Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan

Steering Group Meeting

23rd September 2015 

Present: Phyllida Culpin-Chair (Allington), Andrew Leppard (Bridport), Phillip Grey (Bridport), Ian Harvey (Bradpole), Glenn Crawford (Bridport), Richard Freer (Allington), Bob Gillis (Bridport Town Council), Caroline Parkins (Chamber of Commerce), Jak Ford, Jo Hewetson), Jo Witherden.

In Attendance: Sal Robinson (Minute Taker), Tricia Dendle (Bradpole Parish Council) and 5 members of the public (Margaret and Richard Toft, Gavin Fryer, Roy Mathisen and Raja Jarrah).

1. Apologies. David Hill (Bothenhampton & Walditch), Richard Nichols (BLAP).

2.    Minutes of Last Meeting.

The minutes were agreed and signed.

3.    Matters Arising From the Minutes.

None.

4.    Consultation Feedback.

• Jo went through the Vision and Objectives Consultation Summary document.
• Ian said that the Transport objective had been further discussed and agreed – he will send it to Jo.
• AGREED that comments on this document be sent to Jo by Wednesday 30 September.

5.    Working Groups - Scope.

• Jo went through the Working Groups document.
• there was discussion as to whether Climate change should be separated from Environment and Heritage. AGREED to start with them separate and combine if necessary
• there was discussion as to the need for a separate Development Sites Working Group. AGREED that it should be separate but possibly with a different title.
• there was discussion as to whether Tourism should be separate from Local Economy. AGREED to keep them together as they are so interdependent but that Tourism could be a sub-group.

6.    Launch of the Working Groups and Publicity.

AGREED

• that the launch event will be held at the Town Hall on Friday 6 November from 5 – 7 and on Saturday 7 November from 10 – 3
• a stand in Bucky doo Square on the Saturday would help draw people into the event
• there will be displays for each Working Group
• forms will be needed for new Working Group volunteers to give their details and interests
• a Steering Group meeting will be held on Wednesday 7 October to finalise arrangements for the event and finalise the Working Groups and their objectives.
• Bob will invite the 36 people who have already volunteered for working groups to a meeting at Mountfield on Wednesday 21 October
• Steering Group members will decide the date of the 1^st full meeting of the Working Group(s) they are involved in, ready for the launch event on 6 and 7 November
• Working Groups will provide monthly reports to the Steering Group and monthly bulletins for each Working Group will be published on the website and social media
• publicity is essential - Bob will work with David Hill and Roy Mathisen on publicity, to include the local press, Facebook, Twitter, Vision-2030 website, posters in Bucky Doo Square and elsewhere, local radio. The possibility of videos on U-tube etc was suggested
• Bob said that there is money available for publicity

7.    Project Plan / Timetable.

• Bob reported that the timetable had slipped about 3 months although the project end date remained end of 2016. The Group generally felt that it was more important to allow time for the Working Groups and the subsequent detailed consultation and any slight slippage was not a problem.

8.    Support for Proposed BLAP Housing Forum.

• Bob reported that this is not going ahead but could be incorporated into the Neighbourhood Plan.

9. Any Other Matters.

• Hallam Land has invited 3 representatives from each of the BANP Steering Group, Bridport town Council and Symondsbury Parish Council to a half day work shop in October on the potential Vearse Farm development. No date given as yet. AGREED to inform Hallam that 6 Steering Group members wish to attend and to ask for more details of the event and for information to be made available in advance.
• Phil reported that he is meeting with Bob on 29 or 30 September to set Bob up as a Vision-2030 website administrator.

Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan

Steering Group Meeting

2nd September 2015 

Present: Phyllida Culpin-Chair (Allington), Andrew Leppard (Bridport), Phillip Grey (Bridport), Ian Harvey (Bradpole), Glenn Crawford (Bridport), Richard Freer (Allington), David Hill (Bothenhampton & Walditch), Bob Gillis (Bridport Town Council), Richard Nichols (BLAP), Jo Witherden.

In Attendance: Sal Robinson (Minute Taker), Tricia Dendle (Bradpole Parish Council) and 8 members of the public (Margaret and Richard Toft, Sue and Gavin Fryer, Alan Heeks, Kevin Chappuis, Raja Jarra and Horatio Morpurgo).

1.    Apologies. 

• Caroline Perkins (Chamber of Commerce), Jak Ford, Beth Hedges, Jo Hewetson.

2.    Minutes of previous meeting were agreed

3.    Local Plan Update and Implications.

•     Jo Witherden gave a brief update.

•     It was AGREED to write to the Local Plan Inspector registering concerns about his decision not to allow time for the Neighbourhood Plan to be completed prior to recommending the draft Local Plan for adoption and to question his use of the term “exceptional circumstances” in the following sentence on page 35 of his report – “On balance and having regard to the site’s location and other issues I have referred to, I consider there are exceptional circumstances to justify the identification of Vearse Farm in the LP.”

•     Everyone agreed that whilst it was important that the Local Plan was in place, the Neighbourhood Plan would still be able raise issues of concern to local people, influence the delivery of sites within the Local Plan and address other areas that may not be covered by the Local Plan such as policies on low cost/affordable housing, public transport etc. The potential scope for the Neighbourhood Plan was looked at under item 5 below.

4.   Consultation Results.

•     Jo went through the initial high level analysis of the questionnaire. The major area of public dissatisfaction appears to be transport / traffic, which was not included within the draft objectives. It was AGREED to add an additional Transport objective.

•     Bob said that more detailed analysis of the consultation will be will be undertaken and circulated to all next week.

5.   Scope of Working Groups.

•     The Steering Group members split into small groups covering each of the themes, to discuss suggestions made by Jo, who will document and circulate the feedback.

6.   Launch of the Working Groups - Proposals.

•     AGREED: That a launch event will be held for people to learn more about the Neighbourhood Plan and to volunteer to be involved with the Working Groups o displays based around the objectives / themes

•     Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group Meeting Wednesday 23rd September 2015 at Bridport Town Council Offices (Mountfield)

•     Workshops

•     Separate session by personal invitation for people who have already volunteered for Working Groups (approx 100 so far) o to be held Friday (late afternoon / early evening) and Saturday (am and pm) at the Town Hall – date to be arranged

•     The Working Groups will be launched after this event

•    AGREED that work on the detail for this be delegated to a sub-group.

7.   Next Meeting.

•     AGREED that the next meeting will be at 7 pm on Wednesday 23 September.

•     AGREED that the sub group will meet on Wednesday 9 September to discuss the letter to the Inspector

•     Work out the details for the event to launch the Working Groups – date, advertising, displays etc

8. Any Other Matters.

•     Ian said that the structure of the Working Groups needs to be determined. Bob said that Jo would work on this for discussion on 23 September.

•     Bob to give Phil updated Steering Group member’s details for the website.

•     Bob said that Hallam Land is coming to the Bridport Town Council Planning Committee meeting on Monday 7 September, 7 pm at Bridport Town Hall. Ian and Andrew said they would attend.

•     Sue Fryer said that she has spoken to many people about the Neighbourhood Plan and felt that there was a need for more publicity to continue to raise awareness. Bob said that this will be addressed.