Neighbourhood Planning Network Meeting Thursday 24th November 2016 Council Chamber, Broadland District Council Notes from Meeting Present: Sue Lake (SL) Aylsham Peter Hunnam (PH) Horsford Kathryn Clarke (KC) Horsford Adrian Scott (AS) Horsford Paul Roy (PR) Horstead with Stanninghall Philippa Weightman (PW) Horstead with Stanninghall Susan Holland (SH) Spixworth Sue Lawn (SLa) Thorpe St Andrew Malcolm Martins (MM) Thorpe St Andrew Richard Squires (RS) Broadland District Council Vicky West (VW) Broadland District Council John Walchester (JW) Broadland District Council Apologies Nick Taylor (NT) Salhouse 1. Welcome and Introductions JW welcomed everyone to the meeting, followed by a round table introduction. Please note items 2 & 3 were addressed in reverse order. 2. Neighbourhood Plans – local and national update RS gave an update on local and national news for Neighbourhood Planning. Nationally DCLG have released the latest Notes on Neighbourhood Planning newsletter which will be available on our blog. The NP Bill is going through parliament now and is likely to be in place mid to end 2017. It aims to; Make it a requirement to have regard to plans once the decision has been made to take to referendum, on all planning applications. Simplify the process of changing/modifying plans after they have been made. This used to mean repeating the process of consultation/submission/examination but now this will be streamlined. More requirement for LA’s to show how they provide advice and guidance, (although we would hope that we already this). DCLG had a campaign over the summer through radio ads and posters and have produced some stats on how this was received, with the overall view being that it was a successful campaign. 1 RS reiterated the funding available from Locality who offer up to £9000 and also offer direct support for some pieces of work. Broadland also offer a top-up grant of up to £6000 after Locality funding has been secured. Nationally 2000 communities are actively engaged in producing NPs, with 238 successful referendums held with an average yes vote of 88% and a 33% turnout. Locally 3 plans have been made since our last meeting, Blofield, Drayton and Old Catton achieving between 89-93% yes votes. The turnouts were lower than the national average and there was some discussion surrounding how to mobilise the population, particularly within urban areas. We are still receiving interest from new groups and communities that want to get involved in creating an NP which is encouraging for Broadland. PH raised the issue of a plan that recently failed at referendum (Swanwick in Derbyshire), because the steering group actively campaigned for a no vote following changes made by the examiner and LA that the group did not agree with. RS explained the process for examiners reports and, whilst they are not binding, the decision on making changes and whether to progress the plan lies with the District Council. If we go against the examiner’s decision this does add another layer to the process and consultation will be required on this. We would consult with the Parish Council in making a decision. PH asked whether an NP can guide development. JW stated that you can be positive in the plan but cannot be negative or try to prevent development. Any guidance put into the NP has to be justifiable and reflective of what the community wants. There then followed a discussion around 5 year land supply. Within the Norwich Policy Area we currently do not have 5 year land supply and for this reason some planning applications with this area are being approved. 3. Update on the Broadland Local Plan JW updated the group that all three plans that constitute the Broadland Local Plan (GTAAP, DMDPD, SADPD) are now adopted. Adopted NP documents sit alongside these. The current Local Plan runs to 2026. The next Local Plan will run to 2036 and will take approximately 4 years to complete. Work on this has already started and a ‘call for sites’ has just been completed where people can propose areas of land to be considered for future development. An exercise will then be completed to see what sites are to be put forward as the preferred options to go out to public consultation in October 2017. NPs can address allocations if they wanted to propose a preferred site meaning that the LA may not need to look for further sites in that area. However, at present we do not know how much development is needed in each settlement and if the NP were to not allocate enough housing, the LA may need to provide more. Comments from the public on proposed development sites that come from NP consultation exercises could, however, help to evidence proposals going forward with the Local Plan. There followed a discussion on viability and whether this was still a consideration in determining planning applications as it was understood that a recent comment at planning committee may have contradicted this. JW stated that he believed it was but would check what the comment was*. 2 PR asked how to find out housing numbers for locations. JW stated there is a strategic housing assessment, but this figure is large as it is for all three districts and not at parish level yet, this will be part of the next stage of preferred options. MM asked if there is any info available on road flows. JW stated that there will be NCC Highways input in the team working on the Local Plan, but any current figures would have to be sought from the County Council. PR asked what housing level is needed to obtain services such as a school. JW stated that the JCS did give an indication on this and the figures were approximately 1000 homes needed to justify a new primary school. There was then a discussion on who makes the decision on location of new school. Ultimately it is the service provider as they could expand an existing site or build a new one. This also has a further complication in that the increase in free schools means this is sometimes taken out of the hands of the Education Authority. 4. Round-table: progress/issues/questions Aylsham SL gave an update stating that the plan has taken a long time and stalled following a change in personnel and direction. It has now started up again with a vision and objectives and will be relaunched a week on Saturday, looking at submission next summer. They are using consultants for the plan. A concern for them at present is the three big sites put forward in the call for sites and the possibility of a ‘no’ vote in the referendum. Horsford PH said the group has been formed for approximately twelve months and have now employed Rachel Leggett as a consultant. There is an action plan in place and looking towards an end date of January 2018. KC stated that there has been some discussion around combining social events in the Christmas period to publicise the plan. There followed a discussion with SL about production and distribution of newsletters and also the use of social media to engage with the public. There is also a group forming in Horsford which is lobbying against current development in the parish. Following discussions between the two bodies, the Neighbourhood Plan group has realised that it needs to be clear on the purpose of an NP and needs to keep a clear identity and goal. Horstead with Stanninghall PW stated that they have just passed the deadline for the return of a questionnaire from which there has been reasonable feedback. The responses are going to be professionally analysed. They are now in the process of speaking with local landowners to see what options are available. Currently looking towards a referendum at start of 2018. RS asked if there is a general feeling regarding the questionnaire results. PW said it was too early to tell as not been through them all, but traffic issues have been raised as a concern. RS asked about the Broads Authority and PW stated that they have an appointment to speak with them soon. SL asked if any groups are working together, particularly if the group had considered working together with Coltishall. PW said that the two parishes had decided not to 3 pursue joint working. RS stated that there are not currently any joint groups in our district although there have been discussions in the past about this as a possibility. Thorpe St Andrew SLa/MM stated that they decided 5/6 weeks ago to commit to the plan and, whilst a group has not formally met yet, they feel that they have good avenues to connect with the public to get interest and promote the plan alongside other community events. Not currently thinking of employing external help to conduct the plan. Spixworth SH stated the decision is still to be made on committing to a plan. This has been going on for quite some time now but again a change in personnel caused delays, so here to gain more information. There is a meeting set with RS for the New Year. RS stated that Salhouse have just submitted their plan to us and we will be conducting the statutory six week consultation in the New Year following approval from ourselves and Broads Authority. Hellesdon have also just started their pre submission consultation. PR asked how to filter responses between those who want to preserve and those who want to be proactive. RS stated that the initial answers you receive form the ideas that you then put back to the community for further feedback to refine the key objectives.