Those of you who have followed Swaffham Prior village news or our recent posts regarding our objection to the proposed development of 10 bungalows on Mill Hill, Swaffham Prior may be aware that one of our key concerns is the impact such a development will have on the availability of wind to the mill.

To assess the likely impact, the owners of Fosters Mill commissioned Steve Temple of Templetech Ltd to carry out a wind study. The developer, Mead Homes, have also commissioned a study, completed by WSP Environmental. The conclusions of the two reports are quite different.

We have therefore asked Steve Temple to complete a comparison of the two studies to explore why the conclusions are so different. In the interests of transparency, we share that report here along with Steve’s wind study and a link below to the WSP Environmental study.

These documents have been submitted to the East Cambridgeshire District Council Planning Team.

Wind Study Fosters Mill Planning Application 17_01208_OUM Rev2

Comparison of Wind Studies Report Planning Application 17_01208_OUM

WSP Environmental Report

 

As you will have read in other posts on our Blog, we are objecting to a proposed development of 10 bungalows to the East of Fosters Mill because it will harm the wind supply to Fosters Mill from the only direction in which the mill receives unfettered wind – wind that is free from obstructions of buildings or trees and because of the impact such a development will have on the settings of two listed windmills.

A key part of our argument in terms of wind loss is that Fosters Mill is already badly impacted by tree and building pollution blocking the wind supply from most directions. The wind study we have commissioned suggests that this now blocks 80% of the wind the mill would have had before trees and buildings were erected around the mill.

This blog post shows video diaries taken to show the impact of this wind restriction and a video showing how clean the wind supply is from the East because it is currently free from obstructions (buildings and trees). The videos show days / times when Fosters Mill is not able to work because the wind is being obstructed by building and trees whilst other mills in the area – Wicken Windmill or Burwell Windmill are able to grind flour.

The final video, however, shows how clean and free from turbulence the wind is from the East. Contrast this to the penultimate video!

These videos are therefore clear evidence of the negative impact that trees and buildings have on windmills, preventing the mill getting the wind it requires to turn. The loss of wind from other directions amplifies the importance of the unfettered wind from the East North East to South East – the direction of the proposed development.

This video taken on the 30th July shows the mill facing west where trees and the water tower block the wind whilst at Wicken Windmill, you can see the mill working, grinding flour.

This video taken on the 24th June again shows the mill facing west.

This video taken on the 14th May shows the mill facing to the North West and shows Burwell Mill turning whilst Fosters Mill is not able to turn again due to wind loss through trees and buildings.

This video shows the impact of trees on wind turbulence – taken whilst the mill was facing west you can see how the gusts of wind caused by buildings knock the whole top of the mill (cap) from side to side. The proposed development and associated trees will cause more and more turbulence over time from a wind direction which currently creates no turbulence.

This final video shot whilst the mill is facing to the East shows the mill working in a very strong breeze, working hard – yet, the cap is steady, not affected by turbulence – that is because we currently do not experience turbulence because the wind is unfettered, free of obstructions and therefore clean and strong.

 

Further to our blog posting from April 2017 regarding the intention of a local land owner to build on land adjacent to 38 Mill Hill, Swaffham Prior (on the East side of the B1102), we now alert you to the fact that an outline planning application for the erection of 10 bungalows has been made for the same site. If you believe, like we and many others in Swaffham Prior, that this development is in the wrong place and will have a negative impact on the listed buildings Fosters Mill and the Smock Mill, please join us by making your objections to East Cambridgeshire District Council – see below for more information. Information on the planning application can be found at www.eastcambs.gov.uk with the reference 17/01208/OUM.

Background:

If you have followed our news over the last year, you will know that the land owner concerned has been trying for some time to persuade villagers of the value and importance of allowing development on this land. In April 2017 the village was made aware that the land in question had been included as a proposed ‘Additional Site’ in the ECDC Local Plan Consultation Process. Now, before the consultation process has concluded, the land owner and developer have made an application for outline planning permission. If you believe this development should not go ahead, you have until the 15^th August 2017 to register your objection. You can email Richard Fitzjohn at plservices@eastcambs.gov.uk or write to:

 

Richard Fitzjohn, Planning Officer

East Cambs District Council

The Grange, Ely

CB7 4EE

 

If you email, you are invited to copy our local councillor Allen Alderson at allen.alderson@eastcambs.gov.uk

 

Grounds for Objection:

The Mill Hill Action Group and owners of Fosters Mill have identified a number of key concerns regarding the proposed development, these include:

