KING’S SOMBORNE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of a Meeting of the Neighbourhood Development Plan Steering Group
held in the Epworth Hall at 7.00pm on Wednesday 17 May 2017
Present: Cllr A Brock (Chairman)
Ms C Thomson
Cllr R Lane
Mr G Searle
Mr D StJohn
Cllr R Sutton
In attendance: Mr P J Storey (Clerk to King’s Somborne Parish Council)
Public Session: Mrs S Byram was also present.
1. Chairman’s welcome and announcements
1.1 The Chairman welcomed those present and expressed his sadness and thanks to Mrs F Dunger who had resigned for personal reasons and Mr P Nickless who had resigned for work reasons. Their contributions to date had been much appreciated. Ms Thomson would assume the leadership of the Environment and Landscape Group pro tem.
2. Apologies
2.1 Cllr K Hughes.
3. Previous meeting notes
3.1 Minutes of the previous meeting held on 3 May 2017 were noted.
4. Matters arising
4.1 It was agreed that henceforth 718 would be the number quoted for dwellings in the Parish instead of 711 as agreed previously; this being a more accurate figure.
4.2 Cllr Brock and Mr Searle had discussed with TVBC the apparent double counting of applicants for social housing where they could be included on more than one list and accepted we were forced to accept this anomaly.
4.3 Ms Thomson had completed further work on flood risk areas in the Parish as part of her input into her Group’s draft.
5. Declarations of Interest
5.1 None declared.
6. Housing Needs survey review
6.1 Mr Searle’s draft Housing Needs survey review was discussed in detail. The review showed clearly that residents did not want change and that employment was not a necessity. It was thought realistic for future expansion of housing numbers to be in line with national trends which according to the Office for National Statistics would equate to a 0.62% increase annually for the next 13 years. Nationally, this broke down into a 0.78% annual increase in urban areas and 0.28% in rural areas. The Parish however is unaffected by immigration, a major source of population growth in rural areas, as there is no significant local employment and indeed the Test Valley Ward Data for King’s Somborne and Michelmersh shows a population reduction whilst the average annual overall growth rate predicted till 2030 is less than the recorded rate for the 2011 – 2014 period. On balance, it seemed reasonable therefore to use 0.25% as an average annual growth rate for King’s Somborne; this was agreed. In terms of actual numbers, this indicated 46 new dwellings over the next 25 years of which 12 should be affordable. With minor amendment, and the addition of references, the draft would now be submitted to TVBC for comment.
Action: Cllr Brock & Mr Searle
6.2 The Building Design/Need group would now translate the Housing Needs survey conclusions into their draft and were meeting next week to start work on this.
Action: Mr StJohn
7. Brown fields sites review
7.1 The Building Design/Needs group would now review the potential allocation of dwellings to identified brown field sites using data contained in the draft Housing Needs survey.
Action: Mr StJohn
8. Progress NDP drafting
8.1 All found it encouraging to note that we were at last approaching a stage where individual inputs could now be collated when some initial editing of style was possible. Determination of linked policies to the texts was necessary and group leaders were asked to complete this work in the near future and ideally before the next meeting. This would then enable the SG to present a meaningful presentation to the community in the not too distant future, possibly a Saturday in July, to illustrate public consultation and involvement. It was agreed that one presentation only should be sufficient with information on display around the room to be read before the actual consultation started and leaflets distributed via the July Gauntlet to advise the date which would be determined at the next SG meeting.
Action: All
9. Any other business.
9.1 None
10. Date, time and place of next meeting – Wednesday 7 June 2017 at 7.00pm in the Epworth Hall, Winchester Road, King’s Somborne
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 8.25pm