NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY HELD ON THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2009 AT 09.30 HOURS IN THE EXHIBITION ROOM, VILLAGE HALL, BROCKENHURST

Present: Members Clive Chatters (Chairman) Barry Rickman (Deputy Chairman)

Peter Frost Vicky Myers Tony Gentle John Pemberton David Harrison Leo Randall Roger Heape Alan Rice Jeremy Heron John Sanger Maureen Holding Stan Wade Julian Johnson Alan Weeks Clive Maton Pat Wyeth Bob Morris

Officers Barrie Foley Interim Chief Executive Barbara Beardwell Monitoring Officer Julia Mutlow Senior Solicitor and Deputy Monitoring Officer Steve Avery Director of Strategy and Planning Martin O’Neill Director of Information and Visitor Services Nick Evans Park Plan and Community Planning Officer Hilary Makin Head of Communications Hélène Rossiter Head of Performance and Administration David Stone Head of Member Services Sue Castleton HR and Training Manager Cathie Turner-Jones HR and Training Manager David Illsley Interim Policy and Plans Team Leader Sarah Applegate Senior Planner Helen Bonds PA to Interim Chief Executive Naomi Stone PA to Director of Strategy and Planning Rosalind Alderman Member Services Officer Jo Murphy Member Services Administrator

PART I – OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND PRESS

46. Apologies for absence.

46.1 Apologies for absence were received from Edward Heron and Ted Johnson.

47. Declarations of interest.

47.1 On advice from the Monitoring Officer, local authority appointed Members accepted and declared a personal but not prejudicial interest in agenda items which related to their role as County, District or Parish Members.

47.2 In particular, the Monitoring Officer advised that members of Council and County Council would have a personal but not prejudicial interest in minute items 52 (Final draft of the New Forest National Park Management Plan), 53 (Revised New Forest National Park Core Strategy and Development Management Policies DPD) and 54 (New Forest National Park New Forest National Park Authority Meeting Minutes of meeting on 10 December 2009

Authority Local Development Framework – Local Development Scheme – Second Revision). She also advised that members of the New Forest Association were likely to have a personal but not prejudicial interest in minute item 52; members declared their interests accordingly.

48. Chairman’s announcements.

48.1 The Chairman informed Members that there would be two agenda items in Part II of the meeting.

49. Minutes of meeting on 29 October 2009.

49.1 The minutes of the meeting on 29 October 2009 were agreed as a true record, subject to the correction of a typographical error in the spelling of ‘Wiltshire’.

NB: This error was subsequently found to be in the Chief Executive’s Report rather than the minutes of the last meeting, and accordingly it was not necessary to correct the minutes.

50. Public Question Time.

50.1 Peter Hebard, a resident of Brockenhurst, explained that he felt that the unique character of Brockenhurst ought to be preserved, and that the village had suffered excessive infill already. He asked that the concept of the four ‘Defined Villages’ be removed from the draft Core Strategy, and that the same planning policies ought to be applied to these villages as to the rest of the National Park, with an exception for development where it could be shown that the current surrounding frontage density, both horizontal and vertical, would not be exceeded, and also possibly for 100% affordable dwellings.

50.2 David Dickenson, a resident of the National Park, then congratulated Officers and Members on their response to the consultation on the draft documents. He felt that the revised Management Plan was now ‘fit for purpose’ and that there was also much to be commended in the draft Core Strategy. He emphasised that stakeholder involvement must be a key part of the continuing process, and that the Recreation Management Strategy must contain firm, sustainable proposals for a structured forum that embraced all aspects of conservation and recreation, with key groups meeting on a regular basis; he also suggested that members of the public should have the ability to drop in and out of a general discussion and information forum, and that both of these fora should be overseen by a common independent secretariat.

50.3 Thorold Masefield, the Chairman of Brockenhurst Parish Council, explained that he and others remained opposed to the concept of Defined Villages contained in the draft Core Strategy. He felt that this concept had already been tried and had failed, and he felt that any further infill in Brockenhurst would be inappropriate. He was also of the opinion that the same planning policies ought to be applied to the Defined Villages as to the rest of the National Park, which would allow the NPA not to be prescriptive but to respond to and promote natural socio-economic growth throughout the National Park as a whole. He called upon the NPA’s Members and Officers to be permissive, in tune and responsive to the ‘living organism’ of the National Park.

2 New Forest National Park Authority Meeting Minutes of meeting on 10 December 2009

50.4 Gordon Taylor, the Chairman of Brockenhurst Parish Council’s planning committee, then raised some concerns regarding the draft Core Strategy. He gave the example of the existing NFDC saved policies for areas of special character and the protection of landscape features (DW-E11 and DW-E12), which he felt helped to preserve the rural and spacious character of Brockenhurst, characterised by single dwellings in large mature plots. The equivalent principle would be included in the general aspirational statement at pages 43 and 44 of the draft Core Strategy to keep housing density below 30 dwellings per hectare, which he felt would be inadequate to prevent overdevelopment. He felt the draft document needed to be more comprehensive than a series of principles, and also objected to the concept of Defined Villages.

50.5 Peter Roberts, of the New Forest Association, thanked officers for agreeing some of the points the Association had raised on the draft Management Plan and Core Strategy, but said that the Association was disappointed with the NPA’s overall direction. The Association felt that the National Park was now at risk of another period of inappropriate development, and that the new draft documents, unlike the first version of the combined Plan, were at risk of taking the policy framework backwards in terms of managing the various pressures on a fragile area, and that the documents in their current form represented a lost opportunity for conservation.

