Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group Meeting

Tuesday 31 March 2015 at Bridport Town Council (Mountfield) 

Present: Richard Freer (Allington), Ian Harvey (Bradpole), Andrew Leppard (Bridport), John Budden (Bridport), Phillip Grey (Bridport).

In Attendance: Sal Robinson (Minutes Taker), Bob Gillis (Bridport Town Council), Tricia Dendle (Bradpole Parish Council), and 1 member of the public.

•Wendy Thorogood (Bothenhampton & Walditch) has resigned due to work relocation.

•The Steering Group members AGREED that Bob Gillis lead the meeting, in the absence of both the Chair and Vice Chair.

1.    Apologies. Phyllida Culpin (Allington), Jak Ford, Caroline Parkins (Chamber of Trade). 

2.    Minutes of previous meeting.

•The minutes were AGREED and signed.

3.    Matters Arising.

•The Joint Town/ Parish Council Committee met on 30 March 2105. 

•Bob reported that;

o They are pleased with the good progress made after only 5 meetings of the Steering Group.

o They discussed what action should be taken following the resignation of the Project Leader (Matt Dalton-Arum) 

• Funding is available for support for the Neighbourhood plan process
• A replacement project manager / consultant could be appointed OR consultancy support could be sought as and when needed
• Planning related advice will come from Jan Farnan, West Dorset District Council, 

•All members of the Steering Group AGREED that a replacement project leader should be appointed

•Bob said that he will come back to the next meeting with specification and proposals to appoint a project manager 

4.    Feedback from Neighbourhood Planning seminar 24 March 2015.

•Those who attended (Richard, Ian, Bob and Sal) agreed that it was a very useful event.

•Sal said that she will e-mail the web link for the “slides” from the presentation to all as soon as they are available.

5.    Vision and Objectives.

•AGREED that all contributions need to be collated and approved as soon as possible so that the website can go live. It can be amended / expanded as required in the future.  Bob would co-ordinate comments from the Group and seek final agreement of the members, prior to publication.

•AGREED that once the website is live all Steering Committee meeting minutes will be made available on-line

6.    Consultation with the Public.

•Ian went through the information which Phyllida had pre-circulated (attached).

•AGREED that the 1^st event should be at the Bradpole Village Fete on Saturday 30 May.

•Sal suggested that one location should be at the Scout Hut, St Swithins Road, so as to encourage people from Allington Parish and the North Allington / St Swithins area of Bridport Parish to be involved.

•All agreed that as much help as possible would need to be identified to cover the sessions including from Steering Group members and hopefully local councillors. Bob said that the Neighbourhood Plan could also feature at the Food Fair and the Melplash Show

•AGREED that aim of the consultation was to get public comments on the vision and objectives and the wider expectations of the plan and also to get volunteers to join the working groups.

•AGREED that Bob / Sal will circulate possible dates and venues for the events

•AGREED that details of what is to be displayed, who is to be there and where events are to be held will be considered and confirmed at the next Steering Group meeting.

7.    Steering Group Membership.

•Bob reported that the Joint Committee has accepted Glen Crawford (Bridport) and David Hill (Bothenhampton and Walditch) as Steering Group members. A Symondsbury representative is still needed.

•He would also follow up other expressions of interest in being part of the Group and membership would continue to be kept under review.

8.    Project Plan Update.

•Matt updated the Plan before he left ACTION - Bob to circulate it to all  ACTION – Bob to maintain the plan until a new Project Manager is appointed.

9.    Project Support.

•Bob said that he will provide support until a new project manager is appointed.

10.  Public Participation.

None.

11.  Any Other Business.

•ACTION - a Youth Group to be formed once exams are over in mid June

•AGREED that all working groups should have 1 / 2 lead persons only with other members from the public.

•AGREED that a formal handover procedure is required to ensure that continuity is preserved in the case of resignation of the Project Leader or a Steering Committee member.

•Jon Hewetson (attending as a member of the public) offered to help Phil with the setting up of Social Media.

12.  Next Meeting.

•AGREED that the next meeting will be on 14 April, at 7:00 pm at Bradpole Village Hall.

Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group Meeting

Tuesday 17 March 2015 at Bridport Town Council (Mountfield)

Present: Wendy Thorogood – CHAIR (Bothenhampton & Walditch), Phyllida Culpin (Allington), Richard Freer

(Allington), Ian Harvey (Bradpole), Andrew Leppard (Bridport), Jak Ford (Young Person), John Budden (Bridport), Caroline Parkins (Bridport Chamber of Commerce)

In Attendance: Sal Robinson (Minutes Taker), Mathew (Mat) Dalton-Aram (Project Manager), Tricia Dendle (Bradpole Parish Council), and members of the public.

•Nick Devlin has resigned.

