Desford Parish Neighbourhood Plan

Desford Vision

2 months ago

DNP Working Group minutes 23rd April 2019
7.00pm Desford Library

In Attendance: Bernard Grimshaw, Colin Crane, David Crocker, Ewan Lindsay, Gary Kirk, Jim Houghton, Judy Sharpe, Martyn Randle, Pat Crane, Scott Wakefield

Apologies: Nic Lockley

1. Welcome:
Martyn welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked for apologies to be listed

2. Minutes of last meeting / matters arising:
The minutes were discussed, approved as a true record and signed by Martyn.
Martyn asked if a master list of assessments had been sent to Fran. Colin said they had.
Martyn asked if Pat had written to Fran re a start date for the consultation. Colin replied that he had seen Fran and that the consultation process was taking place currently. It had begun on the 12.4.19 and would close on the 23.5.19.
Martyn asked if Pat had acknowledged the withdrawal of the Botcheston C site. Pat said that she had emailed the owner.
Martyn asked if Bernard had publicised the consultation process. Bernard replied that this had been put on the PC and Desford Vision websites, the parish noticeboards, facebook and that there was a small exhibition in the library. No comments had been received so far.

3. Declaration of Interest:
Bernard declared an interest as his property was on the Local Heritage List.

4. Chairman’s Report
Martyn thanked Bernard for his work on the timeline for 2019/2020. Bernard stated that this had been done by Rob Foers at HBBC.
Service Level Agreement. Discussion took place about the Service Level Agreement and it was agreed that this should be signed by Colin as Chair of Desford Parish Council. Proposer- Bernard, seconder –Scott. The motion was carried unanimously and Colin signed the agreement.
Colin noted that there was now a better relationship between DPC and HBBC. Gary agreed and mentioned that he would be speaking at a conference on the 6.6.19 about obstacles to delivering NPs, and stated that this could include local authorities.
Martyn noted that he and Colin would be attending the Leicestershire Neighbourhood Planning Network Event on the 21.5.19.

5. Treasurer’s Report
Bernard stated that he had emailed a spreadsheet of the finances for the year 2018/2019 to the secretary and that this would be emailed to the group with the minutes. Currently there is a balance of £2245 in the account after paying YL Invoice 9 and CFS for work on the website.However Invoice 10 is due from Your Locale. Once this money is used it will be necessary to approach the PC for funding. Colin confirmed that there was money set aside for the DNP.
Bernard stated that the Site Assessment end of project report had been submitted to Locality and accepted.
Bernard asked whether the DNPWG wished him to continue in his role as Acting Treasurer. This was agreed and Bernard said that he was willing to continue.

6. Communication Officer’s Report
Bernard reported the following
SEA- Ian McClusky has access to the Dropbox contents and has been supplied with other documents. Ian and his colleagues are currently working on this.
Other items in his report were discussed elsewhere, or regarded as sensitive information.

7. Update on SSAs and discussion of reserve sites
Colin reported that he and Bernard had met with Fran Belcher and Rob Foers at HBBC on the 5.4.19. HBBC are keen on NPs including reserve sites and agreed that qualifications could be placed on these.
There was a comprehensive discussion about whether a reserve site should be allocated in the DNP.
Gary stated that Desford Parish had met their housing target number of 163. 73 houses had been built and 13 (adjoining Kirby Muxloe) had received planning approval. The residual target of 77 was more than covered by the Barns Way site and possible windfall sites. He said he would amend the section in the DNP to highlight this. However no recent figures had been received from HBBC. Colin commented that Helen Nightingale HBBC had agreed to send these by the end of February.Action- Pat, in her capacity as Chair of the PC Planning Committee, to write to Helen asking for these figures.
Colin stated that both Barns Way and Cerda (Peckleton Lane) sites had applied to HBBC for outline planning permission. However due to the local elections nothing will be decided until June at the earliest.
Gary suggested that as the housing target had already been met there was no need to list a reserve site in the DNP. However if circumstances change, such as greater housing need, the DNP would look at this again.
This was agreed.

