Questionnaire

FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

The residents of Looe have been asked the following in the NDP Questionnaire:

Q1. What do you love about living in Looe?
Q2. What could be improved about Looe?
Q3. Is an NDP for Looe a good idea?
Q4. Explain why you think producing an NDP for Looe is a good idea?
Q5. Please state any other topics you think should be covered.

Here are some random answers that we've put together from comments received to set the ball rolling...

• I appreciate the community spirit and friendliness of folk in Looe and that the town is not so large or developed as to make one feel anonymous,
• I like the fact that Looe is a working fishing harbour with fishermen's paraphernalia lying about, old boats, even the seagulls,
• I'm proud of Looe's maritime heritage dating back hundreds of years,
• I enjoy the various different beaches, the coastal scenery and walking the South West Coastal Footpath,
• I like the historic character of town centre buildings, the stone and white render, narrow streets, quaint shops/ pubs,
• Improvements are needed to tidy up/ smarten the town,
• More quayside seats needed to replace those that have gone,
• too much unnecessary vehicular traffic uses Fore Street - often people cruising around not knowing they can't park further on,
• don't like having to step on and off kerbs in Fore Street - feels dangerous - could it not all be paved one level?
• need to disguise the ugly new Barratt estate by surrounding it with trees so can't be seen,
• car parking charges are expensive and off-putting,
• better and cleaner toilets are required,
• the footpaths around Looe are poorly maintained, potholes need filling and vegetation cutting back,
• Suggest the excellent Looe-relevant policies of the Caradon Local Plan are made the basis for the Neighbourhood Plan development policy to help protect the town's historic legacy,
• Draw a development boundary limit around Looe to prevent ribbon development towards surrounding villages and protect landscape character around Looe.
• Refresh and re-use elements of the former Caradon Design Guide, the Looe Conservation Area Management Plan and Character Appraisals,
• Cornwall Council's Historic Environment Team advise they no longer have the resource to comment on applications in conservation areas and are prioritising Listed building casework. Suggest we compensate by tightening planning restrictions through the Neighbourhood Plan and find alternative expertise to provide conservation guidance to applicants,
• Suggest we make the coastal slopes from cliff top to shoreline to both East and West Looe part of the Conservation Area to restrict coastline development such as was proposed for Dove Rock Beach House and Chough Rock with its huge cliff-face excavation,
• The above would automatically give planning protection to trees in this extended area or alternatively compile a new town-wide register of trees that have a significant presence or are greater than a certain girth/ height,
• Suggest we urgently circulate a copy of Article 4(2) Direction to all households within the Conservation Area to increase public awareness of planning restrictions that are in force. English Heritage advise that Article 4 Directions are more likely to be effective if:

1. there is a dated photographic record of the properties affected for the purposes of tracking any subsequent changes;
2. guidance is provided for homeowners on how the direction affects them with advice on appropriate repair and alteration;
3. the local authority undertakes regular monitoring for compliance and appropriate enforcement;

• Suggest we produce a dated photolog of all buildings and structures in the Looe Conservation Area,
• In the Conservation Area where modern materials such a uPVC windows have replaced traditional ones in the past, suggest the Neighbourhood Plan encourages the correct original materials and details to be restored at the earliest the opportunity or when further replacement is carried out.
• Register as local nature reserves or sites of historic/ scientific/ environmental interest such places as West Looe Downs, The Wooldown, Kilminorth Woods, Trenant Woods, Chough Rock fulmar colony, Chough Rock Napoleonic Artillery Battery, Millendreath Peat Bog, the fields at the end of Hannafore, Looe Island, the estuary of the Looe rivers and the whole of the foreshore along the coast and so on.
• We've received an email from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust saying "I am pinning my hopes on Neighbourhood Plans to fill the gaps in the overarching Cornwall Local Plan. I have some ideas how wildlife can be incorporated into NPs - see attached. ERCCIS can produce a simplified wildlife resource map for the plan area for £80 plus VAT which will be useful to non-specialists working on the plan. What we really need is a good NP with excellent wildlife content to use as an example of best practice for the rest of Cornwall - maybe Looe will fit the bill?"
• The Cornwall Local Plan calls for a target of 1400 new homes within the 17 parishes that make up our part of the Community Network Area. On the assumption that new housing is dispersed evenly around the CNA, Looe is well ahead of schedule with 102 new properties having been built since 2010 and another 180 with planning permission but not yet built or completed. Suggest the NDP acknowledges that no more than 58 additional housing units are required in Looe to satisfy the targets up until 2030 (see housing spreadsheet)
• Suggest we find a way to curb the sale of residential properties for holiday lets/ second homes so that Looe's finite housing stock may be used for home-seekers from within the area.
• The Neighbourhood Plan is a good idea because it will allow the community to decide where and how any new development takes place and not developers.
• The Neighbourhood Plan is a good idea because it can provide protection to the natural and historic environment. Looe's maritime heritage in particular is an invaluable asset to the town, both in terms of giving the community a sense of pride and identity and also by providing a unique selling point for business and leisure/ tourism sectors.

