Minutes of TheNEIGHBOURHOOD PLANTEAMFOR ALL SAINTS, CENTRAL, SOUTH and part of THORLEY
Held on 17thFebruary2015at 7pm
John Barfoot / Diane Basavaraj
Alyson Bailey, Thorley Manor Residents Association* / Justine Duggan*
Gary Duncan, Countryside Properties / Rob Francis, Bishop’s Stortford Civic Federation*
Cllr Robin Lumsden, Thorley Parish Council* / Deborah Munro, Parsonage Residents Association*
Colin Nicholls* / Matthew Serginson, Solum Regeneration
Cathy Tooze, BS Secondary School Consortium / Murray White*
Cllr Mike Wood
*Present
In attendance: Sue Belo, Bishop’s Stortford Town Council (taking minutes)
- APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Mike Allen, John Barfoot, Diane Basavaraj, James Parker, Matthew Serginson, and Cathy Tooze.
- MINUTES OF THE last MEETING
Minutes of the last meeting of 27th January 2015 were agreed.
- chairman’s announcements
Keith Warnell said that he had written to Gary Duncan at Countryside Properties asking him to confirm that he wished to continue as a member of the Neighbourhood Plan team given his lack of attendance, but that he had not yet heard from him. If he fails to reply by Wednesday 18th February then he will removed from the circulation list.
The presentation on the Goods Yard will be held on 4th March from 12 to 4pm in the Council Chamber, Windhill. All members of the NP2 team are invited to attend and lunch will be provided.
Peter Luder of Weston Homes has been in contact and would be interested in meeting the NP2 team. He was originally invited to join the team as a core team member but was unable to commit to the time involvement.
The glebe lands near Thorley Church have been cleared but do not form part of the EH District Plan. The land can only be developed if it is taken out of Green Belt.
Keith Warnell said that he was concerned that because the question on the schools move was taken out of the questionnaire we now had no evidence of what the public thinks about the subject. Although people had previously been against the schools move, this was when the plan was for H&EHS and TBSHS to relocate. This was no longer the case as H&EHS has decided that Warwick Road should remain its central hub.
Rob Francis said that he thought a two-phase question was needed as most people want Bishop’s Stortford South to stay as Green Belt. However, if the area is developed, would people then prefer to have a secondary school there as well? e.g. “If the development on Bishop’s Stortford South goes ahead, would you want to see a secondary school on the site?”
Robbie Lumsden said that he thought it would be worthwhile sending a press release to the paper asking the question. However, there has been no response to the question about the schools move posed by the H&E Observer on their website.
It would be possible to arrange a Survey Monkey online survey and link – this could be sent out in a newsletter to the email list of questionnaire responders as well as linking from other sites, Facebook pages, Twitter etc. An email might also be sent to members of the Parent Teacher Associations via TBSHS.
Justine suggested that the team should email Mark Prisk to ask him to include a link to the survey. It was suggested that the survey should include a free text box as well as having specific multiple choice options.
The situation is complicated, however, due to the issue of building 220 houses on the current schools site and the impact it is likely to have.
It was suggested that the team should ask TBSHS for a copy of its business case for the move and Keith Warnell agreed to contact the Chair of Governors.
- matters arising
The Neighbourhood Plan team cannot talk to Uttlesford about the fourth quadrant as it is outside the remit of the NP team.
Rob Francis has contacted Deborah Kearns who will attend the Health Focus Group on 3rd March.
- stage 2 presentation for green infrastructure
Rob Francis presented the draft policies for Green Infrastructure (see slides and accompanying document). This has some more additions to come as some policies, e.g. on the river are in the process of being drafted. The Green Infrastructure team has met twice and held a Focus Group and has another meeting scheduled for the end of March.
Jim Hook and David Glass have created a number of extremely useful maps and Peter Douglas has taken a lot of photographs and created visuals of green spaces in the neighbourhood area. One the maps is slightly inaccurate in that it follows East Herts boundaries instead of Bishop’s Stortford, however, it is still valid as connections are important to areas outside the neighbourhood area such as the town centre and outlying rural areas. It was agreed that these would be circulated to other team members.
In the list of references, the draft District Plan needs to be added. There are paragraphs on Local Green Spaces and their protection, for example Thorley Wedge has some areas of CFLR1 protection and some CFLR3 but Rob is unsure why this is. Southern Country Park is currently Green Belt but could have CFLR protection as well.
Land owned by schools, e.g. Beldams Lane has to be dealt with separately as it is privately-owned land. If H&EHS builds new sports facilities on Beldams Lane, then they can get extra funding and benefits from opening those facilities to the public, including funding from Sport England.
GIP1 has relevance in that if a school moves then the equivalent amount of land in amenity value needs to be made available.
The Spinney will also be added to the list of Local Green Spaces but there are likely to be others and more input is needed on this. A Local Green Space has the same protection as Green Belt. Keith Warnell asked who currently manages the Spinney.
Alyson Bailey pointed out that there is a green space between the Harvest Moon pub and St Michaels Mead which needs to be included.
The policy on zoning is new.
GIP5 covers policies on wildlife but Rob feels he needs more help with this policy. New wildlife corridors will need to be created on BS South and the hedgerow going through the middle of the site will need to be retained.
There is a policy on footpath surfaces and it is important to have footpaths adopted. Part of the Hertfordshire Way is concrete and this is a high-profile footpath so it will be important to work with the local footpath associations. The developer will need to provide signposts.
It was suggested that guided visits for schools should cover schools for all ages.
The river still needs to be included and is important because currently the banks of the river are very muddy and the area looks neglected. Far more could be made of the river both in terms of on-river activities and as a direct route into town. The steps down to the river in areas where people fish also need repair and maintenance.
Robbie Lumsden asked whether the team had seen a document by Peter Brett – An Independent Critical Appraisal of the Green Belt Review of EHDC.
It was agreed that all comments should be sent to Rob by 10th March 2015.
- publicity and engagement
Focus groups are now arranged and have been publicized with invitations sent to the email list of questionnaire respondents as well as consultees.
A consultation day needs to be arranged and it was agreed that the best date for this is 16th May 2015 along the lines of the day held at Rhodes in July 2013. This had individual displays of questions, draft objectives and example policies on which people were asked to vote. It was agreed that this was the best format for the next consultation day.
There was a discussion about venue, including Rhodes, Jackson Square, the URC Hall and the library with a preference for the Charis Centre. Sue Belo agreed to investigate the various options and check availability and cost.
- next meeting on10thMarch 2015
The next team meeting will be held on 10th March at 7pm when Murray White will present Stage 2 (policies) for Housing & Design and Alyson Bailey will present Stage 2 (policies) for Bishop’s Stortford South and East of Manor Links.