•Mathew Dalton-Arun said that he has handed in his resignation as Project Manager due to pressure of work, effect 27 March 2015. Bob Gillis said that the Town and Parish Councils will provide support and that an interim or permanent Project Manager may be appointed or consultants may be hired to cover specific aspects of the Plan. Mat is meeting with Bob to discuss the possible options which will be considered by the BANP Joint Parish / Town Committee.

•Beth Hedges is unable to attend meetings until after her exams are over in mid June.

•Mat welcomed Caroline Parkins who is joining the Steering Group to represent the Bridport Chamber of Commerce.

1.    Apologies. Phillip Grey (Bridport), Beth Hedges (Young Person). 

2.    Minutes of previous meeting.

•Richard queried why comments from the public had not been recorded in the minutes. Mat said that the Steering Group is not a constituted body and so there is no need to record anything other than progress and agreed actions. 

•AGREED that members of the public should not speak during the meeting unless invited by the Chair and that they should be encouraged to speak at the end of the meeting, in which case this will be minuted.

•The minutes were AGREED and signed.

3.    Matters Arising.

•Bob is convening a meeting of the Joint Town/ Parish Council Committee 30 March to consider and select new Steering Group members.

            

•It is hoped that a Symondsbury representative will come forward at the Symondsbury Annual Parish Meeting.

•Everyone apart from Wendy is ready to go live with the new e-mail addresses.

•Everyone AGREED that the latest version of the website looks good but that it needs information on the Working Groups.

4.    Vision and Objectives.

•Phyllida’s revised draft was considered – AGREED that Phyllida sends this to Phil to put on the website. It can be amended in the future as required.

•Tricia Dendle (Bradpole PC representative) said that it is important that it is made clear that it is not just Bridport. It was suggested that a map showing the 4 parishes and Bridport be put on the website.

5.    Feedback from the Vearse Farm Public Exhibition.

•Richard said that he felt that the people there from Hallam were not well informed about Bridport and the general area.

•Concerns were raised that Affordable Housing might be omitted. Mat said that this was unlikely to be allowed by West Dorset District Council planners.

•Andrew said he was interested to see that attenuation tanks are included in the scheme to alleviate flood risk and that the size and scale of the proposed development is remarkable.

•Sal said that she was told that it is hoped that 35% of the housing will be affordable, both as part-buy and for rent but that the percentage must be financially viable. West Dorset will insist on a very tight S106 agreement for the Affordable Housing. Hallam are in talks with the Highways Agency in regards to improvements to the Miles Cross junction.

•Phyllida said that it is essential that the Steering Group has access to Bridport area Housing Need data. AGREED that Bob be asked to formally request this.

•Richard said that the statistics show that the local population is falling and asked therefore what is the demand for housing?

•Jak said that there must be restrictions to ensure that Affordable Housing goes to local people.

6.    Feedback from LEADER Programme.

•Andrew gave an over view of the programme, which will have funding to support specific projects which have a direct economic impact. Andrew considers that some aspects of the Neighbourhood Plan could be relevant. Bids for funding have to be made to the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership in June / July.

•AGREED that Andrew will be the Steering Group representative to the programme.

•Jak spoke of a possible project for this – an indoor motocross track, which could be used by young people as well as adults.

7.    Community Engagement, Communications Strategy / Programme.

•The following additional groups to involve in the Plan process were AGREED

Bridport District Tourism Association

Bridport Local Food Group

Dorset Wildlife Trust

Bridport Lions

Bridport Round Table

All Women’s Institute groups in the Plan Area

Ramblers Association

Faith Groups

National Groups e.g. English Heritage, Nation Trust etc.

•AGREED that groups should be emailed to inform them of what is being done re Neighbourhood Planning in the wider Bridport area

•AGREED that a Visioning Event will be held near the end of May over several days and at venues in all the Plan parishes, leading on from the Launch Event. In particular people will be asked to volunteer for Working Groups.

• ACTION - the responses from the Launch Event need to be collated to encourage further comment
• Suggestion - providing play facilities for children at these events may encourage families to come along
• ACTION - Working Group leads from the Steering Group will need to be present to talk with people
• ACTION – Phyllida and Ian will collect as much relevant data as possible from WDDC (who have a duty to support the creation of Neighbourhood Plans) and then find where data is missing and attempt to fill the gaps
• AGREED that Wendy will work with Bob to organise this event

•AGREED that the Steering Group will continue to meet fortnightly

•AGREED that after Easter meetings will move to venues within the 4 Parishes – starting at Bradpole then Symondsbury

•Suggestion – Steering Group members could come at 6:30 for a brief pre-meeting.

•AGREED – each Working Group to send 3 / 4 sentences on what they see as their “brief “ for inclusion in Phyllida’s Vision and Objectives document for the website.  

8.    Any Other Business.

None.

9.    Next Meeting.

•Agreed that the next meeting will be on 31 March, at 7:00 pm at Mountfield.

Mat was thanked for the work he has done to get the Steering Group up and running.