Lewknor, South Weston and Postcombe Neighbourhood Planning Group
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD AT THE JUBILEE HALL, LEWKNOR ON WED 14TH MARCH 2018, STARTING AT 7.30PM
ATTENDEES APOLOGIES James Winspear (chair) Christine Smith (vice chair) Helen Knight Richard Durston Charles Hopkinson-Woolley Elan Preston-Whyte Peter Gardner Louise Boitoult Thomas Meath Ailsa Blackman Paul Smith Louis Smith Nick Gowens Jon Knight Lesley Peel Duncan Boulton Kayti Foster Peter Freeman Sabine Schreiner
1. Minutes of the last meeting
These were approved.
2. Review of Actions and future meetings / events
The next two steering group meetings are scheduled for 28 March and 18 April (in the Village Hal).
It was noted that there are to be two parish spring clean events on Sunday 22nd April in Lewknor and Sunday 29th April in Postcombe. [Post Meeting Note: the Lewknor Spring Clean has now been moved to Saturday 21st April]
SODC is running three workshops at Milton Park: Community Engagement - 27 March 10.00-3.00 Introduction to Neighbourhood Planning - 20 April 10.00-1.00 Survey Design - 15 May 10.00-3.00 JW has further details on these and if anyone would like to attend, they should contact him. It was recommended that someone should try to attend the Community Engagement workshop.
GDPR (General data protection regulations) come into force in May. JW will draft a communications strategy, working with the Communications Working Group. Action: JW. We need a volunteer to take on the role of data protection officer Action: All to consider.
[Post Meeting Note: We understand that the Parish Council has to have the formal role of a Data Protection Officer, and the NP sits within/under the overall PC governance and Data Protection regulations. However, it would still be good for a single NP person to understand and provide guidance and liaison with the PC DPO]
3. NP – Where are we and what next
It was reported that feedback from Consultation 1 had now been collated and that two Open Forums were being organised, after which it was hoped that we would be in a position to develop the NP emerging policies and objectives which would frame Consultation 2, and then move on to possible site allocations.
There was a discussion on whether we needed to allocate further sites if the parish had already delivered more than its 5% target growth between 2011 and 2033. The Group was told that SODC advice was that we still needed to identify further sites in order for the NP to be acceptable. A list of all approved planning applications since 2011 was reviewed, showing a net increase of 28 (or possibly 29) additional houses since 2011. This equated to an increase of around 10% already. It was noted that SODC have identified around 10 fairly large sites in the parish for potential development under its SHELAA process. It was agreed that we should look at these (they are publicly available on the SODC website) noting that the initial consultation results indicated that we should probably be considering smaller development sites for the parish.
Character Assessment Survey There was a discussion on the Character Assessment work currently being carried out by the Environmental working group. It was noted that this was currently concentrating on the built environment and that work was still needed on the natural environment and its relation to the AONB and the wider landscape setting. The draft report was still at a detailed stage and no attempt had yet been made to produce a higher-level summary. It was recommended that the group look at the Character Assessments for Dorchester and for Warborough and Shillingford. It was noted that the Dorchester report had excluded its conservation area which was being dealt with separately. The Group should aim to complete its work as soon as practicable. Action: Environmental Group.
A decision still needs to be made on whether a Lewknor Conservation Area Management Plan should form part of the NP or whether it should be separate. There was a danger that it could delay the NP, and SODC had recommended treating it separately. However, doing so could risk losing funding for it. Action: JW to set up a meeting with Samantha Allen, Conservation Officer at SODC to discuss. [Post Meeting Note: Samantha Allen, SODC Conservation Officer, confirmed by email, that it’s not possible for the NP to include the Conservation Area Management Appraisal and Plan wholly within the NP process, as it’s a separate process (but if done separately, could be included, but at the risk of slowing down the NP process). Therefore, we’ll leave the Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan to a separate ‘Project’ identified as a possible ‘Project’ in the NP, but not dependent upon it]
4. Initial Consultation results
Although there had been a 60% response rate overall, South Weston stood out as it only had a 33% response rate. Although the number of houses was low, it was noted that further thought would be needed to try to improve the response rate in future surveys.
The Group then went through the Key Messages section of the report and discussed the major issues that had been identified from both the question scoring and the associated comments made by those who responded.
It was noted that motorway noise generated the highest number of comments and it was agreed that it may be appropriate to set up this up as a project separate to the NP process to address this issue, possibly working with the M40 Planning Group. It was though that Little Milton had had some success with this approach. It was noted that a number of the issues raised by respondents fell outside the scope of the NP and that it may be best to set up separate project groups to address some of these as well as making the Parish Council aware of them. These issues could be explored in more detail at the Open Forums.
One of the most contentious issues raised in the consultation was that of public parking and parking problems on the B4009. It was noted that the Parish Council had looked into this problem in 2011 and had undertaken a survey at that time. It was agreed that this would be explored in more detail in the Open Forums and Consultation 2. Action: Include in Forum publicity and posters etc.
5. Vision and Draft Objectives
JW outlined the stages that the Group still needed to go through to produce a Vision, a set of objectives, policy intents leading to policies in line with the categories used by SODC. In order to achieve this, we needed to continue work on consultation, the character assessment survey, establish housing need and identify suitable sites for development in line with the wishes of the interested parties. It was noted that there was still considerable work to be done to address the issue of Sustainability and of site allocations for housing. Action: JK and CHW agreed to lead on site allocation.
6. Finance and Budget
Nothing to report.
7. Feedback from Social & Community Group
This Group had now taken on responsibility for community engagement, and its next task was to organise and publicise the forthcoming Open Forum events on 14 and 22 April in Lewknor Village Hall and England’s Rose. It was noted that many people were unavailable on 22 April due to a clash of events and an urgent decision would need to be taken on whether to reschedule that event. Action: HK to call for volunteers or reschedule.
The Open Forums would be drop-in events with the aim of both providing feedback on Consultation 1 and gathering further views, particularly on some of the issues raised. There would be a suggestion box with a prize raffle and a children’s activity.
A list had been put together of community groups that we would need to contact, and suggestions were made for groups that needed to be added to it, such as Natural England, Highways Agency and neighbouring parishes. There appears to be an overlap with the work of the Infrastructure Group which has already started discussions with some groups. Action: HK and NG to discuss.
8. Communications Group and Economic Group
Nothing to report.
9. Environmental Group
All reported under Character Assessment work done.
10. Infrastructure Group
NG reported that the group had met on 5 March and that he was currently preparing a report on the findings of the group.
NG had met with the Head and Chair of governors of the primary school who said that they would be willing to participate in the NP process. It was suggested that sometime during the summer term, probably early June, would be a good time to try to organise an event. The school was very concerned over parking problems at drop off and pick up times each day. It was also concerned that, with only 77 children on its role, it was potentially at risk. NG would work on an engagement plan with the school and bring it to the next meeting. Action:NG
NG also reported on the significant development plans for the church, including classroom, cooking facilities and possibly a screen club. Eight separate funders had contributed a total of £750k to these community facilities but would be concerned if the proposals were not supported by the NP. The church had made a DVD of the proposed works which could be run as part of the Open Forums if we wished.
11. Next Steps
There was a discussion on whether John Howell should be approached to see if he could offer any support. It was agreed that this was probably not appropriate at this time.
The next meeting would take place on Wednesday 28 March at 7.30 in Lewknor Village Hall and would consider:
Planning the two Open Forum events The next questionnaire Character Assessment survey
JW would send an email to all on his circulation list asking people who were initially involved in the process but who had dropped out over time to consider coming back. Action: JW