Keyworth Neighbourhood Plan Advisory Committee
Minutes of meeting held on the1st November 2016 starting 10.15am in the Feignies Room
1: Introduction
Participating were Cllrs Nic Seller, Kevin Fitzgerald, Neil Pinder and Chris Kemp (minutes) with Richard Mapletoft, RBC Planning Policy Manager in attendance.
Nic Seller was elected to chair the group. He advised that he was a trustee (on behalf of KPC) of the Platt Lane Playing Fields.
It was noted that our low membership of 4 was related to the spate of complaints about some Cllrs. which otherwise should not impact our work.
2: Objective
We aimed to produce a version of the plan that could be supported by the Parish Council with a reasonable chance of being acceptable to stakeholders. We aimed to achieve that by the end of this year, 2016 with approval not later than the full Council Meeting of the 23rd January 2017, ideally 12th December 2016.
Our Keyworth Neighbourhood Plan would then be handed over to RBC for further processing. It was expected to be at least 9 months after then before the Referendum on the Plan could be held. As the recommended housing sites were only in an informative annex these wouldn’t be tested at enquiry.
Meanwhile RBC had consulted on their draft Local Plan Part 2 and Green Belt Review. The Green Belt review was an input to the Local Plan Part 2 which would proceed to adoption. It was anticipated that a final draft of the Local Plan Part 2 would be published by RBC early in 2017. There was potential for disconnect between the Borough and Parish Plans in which case resolution before our referendum would be sought.
3: Evidence being analysed
Our process was to look at the evidence and see where it led us.
3.1 Keyworth consultation on draft plan
The responses to the consultation held from December 2014 to January 2015 were being analysed. It was noted that all policies except housing had received overwhelming support. However the majority had opposed the draft housing policy requiring it to be revisited.
3.2 Rushcliffe Greenbelt Review
This had been conducted since the original draft Keyworth Neighbourhood Plan had been produced and consulted on. It was agreed that their site assessments provided valuable additional evidence for us to consider.
3.3 Developer Meetings
It was not at present felt necessary to hold any additional developer meetings.
3.4 Evidence referred to
The plan had been under development for over 5 years. As a result research might be necessary to establish where all the inputs referred to could be found.
4 Endorsement of earlier proposals
The following proposals agreed at the inquorate meeting of the 18th October were endorsed:
4.1: Leaving proposed site off Platt Lane within the Green Belt (4.1 hectares)
This proposal had received a lot of objections in the local consultation. In the RBC Green Belt review its score suggested it would more appropriate for it to remain in the Green Belt.
4.2: Leaving Land South of Debdale Lane proposed as employment land within the Green Belt (5 hectares)
There had been a lot of objections to the use of this land for employment purposes as a result of which that proposal had been abandoned. There had been no consultation over whether to use it for housing however many of the objections to its use for employment also applied to its use for housing. It was also felt that this site had considerable heritage and amenity value which should be preserved in perpetuity.
4.3 Changing status of land between Station Road and Platt Lane from reserved to housing (8.9 hectares)
In the RBC Green Belt review this site was considered the most suitable to be taken out of the Green Belt and used for housing. In the local consultation there was no significant reaction to the proposal to take it out of the Green Belt.
5: Additional Proposals
5.1: Leave 2.5 hectares of green space off Nicker Hill within the Green Belt
As it was anticipated that this land would continue to be farmed as it is at present we could see no reason to remove it from the Green Belt.
5.2: Only build from Bunny Lane to ridge with remainder green space
This would provide adequate land to meet its share of our Local Plan part one requirement without unnecessarily damaging impact on the character of the area.
5.3: Conditions for Station Road to Platt Lane site
It was essential that the attractive entrance to the village along Station Road be preserved. There was an opportunity to enhance the adjoining leisure hub which was of importance far beyond Keyworth. The foot path resiting would need to be done sensitively.
5.4: Location of sheltered accommodation for the elderly
The preferred site for this was north of Bunny Lane although behind the bus stop by the corner of Nicker Hill and Platt Lane was also acceptable.
5.5: Affordable Housing
We will urge that the RBC affordable housing policy be revised in the light of the 2016 Housing and Planning Act passed since the Local Plan part 1 was adopted. Ideally we would like starter homes at below market value in addition to traditional affordable housing but recognise this might be resisted.
5.6: Summary
We now have three sites for housing of 7.6, 8.9 and 9.8 hectares each and would propose that each be used for 150 to 160 new homes.
6: Next steps / actions
6.1: Full Parish Council meeting of the 7th November
· CK would prepare an updated plan and ideally an accompanying map to be put in the pre-meeting briefing notes for the meeting.
· This would also be sent to all councillors with bullet points in support of it.
· We would seek to have our quorum reduced.
· We would seek to have the estimate from Urban Imprint of £315 plus Vat for editing and map producing accepted.
· NP would prepare arguments to use.
· We would hope to get feedback on our general direction
6.2: On-going
Depending on the outcome of the meeting on the 7th November we would meet again on the 15th November starting 10am in the hope of getting a version of the plan to present to the full council meeting of the 12th December for approval.
7: The meeting closed at 11.55 am