Please join Westerham's Town Council, Town Partnership, Residents' Association and Society Objections to the Moorhouse Tileworks Planning Application TA/2016/1036

• by signing this petition
• sharing it with family and friends
• submitting your comment on Tandridge District Council's site (use ref TA2016/1036)

You can read more, including links to the detailed plans and Westerham's objections on the Town Partnership's Visit Westerham website, click here

Background.

Tandridge District Council, (TDC), on 17/12/2015 refused Roxhill Developments application to demolish existing buildings and erect up to 20,938 sq. metres of parcel distribution warehousing across four plots. The revised application is based upon the following proposal.

1. New DPD parcel distribution warehouse of 60,218 sq. ft.

2. Two commercial buildings of 40,000 sq. ft. in total.

3. Existing Redland Tiles land of 6 acres removed from the application as being retained by them for an ongoing distribution facility: however unlike in the first application there will be no reduction in their existing traffic movement

Traffic Flows Through Westerham

Parcel Handling Numbers, Vehicle Movement and Traffic Analyses appear severely flawed in the Application.

Moorhouse will handle 25,000, potentially 40,000 parcels a day, (250 or potentially 400 LGVs - or as many as 1,000 or potentially 4000 vehicle movements per day) giving rise to a potentially catastrophic rise in vehicle movements through Westerham (see Westerham Town Council, Westerham Town Partnership, Westerham Residents' Association and Westerham Society Objections for detailed analysis) This is far more than the negligible increase predicted in the Planning Application Traffic Data and Analysis.

Why we Object

• Severe adverse effect of traffic volume at 250 LGVs and Catastrophic at 400 LGVs passing through Westerham centre; flawed traffic volume and vehicle movement analysis - fail under Tandridge Local Plan DP5:
• Harmful Effects to tourism, heritage and countryside recreation - fail under Tandridge Local Plan Policies DP2 (B), DP4 (1) DP10(B)
• AONB blight - fail under NPPF policy paras 115 & 116; and Surrey Hills AONB DP8. The application is an inappropriate development in the Green Belt and in the AONB for which there are no Very Special Circumstances that outweigh the harm.
• Air Quality - fail under EU law and UK adopted policy. Westerham is already an AQMA: further damaging air quality is a breach of adopted EU legislation, reinforced through NPPF and PPG15
• Sustainability fail under NPPF and Local Plan Policies DP1 and DP5(4)