• The development is not plan-led, it is a speculative housing scheme, village sprawl outside the village development envelope with unattractive and inappropriate arbitrary boundary fences or walls which take no account of the intrinsic beauty of the countryside. The development involves building on just one part of a larger agricultural field, there is no landscape, or other, logic to the definition of the boundaries proposed. It benefits the land owner and the developer and not the local community which has already identified specific locations where locals are prepared to see development take place.
• The development does not meet any of the 3 requirements for sustainable development – economic, social or environmental: The village has limited facilities (primary school and pub) meaning that all inhabitants of the proposed housing will need to travel by private car for most family needs (not sustainable), 10 bungalows will contribute little to building a strong economy (economic) and can hardly be claimed to support a strong, vibrant and healthy community (social) when they are the wrong side of a very busy road with 40mph speed limit.
• The development leads straight onto the B1102 at a blind corner with vehicles travelling at over 40 mph. The traffic survey completed for the applicant and presented as part of the planning application was done in August when traffic volumes are considerably less than the rest of the year. On a typical morning during the rush hour, over 1000 cars pass the site per hour in just one direction (source Swaffham Prior Parish Council) – not the most appropriate place to have children crossing to walk to school or vehicles attempting to join the road from the development.
• The proposed development and the associated trees and planting will have a significant negative impact on the winding of Fosters Mill, a Grade 2* working tower mill because it reduces the available wind from the East North East – South East directions, reducing power and increasing turbulance. The mill needs free unfettered wind to operate properly and this direction is the only direction where the wind is uninterrupted by buildings or vegetation.
  • The owners of Fosters Mill have commissioned their own Wind Study and the conclusions are very different to those presented in the developer’s promotional document. Whilst we agree on the fact the wind comes from the direction of the proposed development site for between 7 – 10% of the time, the developer’s wind study has failed to take into account the very significant impact of the wind obstructions (trees and buildings including a water tower) in all other points of the compass in their calculations. These obstructions reduce the number of available milling days (when the wind is strong enough to mill) by around 80%. So, when these obstructions are taken into account, the 7 – 10% of wind from this quarter becomes 20% of the available wind to the mill during the winter months and 50% during the summer months.
  • The proposed development will create wind turbulence. This will harm the fabric of the mill, increase maintenance costs and negatively impact the quality of grinding as the mill jolts, speeds up and slows down more frequently. Given the curb construction at Fosters Mill, the mill is particularly susceptible to the impact of turbulent air which causes the cap to jolt from side to side causing significant additional strain to the cap and winding gear.
  • The impact of the proposed development will increase as trees and vegetation planted around the proposed bungalows matures meaning the full impact will not be felt for some 15+ years.  Tree pollution on the site will further reduce the days on which the mill can work risking the mill’s long term viability as a working mill, a factor which is not referenced in the developer’s wind study as referenced in their promotional document.
• The development will negatively impact the setting of the Grade 2 Smock Mill and Grade 2* Tower Mill, changing the skyline, changing the general character of the setting of the buildings which currently are set within a context of open fields from the East. The proposed bungalows and layout are entirely out of context with any other buildings in the area.

 

National Mills Weekend, a weekend to celebrate the UK’s traditional milling heritage and organised by the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings falls on the 13^th and 14^th May this year and mills around Cambridgeshire will be opening their doors to welcome visitors. East Cambridgeshire has one of the largest concentrations of remaining windmills left in the whole of the UK and we, Swaffham Prior, are the only village in the region with two preserved windmills and the only village in the UK with two windmills both with their sails!

Fosters Mill will be open on Sunday from 1pm to 5.30pm.

Baking Top Tips

World renowned artisan baker Carl Shavitz of the Artisan Bread School will be running sourdough and focaccia baking demonstrations during the afternoon, so if you already bake your own bread, come along and get some top tips. If you’re tempted to join the baking revolution, come along too and see how easy it is to make your own bread!

Bake your own Bread in our Wood Fired Oven!

For those of you who already bake and fancy trying your bread baked in a real wood fired oven, bring you proven dough for 2.00pm or 4.00pm and load it into our oven which will be fired up ready for the fun!

Tour the Mill

The mill will also be open for tours and working, wind permitting. Our award winning flours (11 varieties in all) will all be on-sale along with our muesli and oat product range. If you can’t get along, remember the mill shop is open Thursday mornings each week from 9am to 1pm. Our mail order business allows you to send flour across the UK, a great way to send a gift from Swaffham Prior!

