TrawdenForest Neighbourhood Plan

Steering Group Meeting 21st September2017

Present: Freda Lester, John M Dransfield, Adele Waddington,Barry Hodgson, Jonathan Dicken (PBC), Colin Munro, Beverley Robinson

Apologies: Paul Reyner, Katie John

  1. Progress Report

John Dransfield (JMD) has written and circulated a document called ‘Key Issues’ and written a foreword. This details what the policies are going to be and how we decided on these policies.

  1. Report on Flood Risk Assessment (FRA)

The report has been received back from the consultants and all the 6 sites have been reported on. 3 sites immediately passed as they are not in Flood Zone 2 or 3. The other 3 sites that are in Flood Zones 2 or 3 have had the Flood Risk Assessment and the Exceptions Test, and have passed. These 3 sites would have to show their mitigation measure should they be developed. The Sustainability Appraisal also scores all 6 sites as sustainable. It was noted that there are some small corrections required on the FRA. Adele to send to Jonathan for his input before it is sent back to the consultants.

  1. Structure of the Neighbourhood Plan

Now that JMD had produced the foreword and key issues, it was decided that ‘How the Plan is laid out’ should be excluded from the final report. JMD has purchased a PDF creator package so that documents produced in PDF format can be altered. Once the policies are ready, Adele will format them and insert photos where required. All documents will then be published as PDF documents.

  1. Vision – Objectives - Policies

The foreword has been sent out to all members of the Steering Group, and there were just a couple of suggestions for alteration. JMD to make the small changes. The original vision statement seems to be duplicating what the polices are – this has been amended. Adele has received an email from Stephen Gorman to advise that he is happy with the Foreword and the Key Issues document. All members present at the meeting also confirmed this. Jonathan feels that everything seems to be in the correct order and seems to flow logically. JD reminded JMD that he needs to quote Pendle’s Core Strategy or the Emerging Local Plan Part 2 throughout the Plan.

A query was raised about the settlement boundary. This can be moved by Pendle Borough Council and is usually looked at every 15 years. Once the sites have been confirmed, JD can then re-draw a proposals map which would include moving the settlement boundary to incorporate any sites currently outside it.

  1. Policy development (Policy number....)
  1. All ok
  2. The map of the land North of Dean Street included Brookside Garage. JD to re-draw (site P276). Maps of both the rejected and selected sites need to be included in the Plan. JD has already supplied these.

JD advised that we must produce a consultation statement following on from the consultation. Adele already has a copy of this.

JD also suggested that it could be included what style of house would be expected on each of the selected sites.

  1. It states in the policy that any windfall sites should have a maximum of 9 dwellings but there could be exceptions to this rule. JD to discuss with Neil Watson and John Halton for the wording of these ‘exceptions’.
  2. JMD asked whether it should be included that new build properties should have the ability to charge electric cars. It was agreed that this should be added in.

There is an existing policy in the plan that protects existing car parks, but any car parks can be included in the Plan. JD advised that we should contact any individual who owns a public car park in the Parish of the intention to protect it from development.

Colin has done a parking survey on Hollin Hall and he is concerned that the proposed addition of a car park in the selected site adjacent to 37 Hollin Hall would not alleviate the parking problems at Slack Booth end of Hollin Hall. It was suggested that, should this new car park be provided, the Parish Council would look at putting yellow lines down to encourage people to park sensibly. The proposed car park would be in the control of the Parish Council, and spaces would be allocated to residents. The gritter is always a priority in winter as, if the gritter cannot grit the road, emergency vehicles may not be able to tend to emergencies further on Hollin Hall.

  1. There is to be no full time Ranger service in Wycoller. Lancashire County Council is putting out a tender in autumn for businesses to encourage more use of Wycoller. Tourism should be encouraged
  2. Photographs and details of some of the heritage assets should be included in this policy
  3. Maps of the significant areas should be added to this policy with some detail of the significance of the area, when it was built etc.
  4. Everyone is reminded to add items to the list that Katie is collating in Dropbox and add to this. Parks, Playgrounds and the Recreation Ground are protected by the Open Space policy.
  5. All designated Open Space is covered under the National Planning Policy Framework and includes areas for outdoor sports and playgrounds. It protects areas for recreational use. Local Green Spaces protect green belt land. If the Poetry Garden, Millennium Garden and the Recreation Ground need to have additional protection, they should be included in this part of the policy.

Jonathan is happy to look through the initial draft when it is ready. This will also be sent out to all members of the group, and feedback will be required.

  1. Any Other Business

Colin Munro has looked through the scorings of all of the sites, and feels that the land adjacent to 37 Hollin Hall needs looking at, especially with reference to surface water flooding. Barry advised that, in order for one site to be scored by one person, they would need to score all the other sites so that it is done as a fair comparison. Colin will come back with any scores that he feels need looking at for the group to decide on the next course of action. All of the sites have been scored, and amended where necessary, by a core group and ratified by Stephen Gorman, Paul Reyner and Therese Edmonds. It was noted that there was no criteria for scoring parking but there is a separate policy regarding parking and the issues and measures that are to be put in place in the Plan.

  1. Next meeting on Wednesday 18th October at 7.30pm at the Community Centre