51. Chief Executive’s Report

51.1 Barrie Foley introduced the report (NFNPA 325/09) and highlighted some key points for members, including the expansion of the NPA’s Local Information Points referred to at page 7 of the report, and the Higher Level Stewardship scheme proposals referred to at page 3, which would be discussed at the next meeting of the NPA.

51.2 It was suggested that the NPA approach Totton and Eling Town Council with regard to the possibility of sharing NFDC’s information outlet at the Town Council’s offices.

Resolved: 1. That the Chief Executive’s Report be noted; and 2. That the possibility of the joint use of Totton and Eling Town Council’s information point be investigated by the Interpretation Officer. Voting: Unanimous 52. Final draft of the New Forest National Park Management Plan.

52.1 Steve Avery introduced the report (NFNPA 326/09), explaining that Members were asked to approve the revised draft of the Management Plan, subject to any comments made by Hampshire County Council following its Cabinet meeting at the end of December. He took Members through the substantive amendments that had been made to the draft document (marked in red in the report).

52.2 Members congratulated Officers on the draft and thanked them for all their efforts. They noted that in seeking to protect the New Forest it was important to achieve a balance between the various competing pressures and the need to conserve the area. Members asked that any significant comments received from Hampshire County Council that were not reflected in the existing draft be circulated to all Members. 3 New Forest National Park Authority Meeting Minutes of meeting on 10 December 2009

Resolved: 1. That the final draft of the National Park Management Plan be approved, subject to officers’ assessment of any further comments from Hampshire County Council, and that the design of the document be pursued for publication early in 2010; and

2. That any significant comments received from Hampshire County Council that are not reflected in the existing draft be circulated to all Members prior to finalisation and publication of the Plan. Voting: Unanimous 53. Revised New Forest National Park Core Strategy and Development Management Policies DPD. 53.1 Steve Avery introduced the report (NFNPA 327/09), explaining that the Core Strategy was a key part of the NPA’s Local Development Framework and set out the planning framework for the Park for the NPA’s own use as the local planning authority for the area. 53.2 In response to comments made by public speakers, Mr Avery explained that the settlement hierarchy now expressed in the concept of the Defined Villages had been in existence for some years; a settlement hierarchy was required to be delineated within each local planning area by national policy guidance. Additionally, if the concept of Defined Villages was deleted from the draft this would indicate an implicit acceptance of the possibility of development throughout the Park, which would result in a high volume of speculative planning applications. Areas of special character were no longer included because the draft Core Strategy sought to preserve the local distinctiveness of the entire National Park. While he noted the concerns raised by Brockenhurst Parish Council, he did not feel that these concerns were necessarily shared by other parish and town councils. The Core Strategy envisaged only a very small scale development within the National Park; the regional housing target would comprise eleven dwellings annually across the Park, to include affordable housing. 53.3 He drew members’ attention to the tabled addendum, following late input received from the Government Office for the South East. Members were then asked to approve the draft document for a further six week consultation period. 53.4 One member said that he felt the draft document was more permissive than the existing framework, and while he commended it as a local authority document, he was of the opinion that it did not go far enough for a National Park Authority. Members asked officers to circulate the draft, incorporating members’ comments made at the meeting as necessary and any further amendments highlighted for members’ attention, before the public consultation; and also to consider extending the consultation period beyond the statutory minimum of six weeks.

Resolved:

1. That the revised Core Strategy document (Annex 1 to report NFNPA 327/09) be approved for public consultation as the intended Submission document;

2. That the Director of Strategy and Planning be authorised to make any necessary minor editorial changes to the document in preparing it for publication and that officers provide to Members the draft document, incorporating members’ comments and any editorial changes, before the public consultation. Voting: None voting against

4 New Forest National Park Authority Meeting Minutes of meeting on 10 December 2009

54. New Forest National Park Authority Local Development Framework – Local Development Scheme – Second Revision. 54.1 Sarah Applegate introduced the report (NFNPA 328/09) which set out a number of changes to the Local Development Scheme adopted in 2007, which were consequent upon updated government guidance, the NPA’s adoption of the Statement of Community Involvement and the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Core Strategy, and the decision to prepare a separate Core Strategy document.

Resolved: That the revised Local Development Scheme (Annex 1 to NFNPA 328/09) be approved with effect from 11 December 2009. Voting: Unanimous 55. Oral report from Resources and Performance Committee meeting on 5 November 2009.

55.1 Roger Heape, the Committee’s Chairman, updated Members on matters considered at the meeting of the Resources and Performance Committee on 5 November 2009 and in particular mentioned the report on the work of the Income Generation Group, which had now come to an end. Members had also reviewed the NPA’s financial performance and treasury management over the year and had considered the NPA’s longer term financial strategy, which would be considered at the NPA meeting in January. Members then noted the report. PART II – ITEMS THAT MAY BE TAKEN IN THE ABSENCE OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC ON THE GROUNDS THAT EXEMPTED INFORMATION MAY BE DISCLOSED Resolved: That the public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business, as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, namely the need to avoid compromising the position of the Authority in negotiations to secure suitable long term headquarters accommodation on the most cost-effective terms obtainable, and the need to avoid disclosure of applicants’ personal data and to avoid compromising the position of the Authority in making its decision on the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer. Voting: None voting against The public and press were accordingly requested to leave the meeting.

56. Accommodation update (oral).

56.1 Members received advice from the Monitoring Officer on the NPA’s decision on long term accommodation (this is a summary of a minute that contains exempt information).

57. Appointment of Chief Executive (oral).

57.1 Members discussed the recruitment of a new Chief Executive (this is a summary of a minute that contains exempt information).

The meeting closed at 12:50 hours.

Signed:……..……………………….…………………………………Date:…………….……... (Chairman) 5