8. Appendix D3: Land owned by SiD
Colin pointed out an error in this agenda topic title. The land is owned by the PC but leased to SiD. He had given the DNPWG secretary a plan showing the location of this land and had brought the deeds with him.
Jim explained that the land where SID is had been bought by the PC from Caterpillar in 1988. As this was not quite large enough for a football pitch and a bowls green an extra parcel of land was bought from the Neep family in 1989. The PC leased the land to SiD and subsequently released it on the 26.1.2009 and also registered it with the Land Registry. Further a QE Fields in Trust Deed No.: 377QE was signed by 3 parties: Fields in Trust, DPC as land owner and SiD as tenant on 6th March 2012.
Confusion had arisen as the land upon which the bowls green sits had been included in Appendix D3 of the NP which outlines the SSAs as part of ‘New Desford’.
It was queried whether it was necessary to write to the owner of this site explaining that this land is not part of the SSA. Colin responded that as the land had been leased to SiD for 99 years and was owed by the PC, clarification in the minutes was enough reassurance.

9. SEA
This had been covered in item 6

10. Update on Regulation 14 comments , responses and consultation
Environment -Pat reported that the environment sub group had met several times to respond to some specific comments made in the original Regulation 14 consultation by a land owner. They had updated some fields in the environmental inventory in response to this and also proposed some amendments for map, Figure 7, on p33 in the main NP document. These updates were circulated and discussed. It was agreed by the group to accept these changes.
Gary pointed out that it was important not to have a specific dialogue with the land owner and that the examiner will see the comments and responses. He agreed to explain this in the response to the comments made by the land owner.
He also clarified that John Martin had sent an email to the environment group answering the query as to why part of Lindridge Lane was highlighted on figure7. John had explained that The biodiversity site on Lindridge Lane is Local Wildlife Site 11010 as designated by Leics. CC during the Phase 1 Habitat Survey of the parish - species-rich hedgerows on either side.
It was agreed that this should be left on figure 7.
Pat asked Gary if the list of things to do after the February meeting had been completed.
Map -Colin stated that HBBC had requested a clearer initial map showing the designated area of the NP at the start of the NP document and queried whether this should be a whole page. This was discussed
Gary replied saying that this was a map provided by HBBC. Action- Colin to ask HBBC to provide a clearer map.
Rosconn comments-These stated that they would welcome further discussion about the amount of accessible housing, as this was greater than that required by HBBC. Gary explained that this was an aspiration, not mandatory but agreed to change this as listed in policy documents H2and H4. In H4 this is already qualified by the statement ‘where possible’.
Gary stated that he thought he had responded to all HBBC’s comments. However he will recheck and complete the changes as quickly as he can.
David asked whether Gary had responded to all the other main developers. Gary responded that he had.
Gary also added that sites cannot be seen in isolation and it was necessary to wait until the SEA was completed.
Gary commented that he should also refer to HBBC‘s Good Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document as this has now been published for public consultation.

11. Reports from Focus Groups: housing, environment ,FATE
It was agreed that any comments had been discussed earlier.

12. HBBC Good Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document –Public Consultation
An email with a letter attached and a link to this document had been circulated by Judy on the 19.4.19.
Pat commented that the Guide was 134 pages long and that 3 pages referred to specifically to the DNP -p75 Botcheston, p83 and p84 Desford. She had noticed an omission on p83 at the end of the first paragraph which should include modern housing estates to the east, south and west of the village. Action-Pat to respond to the consultation as chair of Planning Committee of the PC noting this amendment.
Gary stated that the guidance was broadly welcome and will be supported by the NP.

13. Web page/ Twitter / Spotted Desford
Jim stated that he had not checked recently, but it had been typically 2 hits a day. He had put the recent consultation on the website with the help of Craig.

14. AOB
Gary told the DNPWG that Hallaton PC had resigned over their NP. The Hallaton NPWG had been very enthusiastic, but when they asked the Hallaton PC to submit it for Regulation 14 consultation they refused. Harborough District Council had then asked Hallaton PC to support this, but the PC had refused to do so and resigned. This had made it very difficult for the parishioners.
Gary also commented that Locality had not opened their funding yet this year, which may be due to Brexit uncertainty. It usually opens in March but this year funding may not be open until the beginning of June. This will cause major problems for NPs and Your Locale due to the lack of availability of funding. Especially as Awards for All are no longer funding NPs.
David stated that there had been approaches from developers wanting meetings, to the housing group and Derek.
These had been refused.
It was asked if there was anything else to do before the SEA is completed. Colin responded that there were no major issues but suggested that Bernard email Ian McClusky next week to ask if any further help was needed. Action- Bernard

15. Date of next meeting:
Gary said that there was little point in setting a date for the next meeting of the DNPWG until the SEA is completed. Action- Bernard to email Martyn and Judy when this is done, so that a date can be decided. This was agreed.

Meeting closed 8.30 pm.

I confirm this is a true record of the meeting:

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