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"Thank you Mr Chairman for the opportunity to speak at this very important meeting  - important for the East Riding, but even more important for Howden.

 

As a Town Councillor in Howden for four years we have lived and breathed the How-G development and I am here to day to speak in favour of the development plan we have before us.

 

My support is, however, not without conditions, which I will outline over the next few minutes.

 

It is the work of a committee of this kind this to consider an application like this in the abstract, take an objective view, weigh up the pros and cons and make a judgement in line with policy and legislation.

 

I take a much more subjective stance, a stance born of ‘lived experience’ and everything I’m going to say today comes of living in Howden for the past eight years and, every day, growing to love our town a little bit more.

 

When I was canvassing for my role as councillor I would ask, as I’m sure we have, ‘what could be done to make living here a little bit better?

 

…and there were one or two issues that were always at the top of the list.

 

Traffic - especially HGV traffic, and parking.

 

A great deal of my support for this plan is because of the delivery of the link road between Station Road and Thorpe Road.

 

The link road is ‘the silver bullet’ - it takes - and I quote from the documentation - 11% of all traffic from Station Road, 14% of all traffic from Thorpe Road and will redirect around 74% of HGV traffic …. which equates to over 400 HGV movements a day.

 

 

This is a major win for the town, by removing the noisy, dirty and frankly dangerous HGV’s from our Town Centre, you have already improved the quality of life substantially – and to do this in such a way as to not discourage traffic from the town, as a full ring road would surely do, delivers future commercial and economic benefits  - as Howden will simply become an even nicer place to visit.

 

This, provided that the road is delivered before the first house is sold, will make the citizens of Howden very happy.

 

On the subject of happiness, I was asked on Monday’s site visit if the people of our town were happy with the development.

 

My answer was qualified – people are happy with the link road, but very suspicious in general about the development living up to its promises.

 

This is not in any casting any aspersions or any doubt on anyone in this room, but with previous developments promises have been made that were not kept -especially the proposed link between Station Road and the A63 that was a key benefit of the HOW A estate that mysteriously disappeared when the developers shifted the goalposts.

 

People have little faith in the process and are disengaged – which explains in part the small number of objections.

 

Speaking personally, I would rather change didn’t have to happen,

 

I could happily see out my retirement in my garden, in the shadow of the Minster with a five-minute walk to the shops (and a ten minute walk back from number of pubs and bars).

 

…but we can’t live a life preserved in aspic – don’t I agree with the current government on many things, but I do believe that we need to be building more houses, otherwise my grandchildren will be working into their fifties before they can afford their own homes – and as this development is part of a National Plan it will happen.

 

 

The development promises more jobs – 350 at Howdens and over 800 in the construction phase – this has to be a good thing.

 

The mix of housing in the development looks good – with over 550 affordable, social rental, shared ownership / rent to buy and first homes – I have to say it is a delight to see that this isn’t going to be just an unaffordable exclusive ‘executive home’ community – because community is the key word here.

 

What we don’t want – and don’t need – is a self-sustaining ecosystem on the outside of town, physically and economically.

 

How G needs to be part of Howden – you can build any number of footpaths and cycleways but there are also bridges that need to be built – these bridges are metaphorical and delivering these is the responsibility of the people of Howden, its Town Council and this body, the East Riding Council

 

To get the required engagement, and guarantee a warm welcome, our town needs to see the benefits from the development in terms of public transport, education, health provision, employment and general quality of life – and we need to feel these benefits early in the piece.

 

We absolutely need to see that every step is taken to minimise the disruption to everyday life in the first phase of the construction.

 

And we need constant, clear communication and open consultation in the design phase of the project, and most importantly we need to make sure that every promise that is made is kept!

 

I have studied the plans and visualisations – and I am very impressed – this is not just another cookie-cutter development, it respects its place and will no doubt be a very nice place to live.  

 

But we already have a very nice place to live, a bit rough around the edges and in dire need of a little investment – particularly in terms of traffic and public transport, but all in all it’s our little bit of heaven.

 

I see my job over the coming years is to agitate, bicker, squabble and fight to ensure that the new development adds to the sum of our happiness, and I apologise in advance to anyone that I may offend along the way.

 

Thank you!