Minutes of

theNEIGHBOURHOOD PLANTEAMFOR SILVER LEYS AND MEADS WARDS

Held on 30thAPRIL 2013 at 7pm

Cllr Gary Jones (Chairman)** / Mike Allen, Bishop’s Stortford Chamber of Commerce*
Cllr Philip Demonti* / Gary Duncan, Countryside Properties
Ralph Gilbert* / Brian Edwards, Bishop’s Stortford Civic Federation*
Ian Hudson* / Rob Francis, Chantry Community Association*
Murray White* / Deborah Munro, Parsonage Residents Association**
Cllr Colin Woodward* / Bob Rivers, Bovis Homes (Bishop’s Stortford North Consortium)

*Present

** Part time

In attendance: James Parker, Chief Executive, Bishop’s Stortford Town Council

Sue Belo, Bishop’s Stortford Town Council (taking minutes)

Philip Demonti opened the meeting in Gary Jones’ absence due to late arrival caused by traffic.

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Stephen Tapper
Gary Duncan
Bob Rivers
David Barnes

Bob Rivers and David Barnes decided not to attend to enable the team to discuss the letter received from DLA Piper, solicitors acting for BSNC.

2. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 9THapril 2013

The minutes of the last meeting were agreedas amended with an additional comment by Gary Duncan.

3. MATTERS ARISING

Gary Duncan is still to contact Sue Belo with possible dates in late May/early June for their presentation.

4. PLANNING UPDATES

BSNC: James Parker briefed the team on the letter received from DLA Piper, acting for BSNC. It was not clear why this had been circulated to all team members late on a Friday evening by Bob Rivers. The matters were discussed briefly and it was agreed that the Neighbourhood Planning process would continue.

Elsenham: An application for 3000 homes has been made by Fairfield Homes. Saffron Walden was consulted but not Bishop’s Stortford which is far closer (4 miles approx.). It appeared that no traffic modelling had been carried out of the effect of traffic on Bishop’s Stortford. The Town Council and EHC have both objected to the application. James Parker pointed out the importance of considering the impact of development outside the development area.

TrafficSurvey: Brian Edwards said that a traffic survey had been carried out by Herts Highways on the Hadham Road during the previous week. It was noted that the 30mph speed limit was ignored and lorries were having problems passing at the pinch points in the road. Brian had asked the survey team to ensure they covered the hours 15.30 to 16.30 when traffic increased due to the College.

Silver Leys Health Centre: Gary Jones briefed the team on the Health Centre planning application which had gone to appeal but been turned down. The inspector noted that the location involved too much walking and that the reasons for EHC turning down the application were sound. The main issue was sustainability given the lack of public transport in the area. The applicants also had their application for costs turned down.

5. green Spaces

Rob Francis presented the Stage 2 presentation for Green Spaces, pointing out the various changes.

a)references to Sport had been removed so that these could be considered separately but he had retained recreation and added NEAPs and LEAPs.

b)EHC documents were referred to where relevant and documentation referred to was added as a list at the end.

c)The vision had been amended so that the points referred to those in the main Vision Statement.

d)A list of existing assets was included. This was not a comprehensive list however, and Rob requested that team members advise of any additions required, such as the cricket field and tennis courts. It was pointed out that Birchanger Wood was not actually in the wards but it was agreed that these would be included as being in the neighbouring area.

Specific objectives and policies were discussed as follows:

NELO3 Colin Woodward said that this was a good policy as ongoing management had been forgotten in the past. James Parker said that the team needed to consider deliverability and put forward suggestions for how this could be achieved.

NELO5/6 It was agreed to change cycle ways and bridle paths to cycle paths and bridleways.

NELP6 A reference to planning ‘three for one’ trees had been added.

NELP10 This had been included at the request of the Bishop’s Stortford Footpaths Association.

It was requested that any further comments on Green Spaces should be sent to Rob Francis as soon as possible and no later than 14th May.

6. schools

Gary Jones presented the plan for Schools which initially focussed on current policies for Herts provision of schools and the NPPF.