You can download a copy of the questionnaire here >> LOOE NP QUESTIONNAIRE

MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

from Edmund Wilson a local resident...

1. Suggest all new building works be carried out by local builders with local architects, specialist, engineers, surveyors, tradesmen, etc. Strict design criteria are adhered to as to finish and landscaping, etc.
2. No national or regional developers to allowed to build as their profits do no stay in the area and most workers come from outside the area thereby making it more difficult for local builders to have employment. They build many houses quickly overloading local services and then leave the area. Perhaps worst of all their designs do not reflect the local traditional architecture.
3. No builder should be allowed to build more than X number of houses in Y years or be allowed to 'land bank' future plots.
4. Most new properties should be for local people or those who already live in the area who wish to trade up or down in house size or type.
5. Families or groups of families should be given the chance to self build.
6. Finance can come through traditional ways such as mortgages plus the landowner is paid for the land when construction of each house is started.
7. Infrastructure on the site can be put in by say the Town Council or Unitary Authority who would be allowed to make a reasonable profit on the money used temporarily as the overall cost would be charged pro rata to each property built so they would get their money plus 'interest' back.
8. Looe would therefore develop slowly giving the services the chance to accommodate a gradually increasing number of residents.
9. Young couples (in particular) could start to build (for example) a 3 bedroom house. Put up the walls, roof, services etc and fit it out internally as funds became available and their family grew.
10. Builders can design and build to individual families accommodation requirements and by agreement leave certain work to the family to carry out. (internal painting for example).

Suggestion from Tim Deakin a local Surveyor...

Expanding on one of the above points about the seemingly total lack of Building Control in Looe – modern houses with no insulation, no damp proofing, drains running up hill, and no foundations! Now it is apparent that Barratts may not have constructed the Phase 1 soakaways entirely correctly.

Local Authorities are too stretched and simply don’t give a hoot about enforcing good building practice.

Looe needs its own independent enforcement – someone to enforce the Building Regulations, and control the Conservation Area, Listed Buildings, and other Planning compliance – a sort of ‘building policeman’. 

As mentioned, any new build developers would have to make a contribution towards the cost of employing such an enforcer. 

This whole idea may have difficulty building up steam because the general populace has not seen what I have seen. It needs bringing to the public’s attention.

Looe Strategy Group's own questionnaire...

Back in October 2012 the Looe Strategy Group asked town centre traders what they thought were the positive and negative aspects of Looe town centre.

Positive aspects: many respondants reported they thought Looe was an attractive place to shop because of the friendliness and variety of independent retailers which provided a distinctive shopping experience that was in contrast to most town centres. A number of respondents mentioned that the beach, coastal location and historic character of the buildings and shop fronts contributed to the town’s appeal to customers.

Negative aspects: mostly based around highways problems, parking charges, toilet facilities and the need to clean up/smarten up the town.


return to main Neighbourhood Plan page >>

---

to follow >> subscribe to occasional updates of the Looe Strategy Group blog . . .