Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group Meeting

Wednesday 29 March 2017 at Mountfield

Present: Phyllida Culpin - Chair (Allington), Richard Freer (Allington), Steve Spear (Bradpole), Andrew Leppard (Bridport), Bob Driscoll (Symondsbury), Glenn Crawford (Bridport), Caroline Meredith (Chamber of Commerce).

Also in Attendance: Sal Robinson, Katy Graham (Project Manager), Gavin Fryer (Land Use), Sue Fryer (Land Use), Maureen Jackson (BLAP), Margaret Toft (Climate Change), Richard Toft (Climate Change), Celia Marsh, Jim Tigg (Housing).

Phyllida reminded everyone of the Register of Interests.

1. Apologies.

Richard Nicholls (BLAP), Raja Jarrah (Climate Change).

2. Minutes of last meeting.

The minutes were AGREED and signed.

3. Matters arising from the minutes.

• Quorum for Steering Group meetings: The Joint Council Committee has agreed that a simple majority of attendees will constitute a quorum. I.e. if Steering Group consists of 9 members then the quorum is 5 members, if there are 10 members then the quorum is 6.
• Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group formally commenting on the Local Plan Review or the St Michael’s planning application (or any planning application). The Joint Council Committee unanimously agreed that this would not be appropriate at this stage of the plan process. The plan does not have the status of an “emerging plan” until after the Regulation 14 consultation and submission to the examiner. In the case of the Local Plan revision, comments formally made by the NP Steering Group could jeopardise the plan when it goes to the examiner. Individuals can make personal representations on both the Local Plan and planning applications.
• Local Plan Review. Jan Farnam (WDDC) has confirmed that there will be a further round of consultation on submission draft the Local Plan in the Spring of 2018, when responses will go straight to the Examiner to be explored through the examination. Adoption of the plan will hopefully be by the end of 2019.

4. Feedback on Meeting with Magna Housing Head of Development.

• Notes from this meeting will be circulated to all once approved by the attendees and the Housing Working Group.

• Magna intend to build 600 new dwellings in West Dorset and East Somerset over the next 3 years

• 50% will be shared ownership (which will attract government grants) and 50% will be social housing for rent.

• Magna intends to offer apprenticeships, training and jobs through its supply chain

• The Land Use working group and others will take him round the sites identified in the NP “call of land”

• He may be able to identify other possible sites

• Magna at this stage would prefer not to go down the S106 route, but are looking to buy land and build. However if there was any additionality to be achieved to increase the level of social housing on a site there may be interest.

• He is open to the idea of supporting “self-build”

• A meeting with the Magna director Tony Murray will be arranged to discuss local housing need and whether Magna’s plans could help meet some of this need.

5. Feedback on Draft Intentions Document and Next Steps.

• Phyllida and Katy will “tidy up” the draft document, taking received comments into consideration and adding maps, prior to submission to the Joint Councils Committee on Friday 31 March, together with the HNA.

  The HNA and draft Housing Intentions will also be submitted to the West Dorset

• Over the next 2 months the JCC members will meet with their councils to discuss the documents and will feed questions back to the Steering Group

• One or more seminar type meetings will be arranged as required to discuss issues and concerns, attended by Steering Group members, Working Group members and councillors.

• There may be a need for negotiations between participating parishes

• That at this stage any onward publication of the documents should be accompanied by a “health” warning, as was done when the results of the Land Use Site Visits were circulated

  A group from the Steering Group needs to meet to consider the next phase, which is public consultation of the draft Neighbourhood Plan.

• The consultation will take place over 6 weeks starting mid-June

• In April / May the following actions must be taken

  • Edit the draft intentions so that it has one “voice”

  • Look for anomalies / conflicts

  • Take changes to government policies into consideration

• A summary document must be produced which should ideally be delivered to every dwelling in the NP area

  • Taking up no more than 3 sheets of A4 i.e. 6 sides

  • Using simple language

  • Symondsbury and Bradpole have said that they will deliver it to every dwelling in their parishes

  • Copies could also be made available at locations such as the public library, Leisure Centre, supermarkets, public houses etc.

