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 13 December 2017
Present: Cllr A Brock (Chairman)
Mrs L Hodge
Mr G Searle
Mrs L Searle
Mr D StJohn
In attendance: Mr P J Storey (Clerk to King’s Somborne Parish Council)
Public Session: Mrs S Byram, Ms C Thomson and 2 members of the public were present.
Both general members of the public expressed their concerns at the potential for development of the area of open land behind the Old Iron Foundry (KS3) emphasising the flood risk and loss of amenity value i.e. the view to the rear of their properties should development take place. The Chairman explained the rationale behind the identification of this site, the need for the community to have a number of sites in order to meet the forecast future housing need and that the information amassed by the Steering Group enabling them to identify this site and the others would be published for public consultation once the Site Assessments were finalised and the final Landscape Assessment report from South Down National Park was available. At the same time, concern was raised at the potential loss of and need to protect certain trees that may not already be covered by tree preservation orders and to cut back the vegetation in the Borne downstream of the A3957 by the Environment Agency as in past years. The Clerk would follow up on these two points.
Action: Clerk
1. Chairman’s welcome and announcements
1.1 The Chairman welcomed everyone; there were no announcements.
2. Apologies
2.1 Cllrs Hughes, Lane and Sutton.
3. Previous meeting notes
3.1 Minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 December 2017 were accepted as a true record by those who were present at that meeting.
4. Matters arising
4.1 None.
5. Declarations of Interest
5.1 None declared.
6. Review of site assessments
6.1 Each of the six sites identified was prioritised looking at their suitability, achievability and availability using the template drafted by Mrs Hodge. All noted that more sites than were needed to meet the forecast housing number based on our preferred number of houses on each site to allow for a particular site failing selection for one or more acceptable reasons in the future. It was also agreed that no final order of priority could be determined until a meaningful highways assessment for each site was to hand and TVBC advice sought on our initial deliberations, following which the priorities would be revisited.
6.2 Based on the initial Landscape Assessment feedback, Sites KS1, KS 2 and KS4 cannot be considered suitable for development and that at this time, the Steering Group had determined sites KS3, KS 5 and KS6 had the highest development potential.
6.3 It was agreed that KS 7 needs to be assessed from a priority perspective as the SHELAA is split in to two sites
Action: All
7. NDP drafting update
7.1 Various drafting strands were continuing with a view to having the first complete draft available for the next meeting.
Action: All
8. NDP policies
8.1 Each of the draft policies produced to date was reviewed in detail and various amendments agreed, in particular, H9 ‘no loft extensions’ to prevent the conversion of a 2 bed house to 3 bed or a 3 bed house to 4 bed by the addition of a further bedroom in the loft contrary to the results of the previous public consultation. However, Cllr Brock would take advice from TVBC on this.
Action: Cllr Brock
8.2 Policy F5 would be reworded to encourage safe transition from any new development, i.e. away from roads, to/from schools; F7 services might be better included in the Design Guidance; E5 local areas of green space (LAGS) to be reviewed against TVBC current guidance adding a new policy if any doubt remained. Note was taken that not every LAG owner could be identified from information available; a need existed to differentiate between the headings in this section.
Action: Group leaders
9. Any other business.
9.1 None.
8. Date, time and place of next meeting
8.1 Wednesday 10 January 2018 at 7.00pm in the Epworth Hall.
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 9.00pm