that is exactly what WMDC will recommend as an amendment following these hearings, that around another 1ha of land be taken out of greenbelt.

So previously, WMDC were taking 58ha out of greenbelt for 51 ha of B8 development land. I think that WMDC will amend the report and the greenbelt boundary to take out this extra area, to take 59ha out of greenbelt BUT still for 51ha total of B8 development land. WMDC can specify the total amount of B8 the site can be used for but they will just make the area from which this can be taken, slightly larger!

So, I expect WMDC to amend the report (along with all the other amendments) in the next few weeks, possibly by the end of Feb, and make the report public then. The report will then start yet another 6 weeks of public consultation BUT only on the amendments themselves and nothing more! They will then be another hearing session, lasting only one or two days at most, to consider the amendments.

I know this is a long post, but it needed explaining. In a few weeks, WMDC will issues it's revised LDF report, I am expecting more land to be taken out of greenbelt at Newmarket but only time will tell if I am right! If this the case, although we do have a delayed LDF process now, I think this will be another massive indicator that Newmarket will be taken out of greenbelt.

The only questions that remains, is will the LDF finish before the PI or the PI before the LDF! Who knows!

See my new thread and very long post on this subject!!!

Mods - can I suggest we move these post onto my new thread please?

I know you will not mind Khlav me moving your thread!

So effectively everythings been pushed back a couple of months. As long as we get the right result i suppose it makes no difference, the earliest we will be at Newmarket will be the start of the the 2015 season, always was the case. Must admit I getting sick to death of the thing now and just want it sorting once and for all!

Thank you for the explanation IA - very informative and pitched at the right level for even a thicky like me to understand!

Yes, sort of! Like I said, the PI date was always a guess, so we just know the date, nothing more suspect than that.

The LDF hasn't gone back for any other reason other than the change in the law on the 15th January.

Of course, the fact that the PI decision is not due until the end of May might have been taken for a reason by the SoS office.... you never know!

I still think the start of the 2014 is likely (and very achievable) for Newmarket but in actual fact you are right, the only thing that matters now is getting a successful decision and another month or so than we anticipated makes no odds really.

It does seem to be a bit of a coincidence that they both have gone back by the same amount of time.....

I say the start of 2015 as undoubtably Yorkcourt will have to build some of the B8 first for financial reasons, unless something changed in the meantime and a rich benefactor wanted to loan the money so it could be built earlier!

Just for a minute, imagine you're explaining this to a five year old.
If the LDF comes out before the PI, does that negate the need for a PI?
If the LDF increases the overall size of the development, does that make it more likely to mean a positive outcome?
Has the SoS purposely given the LDF time to be approved so that he doesnt need to make a decision and it looks like the big society in action?
Keep it simple, and short, if you can!!!

I'd say you're close there however the SoS still has to make a decission but if it is in line with the LDF then it's far easier for him to make it