• The consultation must have questions which are quantifiable so that results can be analysed, rather than free format

• There must be good publicity and a good launch event – it is essential to get people attention

• We need to re-brand the project – it was called Vision-2030 to be in line with the Local Plan, but the revised Local Plan will run till 2036

   

6. Public Participation / Any Other Business.

• Future Use of Mountjoy School, Sydney Gale House and Bridport Community Resource Centre sites.

  Maureen Jackson said that this land was owned by Dorset County Council, who have passed it to Dorset Property Services. DCC / DPS have said that they will work with the community and the Neighbourhood Plan group. A meeting will be arranged in April to consider how interested groups can work together.

• Local Plan Review.

  Section 5 of the Local Plan Review document – how were the housing need figures derived?

   

7. Next meeting.

The next Steering Group meeting will be on Wednesday 26 April, 6 pm at Mountfield.

Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group Meeting

Thursday 16 March 2017 at Mountfield

Present: Phyllida Culpin - Chair (Allington), Richard Freer (Allington), Steve Spear (Bradpole), Richard Nicholls (BLAP), Andrew Leppard (Bridport).

Also in Attendance: Sal Robinson, Katy Graham (Project Manager), Gavin Fryer (Land Use), Maureen Jackson (BLAP), Raja Jarrah (Climate Change), Margaret Toft (Climate Change), Richard Toft (Climate Change), Amanda Streatfeild (Symondsbury PC), Tricia Dendle (Bradpole PC), Colin Baker (Bradpole PC).

Phyllida reminded everyone of the Register of Interests.

1. Apologies.

Bob Driscoll (Symondsbury), Glenn Crawford (Bridport), Caroline Meredith (Chamber of Commerce).

2. Minutes of last meeting.

The minutes were AGREED and signed.

3. Matters arising from the minutes.

• Choice of Examiner. Jan Farnam (WDDC) has confirmed that WDDC will always involve the Neighbourhood Plan Qualifying Body in the choice of examiner.

• Land Use Working Group. Two successful liaison meetings with other working Groups have been held.

• No quorum for Steering Group meetings was established in the Terms of Reference. This needs to be determined as important decisions regarding the Plan contents will need to be taken at future meetings. Phyllida suggested that the quorum should be 5 (out of the current 9 members of the Steering Group). AGREED that this must be taken to the next Joint Council meeting for a definitive decision. 

   

4. Review of draft intentions document and working group progress.

Phyllida said that positive progress has been made by all groups.

• Land Use.

  • Meeting with the Housing and the Economy Group – no conflicts identified.

  • Meeting with Environment Group – conflicts / overlaps resolved.

• The Economy Group’s comments regarding car parking facilities has been passed to the Transport Group for discussion.

• Richard Nicholls has attended a lecture by the Housing Minister ?? Barnwell who said that the estimated number of new houses required in West Dorset may be over-inflated and it is being looked at again.

• Mapping of sight lines to hill top open spaces (which are recommended for designation as Green Spaces) is in progress.

• Climate Change.

  • Ready and waiting to cross reference with the other policy areas.

• The Housing Needs Assessment document has been reworked as per WDDC’s suggestion and the latest White Paper has been included. It is being issued to the group members to check that there has been no loss of vision.

• The Housing draft intentions are complete

• There is a meeting scheduled with Gavin Barwell, the new head of housing at Magna. Magna has stated that they want to build social, not affordable, housing.

• A meeting has been arranged with C G Fry.

AGREED that the Draft Intentions document (with any further updates to Katy by 21 March) be circulated to all Steering Group members (Working Group leads to send to group members) and that there will be a “Challenge” session at the next Steering Group meeting, to get ready for submission of the document to the Joint Council by 31 March.

AGREED that the next meeting will start at 4:30 pm for informal discussion of the Draft Intentions (Steering Group members + others who the Working Group leads think should attend), followed by the formal meeting at 6 pm.

5. Public Participation / Any Other Business.

• Discussion around the Housing White Paper.

  • There are 323 people on the Housing List in the Bridport area

  • It would be useful to know how many dwellings currently have planning permission / are awaiting planning permission.

  • Maureen Jackson said that the homeless must not be ignored – there are currently about 5 homeless persons in the Bridport area. Phyllida confirmed that this is in the HNA document

•  Discussion around the Local Plan Review.

