MINUTESOF

EXTRAORDINARY MEETING

LANGSTONE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Date:18 June 2013

Time:6.30pm

Present:

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Cllr A Henderson (Chairman)

Cllr D Barradell

Cllr C Bryant

Cllr K Dew

Cllr Y Edwards

Cllr M Griffiths

Cllr G Hancock

Cllr T Jeffery

Cllr C Meredith

Cllr C Pike

Cllr W Routley

130618 Extraordinary Meeting of Full Council 18 June 2013 Page 1

Cllr D Atwell

Cllr R Mogford

12 members of the public

ORDINARY MEETING

035.Apologies:

Cllr K Dew

036.Declarations of Interests

No declarations of interest were made.

037.Local Development Plan (LDP)

A presentation was given by Daniel Davies and Mark Handof Newport City Council’s Planning Department to outline the revised LDP.

Mr Hand emphasised that a consultation period will be open until 5pm on 26 July 2013. Any comments, from Councillors or members of the public, whether objecting to or supporting elements of the LDP may be submitted to NCC via post, email or online form.Consultation responses will go before the NCC Full Council in December 2013.

Points of interest from the ensuing discussion were:

Gypsy & Traveller Sites

  1. The size of sites needed for Newport’s Gypsy & Traveller (G&T) population may be unclear to some residents. 43 pitches are required for residential use, which would mean up to 129 caravans and 7 pitches (21 caravans) for temporary transit use. NCC is legally obliged to provide these facilities, and the families are currently residing in areas which are unsuitable.
  2. It is possible for the Langstone G&T sites to be put back into the plan following consultation although this would carry a risk for NCC as the Langstone sites are not large enough to accommodate the families involved.
  3. LCC will submit comments to the LDP consultation and will protest again if any Langstone site is reconsidered as a location for a G&T site. All residents who protested before will have received a letter from NCC and are encouraged to express support or objections to the revised LDP. NCC Councillors plan to contact residents asking them to express opinions on the revised LDP.
  4. Residents may support the Langstone designated countryside sites and may also support the Hartridge G&T option if they wish.

Langstone boundary

  1. NCC has tightened the Langstone boundary which means there will be less pressure to develop open spaces. Langstone has been included in the Newport urban settlement boundary for planning purposes for some time. Comments on the boundary may be made as part of the consultation process, but it is unlikely to be changed in the LDP at this stage. The only planning outcome of designating Langstone as a village would be to require more affordable housing within its boundaries. Mr Hand agreed to provide an outline of the impacts to City Councillors. Mr Hand offered to send a map of the boundaries to LCC.

Housing developments

  1. The Gorelands is designated as countryside outside the urban boundary. The presumption is therefore against development unless there is a strong case (eg. agricultural housing). A large housing estate would be outside the plan although a different decision could be made taking into account housing need, community benefits and level of local support. The housing strategy contains plans to develop 12% more housing than needed and focuses on brownfield sites.
  2. Oak Court Estates (potential developers of the Gorelands) have indicated to NCC that they have support from Langstone residents to develop the site with community benefits. LCC confirmed that it supports consultation with residents and that the village survey has asked for residents’ opinions re development. LCC will represent the views of residents.
  3. Provided the Welsh Government is happy that sufficient housing is included in NCC’s LDP and the plan is sound, it is unlikely to overrule a NCC planning decision to allow development which has been refused permission. However, it is not impossible.
  4. Affordable housing is contained within the LDP.
  5. Planning consent has been granted for the development at Pencoed Castle near Llandevaud and work is under way. Plans are available to view. An access road and 12 units are being built. A copy of plans will be sent to LCC.

The Chairman thanked Mr Hand and Mr Davies for their interesting and open presentation. He also thanked the City Councillors, Community Councillors and members of the public for their participation.

The Clerk is to write to Mr Davies and Mr Hand.Action HJ

038.Annual Accounts

  1. The Councilreceived and approved the Annual Accounts for 2012-13 following internal audit. The Chairman read out the accounting statements on the Annual return and the Council agreed to each of them in turn. The Clerk completed and signed the annual return which was countersigned by the Chairman.
  2. The Chairmanstated thatthe current auditor had indicated that she no longer wished to continue in the role. Following a discussion with the current Clerk, the former Clerk may be willing to take on the role of internal auditor for Langstone Community Council.Cllr Hancock declared a pecuniary interest as spouse of the former Clerk and left the room. Cllr Routley advised that the former clerk should not be appointed at this time as certain matters were due to go before the NCC Monitoring Officer the following day (19/6/13). It was proposed that the post be advertised. The Council resolved to advertise the post of Internal Auditor in order to ensure that the Council’s actions are open and transparent.

The role of Internal Auditor is to be advertised. Action HJ

There being no other business the meeting concluded at 8pm with the date of the next ordinary meeting of the council being confirmed as Monday 8 July 2012.

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