Holt Town Council
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HOLT TOWN COUNCIL Town Council Office, Holt Community Centre, Kerridge Way, HOLT Norfolk, NR25 6DN Tel 01263 712149 E mail: [email protected] www.holttowncouncil.org (Office hours: 9.00 – 12.00 Monday / Wednesday/ Friday) Minutes of the Annual Towns Meeting held on March 27th 2017 7.00 p.m. at Holt Community Centre Attending: The Mayor Cllr D Baker, Cllrs Chapman, Hipperson, Moore, Payne, Prior, Reed, and Smith Elaine Oliver – Town Clerk 28 Members of the Public. The meeting was informed that the proceedings were being recorded. ACTION 1 APOLOGIES Cllrs Batey & Traynier 2 TO RECEIVE DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 3 MAYOR’S WELCOME & REPORT 2016/17 The Mayor welcomed the public and the visiting speakers. Cllr Baker then continued with his report, main points as follows:- This year has seen a lot of projects all coming together A highlight was re-entering the Anglia in Bloom competition. We were successful and won the prestigious silver award along with a coveted environment award, this was an achievement for our first year. Success was down to the community spirit that embraced this with residents and traders alike taking part. The year has flown past and we have seen some collaborative working with other community groups in the town. Examples include the celebrations for the Queens 90th birthday, where we worked together with the Church. The unveiling of the Teucer stone, where we worked together with the Holt Society. The refurbished town sign where we worked with the WI. It is a privilege to support and collaborate with these groups in the town, along with other groups. The TC’s strategy is to make the town centre better and better and we are beginning to see the benefits, with our maintenance team doing a wonderful job It seems that the Cley Road car park is nearly ready to start, after being talked about for a long while. The S106 money is available and we are appointing contractors to build a long term cheaper car park to address the chronic need for parking. We have continued to develop the Holt Owl trail, with the aim of being a trail for all. We have increased the precept sensibly to make us more self sufficient. People need to see us using any increase of funds sensibly and enabling good things for Holt. Thanked Michael Hill, the support of all councillors and the team who give their heart and soul to do a good job. Thanked everyone for coming and look forward to an exciting year. 4 PRESENTATION – HOLT’S NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN SHAUN VINCENT – ABZAG Shan Abzag is the consultant who is helping us progress the Holt NP. Main points of his presentation were as follows:- A NP is all about you and the community HTC Annual Towns Meeting March 2017 DRAFT until agreed at May 2017 Where you come from and what is important to you and why you live in Holt, is essential to the plan. The Plan is about the past, present and the future. You can do what you like with this plan, HTC took a brave step to become a front runner and developer a NP At that point no one knew how to do it. As HTC’s logo says it is “Your say, your plan, your future.” Shaun comes from a consultancy based in Norfolk, who understand the issues locally and has done a number of these plans and knows how to take the community through them. Shaun is a NP champion and with DSLG they promote NPs and help communities. It needs yours participation and support It ends in a vote It reflects the vision, aims and ideas of an entire community Need to hear from everyone First thing that has to be done is to establish the area, which in the case of Holt is the entire parish Once the NP is adopted by NNDC all future planning applications will have to refer to the document to see if they can be passed. It is a legal planning document. Holt is facing issues and issues are constantly emerging such as car parking, housing, affordability and access It could be the plan focuses on homes for local people and/or youth facilities Everything has to be evidenced and justified, if something is not done at the moment, why isn’t it done and why is it wanted. The plan has to be tested and comply with 5 basic conditions, with regard to national policy, it must contribute to sustainable development, it must comply with strategic policies in the local plan and have regard to human rights and EU regulations about wildlife and environment A NP is not about stopping housing being built but about guiding development. NP would be a benefit because it would give Holt a strong voice to developers and state what is wanted and what should be done It could improve house design and bring more funding to the local community A NP would bridge the gap in planning as the LDF is out of date Consultation events are being planned with the first hopefully being in June 2017 The vision and planning policies are being developed. A draft NP will go to the public for consultation and also to strategic bodies. It will be tested by an Inspector and will go to referendum The steering Committee met in December and started to move things forward. Data and responses have been reviewed Asked people to come to events and get involved and help awareness of the NP Questions as follows o Felt that the presentation was yet another load of waffle and Holt needs regenerating. Shaun replied that the NP will go through the TC and then to NNDC The T C does not have power to determine if Holt needs regenerating but the NP could bring in policies that help Holt to regenerate and find homes for the young people. Felt that Holt will never be able to generate enough money, money always goes to Cromer and Sheringham. Shaun felt that a policy in the NP could be to house Holt people in Holt. Affordable housing has different interpretations. This could be built into the plan. o Build houses but then the school isn’t big enough. Cllr Prior replied it is disgraceful that Holt children can’t go to school in Holt but this is being worked on at NNDC and NCC level with thoughts of relocating a school. o A deal for a new Holt school would be built without going out to the communities. o Need day care facilities for the older person with health and social care needs. o There is a lack of affordable leisure facilities for all ages There is money around for specific things, money to do NPs, and to fulfil the projects. NCC runs a fund matching scheme. o How will the NP help developments already starting in the Town. The NP is not for past planning applications and once the NP is passed it becomes legal. HTC Annual Towns Meeting March 2017 DRAFT until agreed at May 2017 o Will we have developments as large as the ones being constructed. Everywhere will see more development as the Govt is helping this to happen It is hoped the NP will be finished this year and go through examination early part of next year. In response to a question Shaun reported he has carried out 2 plans to the end point with 4 in the process of being completed, with one plan holding, at the moment, the highest positive vote for Norfolk. o We are 30M from new car park in Cley road and will we have much say in the screening etc. We would want to work together on this. Cllr Chapman reported that landscaping is required on the new car park. 5 PRESENTATION – NORFOLK ORBITAL RAILWAY A presentation followed on the vision of the Norfolk Orbital Railway, main points as follows:- This vision of having a Norfolk orbital railway has gained support from MP Norman Long. They would like to extend this exciting project from Kelling to Holt. At the moment the NN railway terminates in Cromer Road, if the orbital railway could connect and link up with Mid Norfolk and become the Norfolk Orbital it would be a fantastic tourist industry. NN Railway strongly supports this. Imagine trains coming into the centre of Holt bringing people not cars. They have had comments that car parking is an issue and this dissuades people from coming to Holt. Paul Young explained that this is a big project with a phased approach. He is passionate about railways and the concept There is every chance of securing the land and extending to Fakenham. A lot of work is needed and feasibility studies need to be carried out They need young people to get involved A new website has been developed. This could also be used as a link for commuters. A traffic survey will be needed, however it is viable to take the line from the new roundabout because only 8.5M is needed to fulfil the criteria for a railway to be adjacent to a major road. As it is 9M from the back fence to the pavement there is room. Questions asked as follows:- o How is it funded and are there other railways like this. The charity has purchased some land through donations, but it needs someone to run with it and maybe they need to look at funding a full time project officer. This is a unique situation but there are heritage railways that are trying to get railways back.