  • It was suggested that the Neighbourhood Plan group submit a response which reflects the Draft Intentions and the HNA and which stresses the need to take a holistic view to preserve the character of Bridport.

  • that Richard Toft, Andrew Leppard, Richard Freer (+ others) meet to prepare the response, which will be circulated for agreement at the next Steering Group meeting.
  • Discussion regarding the current St Michael’s planning application.

    • The following people declared an Interest in this:

      Andrew Leppard, Phyllida Culpin, Gavin Fryer, Raja Jarrah, Richard Toft

      and agreed to not take part in the discussion, though they would provide answers to questions if necessary

  • Andrew gave a brief overview of the application and possible implications of the plans for Bridport

  • Tricia Dendle said that it could cause problems if the response from the Neighbourhood Plan group referenced the draft intentions as these have only draft and have not been out to consideration by the Joint Council not the public in general.

  • Individuals may comment however they wish

  • That Raja, Richard Freer, Brian Wilson and Phyllida consider a draft response at their meeting tomorrow, which will be circulated for agreement at the next Steering Group meeting.
  • Vearse Farm - The next Master Plan meeting with Hallam is at 10 am on 31 March at the Town Hall.

6. Next meeting.

The next Steering Group meeting will be on Wednesday 29 March, 6 pm at Mountfield, preceded by an informal meeting to discuss the Draft Intentions document, starting at 4:30 pm.

Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group Meeting
 
1 March 2017, 6pm, at Bridport Town Council Offices (Mountfield)

Present: Phyllida Culpin - Chair (Allington), Bob Driscoll (Symondsbury), Richard Freer (Allington), Steve Spear (Bradpole) and Andrew Leppard (Bridport)

Also in Attendance: Colin Baker (Bradpole PC), Gavin Fryer (Land Use), Sue Fryer (Land Use), Maureen Jackson (BLAP), Raja Jarrah (Climate Change), Margaret Toft (Climate Change), Richard Toft (Climate Change), Tricia Dendle (Bradpole PC), R. Smith (Bothenhampton resident), G. Smith (Bothenhampton resident), Philip Morgan-Smith (Bothenhampton resident) and Katy Graham (Project Manager)

Phyllida welcomed three residents from Bothenhampton who were attending for the first time and everyone introduced themselves.

Phyllida reminded everyone of the Register of Interests.

1. Apologies.

Sal Robinson, Richard Nicholls (BLAP), Caroline Meredith (Chamber of Commerce) and Glenn Crawford (Bridport).

2. Minutes of last meeting.

The minutes were AGREED and signed.

3. Matters arising from the minutes.

Follow up to Joint Council Committee meeting:

Phyllida had attended the JCC meeting on 21st February and reported the concerns that had been raised by the group regarding the potential for one parish to veto a project or development with wider community or economic benefit. The question has been put to the group – how will a consensus be reached? This will be followed up at the next JCC meeting, planned for 21st March.

Phyllida has proposed to get the draft intentions document to the JCC by April so that it can be reviewed April/May and a proposal had been made that a seminar is held which brings all the parishes together with members of the NP group to discuss the ideas raised and hear proposals as a collective.

Choice of examiner:

Following on from the information collated by Colin Baker regarding qualifying bodies having a role in the selection of examiners, ACTION: Katy to follow up with WDDC regarding working with them to select the examiner (actual selection not needed at this stage, but should be built into the project plan for July/September time).

Richard Freer referred to an email exchange with Katy regarding whether the examiner had to be a member of RICS. The information Katy had found suggested that they do not and will share that information with Colin.

Project budget

Katy reported that out of the £5,750 grant that had been applied for from Locality in 2016, £2,911.40 remains to be spent by the end of March, otherwise it is returned and can be bid for again later. There are restrictions on what this can be used for to comply with the grant conditions, namely what we had been quoted for particular areas of work at the time by Jo Witherden:

• Working group information consolidation, including the site assessment work
• Options consultation work
• Consultation report
• Plan drafting

Phyllida stated that it is important to try and use this – it doesn’t look good to return grant as it could have an impact on our favourability when bidding again. Andrew asked if we could work with different consultants – Maureen pointed out the timing implications of this as we would have to go out to tender for the work again.