CurrentProvision: The Silver Leys and Meads Wards have a curious mixture of schools in that the only secondary schools in these areas are either Catholic – St Mary’s which draws pupils from a very wide area or private – Bishop’s Stortford College and therefore both fail to address typical needs.

Objectives: It was suggested that the wording of the first objective should be amended to include ‘of all abilities’.

For the second objective, that of a new secondary school, Gary Jones pointed out that there was a choice in where to locate this: either on the current reserve site or relocate this to the ASRs and use the reserve site for housing. There was a debate about this and Rob Francis suggested that opposite the Hadham Road site within the ASRs would be possible and still accessible.

Ralph Gilbert said that the reserve school site in Patmore Road was not big enough for Bishop’s Stortford High School. Brian Edwards pointed out that the Boys High could do a lot more with the land it already has whereas a new school could be built on the ASRs instead of the reserve site.

Colin Woodward commented that the reserve school site was allocated 15 years ago for a new county school but there was a growing assumption that Herts CC will provide a new school for which they do not have funding.

Herts and Essex had met with Bishop’s Stortford Town Council regarding their needs for the future. They had five options which included do nothing, locate to the ASRs (they were due to meet with Gary Duncan of Countryside Properties), or relocate to Beldams Lane.

Deborah Munro said that there was a need for a school that was more vocational and technical that would meet the needs of those of lesser academic ability. There was a University Technical College opening in Harlow next year but there was a need to engage children earlier, i.e. from age 14 in order to stop them developing anti-social behaviour. She pointed out that many children are starting to take GCSEs at 14 and they have to stay in education now until they are 18. Deborah suggested that schools should ‘meet the needs of all students of all abilities from ages 11 to 18’. There is a need for a different type of school for those that do not wish to take ‘A’ levels.

Colin Woodward (who is Chair of Governors at Birchwood) said that Birchwood Skills Centre was closing as their funding had been withdrawn. The school had become more academic over the years and now had 83% achieving five or more GCSEs at grade C or above whereas it had originally been only 28%. More and more children from Birchwood were now going to university. Mike Allen asked whether there were figures showing what percentage of students in Bishop’s Stortford were not achieving these grades.

It was noted that all the schools in Bishop’s Stortford had effectively been upgraded but that there was now a lack of schools catering for lower abilities. The schools in Bishop’s Stortford attracted pupils from surrounding areas, including pupils from Essex and North London. Gary Jones reported that Herts CC were about to start a consultation on schools but Bishop’s Stortford was unlikely to be selected as a location for a facility such as a technical school which has an extended catchment area, because of its location on the border of the county. Colin Woodward said that he was unsure whether Bishop’s Stortford Town Council was on the list of stakeholders but he would check that it was.

James Parker asked if a technical school would require a different physical building. It was confirmed that it would not, but that it would need to be equipped differently. The decision as to how a school was to be used could be made after construction.

Deborah Munro said that there were issues that could affect the cost of schools such as soil types. If the land allocated was unsound, it could result in hugely increased building costs for which an additional budget would not be forthcoming and so would need to come from other pots.

Policies: Rob Francis asked why primary schools had not been included and Gary Jones said that he had not wanted to be influenced by the BSNC application but agreed that primary schools should be added. Deborah Munro said that the main criteria for schools were that a child should be able to walk to their primary school but in the case of secondary schools the main emphasis was that the school should meet the needs of the individual child. Mike Allen said that any school in the area would need formal drop-off points allocated.

Rob Francis said that government policy is that a school building was able to reduce its footprint by 20–30% and save construction costs through standardisation.

Mike Allen pointed out that schools for the whole town needed to be considered when discussing planning for secondary schools in Silver Leys and Meads wards as the town is too small not to.

Gary Jones reminded the team that it needed to reflect whether current schools’ capacity was adequate as things stand then build on that for future growth. Brian Edwards asked whether there was any data from the 2011 census available.

Deborah Munro pointed out that there were only three nursery schools in Bishop’s Stortford, one of which had only recently opened but was fully booked and there were no further places available. The Early Years Foundation Stage was now statutory.