 

Sign our Online Petition

Overview

A local property developer has made public their intention to seek permission to build on the land adjacent to 38 Mill Hill (on the East side of the B1102), Swaffham Prior to create 10 houses. The land is currently open fields. The development, if built, will reduce the availability of wind supply to the mill reducing the number of days the mill can work and negatively impact the setting of this Grade 2* listed building and the Grade 2 listed Smock Tower Windmill on the other side of Mill Hill. The land in question is the only land free of development remaining on Mill Hill and currently provides the best milling conditions when the wind is from an easterly direction. The owners of Fosters Mill are objecting to the proposal, which has come about as part of the East Cambridgeshire District Council’s Local Plan consultation process and follows a similar proposal made by the land owner in the Autumn of 2015.

So what’s the problem with the proposed development?

The fundamental problem is that the proposed development, whether comprised of bungalows or houses will reduce the flow of wind to the mill which in turn reduces the days on which the mill can work. The proposed houses and associated trees and shrubs that will follow will create a barrier to wind flow causing the wind to rise up over the houses / trees and over the windmill (in the process causing wind turbulence) which reduces the power of the wind available to the mill. The impact of a proposed development has to be assessed over a period of 20+ years once trees have reached their full height. Once developed, the land will never again be open fields, the wind resource will be lost for good.

The proposed development is situated in what is currently open fields to the east of Mill Hill, open fields that facilitate an unrestricted wind supply across Swaffham Heath towards the mill when the wind is from the East North East to the East South East.

The topology of the land which gently slopes up to the mill enables the wind to accelerate giving a first rate wind for flour milling. Of all the wind directions, the wind from this quadrant is by far the best for flour milling as it is free of turbulence which is created by buildings and trees.

Up until the 1930s, the windmills stood alone on an open hillside free of trees and buildings other than the miller’s houses. Sadly, since 1930 by which time the Smock Mill was not in use and Fosters Mill was in decline, when it was assumed the mill did not have a future, development was permitted on the hill. Firstly, the semi-detached houses on Mill Hill were built, then the Water Tower and then Fairview Grove. All these developments have reduced the flow of wind to the mill resulting in a loss of wind supply. Even the recent development on the Water Tower site has had a further negative impact, something we did not fully anticipate given the already significant impact the large mass of the Water Tower has on blocking the wind from the South West.

The proposed development is the first development proposed on green-field land on Mill Hill since the mill was returned to working order. We as present owners of the mill are custodians of the mill for future generations and we take that responsibility very seriously. We want to ensure it has a long term future. This development will reduce the availability of wind to the mill permanently, we will never get it back, something that will result in there being fewer days when we can mill flour using wind power. We cannot allow this to happen as this and any future similar development erodes the potential for the mill to earn its living and thus the building to be protected for the future.

Swaffham Prior’s unique status:

Not only will the development reduce the availability of wind, it will impact the setting of the two windmills, impeding views of the mills everyone enjoys as you walk, cycle or drive between Burwell and Swaffham Prior. Swaffham Prior is one of only a handful of villages in the whole of the UK which still has two windmills, the only village where both mills retain their sails and fantails and, where one of those windmills is a commercially working mill. Planners have an obligation to ensure that new development does not negatively impact the setting of listed buildings. Here in Swaffham Prior there is a clear relationship between the two mills as they stand proud on the landscape; building around them in the way that is proposed will significantly reduce their visual impact and the enjoyment people gain from viewing them. In 2013, a Sandtex Survey voted the windmill Britain’s favourite building! Will you stand by and let this development happen?

How can you help?

If you believe, as we do, that this development will be detrimental to the operation of our village mill and negatively impact the setting of two listed buildings, please join us in objecting to the proposal for this land to be included as a development site in the Draft Local Plan. To object, you need to make your views known to the Parish Council and the East Cambridgeshire Planning Team. To email the Parish Council, please email Swaffham Prior Parish Council, to email East Cambridgeshire District Council Planning team, email edward.dade@eastcambs.gov.uk, Strategic Planning Officer. The reference number for this particular proposal is Site/28/07 and the deadline for comments is the 12th May 2017 to allow the Parish Council time to submit their formal response. 

Sign our online petition

We are not against new housing in Swaffham Prior, but believe housing on this particular land is the wrong place to build given the impact it will have on a nationally important village asset.

We will post new information on the campaign here as soon as it is available. Register your interest to receive updates by sending a message to us.