Margaret asked for clarification on what was the ‘intentions’ document – is it different to policy? Katy explained that it is the draft version of the plan which will use straight-forward language to get across to the wider public what the plan is aiming to achieve. The wording of the policies will come slightly later, but it is important to get the intentions agreed first.

Raja reported that he and Richard Toft had been working on a layered approach to show the clear links between research evidence to the justification to the intentions. Katy stated that this will be important to show for all of the themes in the plan and could be an area that Jo is called upon to help with. It was AGREED to follow this up with Jo, once the working groups felt ready with their information.

4. Review of draft intentions document and working group process

Working Groups:

Most of the working groups seem to be nearly there with completing their information, the Economy group will be meeting next week to finish off, as will Housing. Transport, Climate Change, Community Facilities and Environment are finishing off and will submit shortly. Land Use doesn’t need to complete an ‘intentions’ document as it is a different process and is identifying sites which can be used to meet the needs identified by the other working groups. The aim is to get the intentions document completed ready for the JCC early April.

Phyllida asked that all groups work towards getting their information into the intentions document as soon as possible so that it can be circulated to all SG and WG members to read through, identify any cross-overs or clashes and work to address these by the next Steering Group meeting on 16th March.

Land use – site requirements:

Phyllida suggested that a sub-group of those with land-use requirements meet with Andrew as soon as possible, so that there is clarity over what the Land Use group’s brief is. The parish councils have been asked to respond to the site assessment survey by the 15th march, so Phyllida suggested it could be after then, or before with the knowledge that there may be some sites the parishes wish to protect. The suggestion was for the attendees to include Phyllida/Jim/Glenn for housing, Caroline/Brian/Rosie for economy, Richard Nicholls/Sal for environment, Richard Freer for transport and Andrew for land use. ACTION: Phyllida to convene land requirements meeting.

Transport update:

Richard Freer read out additions he will be adding to the intentions document on behalf of the Transport group, including:

• Traffic safety

• Green space concept – a hierarchy of road users from pedestrian to car with pedestrians having higher priority

• Air pollution concerns

• A local footpath officer

• Public transport – including a community service

• Narrow-gauge railway – there was some debate on this last point regarding previous consultations and whether there is merit in revisiting it.

5. Consultation:

Phyllida outlined the key actions to complete by 16th March (next Steering Group meeting) ACTIONS:

• Working groups to read each other’s draft intentions to check for consistency/cross referencing

• Working groups to identify their land use requirements and raise them with Andrew to take forward

• April/May the JCC will be able to read through the draft intentions document

Alongside this, there should be a plan for consultation ready for the JCC to view in preparation for the consultation to get underway on the draft plan (this is NOT the 6 week community consultation, but is the first time the community will see the work and draft proposals of the working groups). Phyllida suggested a sub group to agree on the consultation format to include: Caroline, Andrew, Phyllida, Richard Freer and Raja to meet within the next two weeks.

Richard Toft asked how would comments/edits be submitted? ACTION: Katy will provide a form similar to that used for the draft Housing Needs Assessment so that comments and edits can be checked and traced, please can WG leads share with their groups.

Land use – site assessments and landowner contact

Andrew expressed frustration that he had not been able to progress with the site assessment work, including talking to landowners, particularly when there is a need for affordable housing in the area. Phyllida referred to the earlier discussion about the working groups providing a brief of their site needs to Andrew within the next couple of weeks. Katy reported that once a brief had been established for the land use group regarding site requirements, there was no issue discussing these needs with landowners, but there must be a clear note of all meetings, discussions and their outcomes. (These notes will form part of the evidence for this element of the Plan and will need to be made public to reflect that a fair and open process has taken place.)

6. Public participation

Bob Driscoll asked if the meeting was quorate (5 out of the 8 SG members present)? [This has been checked and there is no quorum threshold specified in the Terms of Reference].

Bob also mentioned that the drop-in event for the Local Plan review would be taking place at the Leisure Centre in Bridport 10am to 7pm, 2nd March.

Gillian Smith mentioned an interest in the need for affordable housing in the area.

7. Next meeting.

The next Steering Group meeting will be on Thursday 16 March, 6 pm at Mountfield.