Further comments on Schools are to be sent to Gary Jones as soon as possible and no later than 28th May.

7. CONSULTATION AND ENGAGEMENT

James Parker presented the timetable for the first draft of the plan with the aim of having this in time for the BSTC meeting on 10th September as follows:

‘Stage 2’ presentations complete (chosen topics) / 11 June
Focus Group Consultations tbc / Jun
Professional support / May-Sep
Interviewing candidates / this week & next
Statutory Consultation commences / May
NP Team approves pre-consultation draft / 2 Jul
First public Consultation / 20 Jul
Consolidation of public consultation / Aug
School Holidays / 22 Jul-2 Sep
NP team to approve material amendments or delegate to subcommittee or by email / 26 Aug tbc
Town Council adopt draft plan / 2 Sep
Planning Committee / 10 Sep
NP Process continues / Sep onwards

It was noted that the consolidation of public comments during August could result in a lot of work as if enough people thought that something was wrong then we would need to make changes.

James Parker also presented the initial plan for consultation as follows:

Publicity

  • Website with separate pages for each policy area in Neighbourhood Plan, links to key documents and draft plan, comment and feedback capability now implemented
  • NP publicised in community centres, at library, on notice boards and other public places
  • Leaflet to every household and business

First consultation day at Rhodes on 20 July 2013 9.30-3pm

  • 15 min orientation presentations at 10am, 12noon, 2pm in Cedar Room (What is Neighbourhood Planning?)
  • Posters and workshops on each topic in Bar + Cedar Room
  • One table per topic, 1-2 people from team at each table
  • Linden Room available for breakout
  • Handouts with vision, objectives and draft policies
  • Comment and feedback forms
  • Mark Prisk to be invited

Requirements now for 20th July

  • Commitment to attendance & preparation

Statutory consultees – commence engagement after Stage 2 presentations

  • commenced – traffic draft to statutory consultees and others

In addition

  • Focus Group Consultations tbc in June
  • Further Consultation tbd

James Parker said that Stephen Tapper had suggested holding focus groups on the key areas in order to strengthen the validity of the plan and it was agreed to hold five groups throughout June 2013. These groups would include the obvious interest groups and consultees as well as religious groups.

The consultation and publicity plan was agreed as suggested and James Parker and Sue Belo to make necessary arrangements. A form asking for individuals’ holiday dates and commitment on 20th July was circulated. Ian Hudson said that it would be necessary to estimate the number of hard copies of the draft plan needed for the Consultation Day at Rhodes.

8. DRAFT PLAN

The structure for the draft plan was agreed as follows:

  • Main Introduction, Vision, Key Issues
  • Five main policy sections-
  • Environment and Green Spaces (=Green Spaces + Environment)
  • Housing and Design (=Affordable Housing + Urban design)
  • Getting around (= Transport)
  • Local Economy (= Business)
  • Society, Community and Culture (= Schools + Health + Sport)
  • For each section-
  • Introduction (current situation, list of relevant assets, what’s good, what’s bad)
  • Objectives
  • Policies
  • Reasons behind our policies
  • List of relevant documentation and supporting evidence
  • Photographs and Maps

9. attendance

Gary Jones briefed the team on the decision that the Town Council had taken to recommend to the Neighbourhood Planning team to cease inviting the developers to the Neighbourhood Planning team meetings at the point at which they submitted detailed planning applications.

Gary Jones asked that anyone who had a problem making a commitment to team meetings going forward to say now. Deborah Munro said that she had always had a problem with Tuesday meetings because she had another committee meeting on Tuesday and had stated this at the outset. She thought that the attendance record was incorrect, however, she said that she would nominate someone else from the Parsonage Residents Association to take her place on the team.

10. NEXT MEETING

The date of the next meeting will be 21May 2013 at 7.00pm and will include the Stage 1 presentation on Health by Rob Francis, Brian Edwards, Gary Jones and Mike Allen, and the Stage 2 presentations on Design and Housing for All by Murray White, Ian Hudson, and James Parker.