Helsby Parish Council

Minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Group meeting held at 7pm on 15th July 2014 in the

Committee Room

Present:-

Cllr. Terry O’Neill (Chairman)Mr Rob MacKenzieMrs Marj Thoburn

Mrs Sue LorimerCllr. Sarah TempleJeanette Hughes

  1. Apologies for absence – received and accepted from Karen Dutton, Dianne Walker, Cllr. Stuart Hulse, Cllr. Peter Connor, Mr David Temple and Mrs Betty Grieve.
  1. Minutes of the meeting held on 19th May 2014 – unanimously agreed.
  1. Matters arising – none.
  1. Questionnaire (Q) – 155 responses to date. Terry had analysed the results so far and had circulated a paper which summarised all the comments received and also a spreadsheet detailing responses to the tick-boxes. These formed the basis of the groups discussion as follows, in no particular order:-
  • The visions and objectives for the policies in the NP seemed to be right with respondents. This confirmed that the initial drop-in events, seeking comments, had proved to be beneficial;
  • Parking on grass verges was considered an amenity issues by a number of residents;
  • Residents either did not want a swimming pool or skateboard park. Theresults could be reflective of age and the cost implications. Evidence from the initial consultations was that residents wanted us to look for potential sites;
  • Castle Park was popular with residents with some asking for a similar park / facility in Helsby. It was thought that residents might think Castle Park was owned and managed by Frodsham TC when it was actually owned by CWAC and run by Castle Park Trust;
  • Halton Curve – group should push through more parking for Helsby Station in the NP;
  • Community Benefit Fund (Frodsham Wind Farm) – Ward Councillors were meeting to discuss terms and proposals prior to a meeting being arranged with the Parish Councils. No information as yet on the proposals for using the money;
  • M56 – many comments about noise. As an aside, repairs to WB carriageway between J12-14 would be starting on 28th July and taking approx. 45 days (through the night). The Parish Council had written to the Construction Lead asking if the quieter surface compound would be used for the repairs;
  • Big issues with the developments sites at Horse and Jockey and Robin Hood. Residents just wanted to see the sites developed. Rob did not think that we could include an enforcement policy to keep development sites tidy as CWAC had certain powers they could initiate for this. Rob to check legislation;
  • Wind Turbines – mixed views. If a policy was written into the NP to accept turbines then a minimum distance would be a condition of approval;
  • Helsby Community Centre being underutilised – comments would be passed to Helsby Community Association;
  • Helsby Health Centre was aware of the amount of new development. The GP / Patient ratio was conducive with current policy and sufficient space to accommodate new patients for the foreseeable future;
  • NP would not include a policy that would insist that local employers employ local people only;
  • Request for Zebra Crossing at Lincoln Court – could be issues due to the proximity of Crossroads. The Interactive Speed Sign (placed on order for A56) should identify speeding issues;
  • Mineral applications were not covered by Neighbourhood Plans i.e. Fracking;

Rob Mackenzie’s report

Rob suggested some potential minor amendments to explain clearly the policies. It was good practice to tabulate and respond to each comment to evidence discussion. It was important to write up the process the group had followed with the questionnaires and the initial community engagement events. He went on to comment on the various plans and evidence base and policies. Prepared links to topic by topic, getting some examples and then agreeing a skeleton structure. The group could make a start on that now based on subject by subject.

Rob agreed to create a drop box account (cloud storage) that everyone could access. He went through project plan progress and the need to agree a format at the next meeting which he would draft and circulate beforehand.

Grant Monitoring Form – due in 15th August covering the period up to end July. He expressed the importance of publishing the grant and the need to ensure their logo was on our NP website.

Consultation on draft plan needed to ensure we evidenced contact with the ‘hard to reach’ groups and also the drop-in sessions. The group had 6months to get this in schedule and to try and get as much input as possible from young and old.

NP then gets sent into CWAC to evidence that we’ve reached the basic condition. They put it on ‘deposit’ for 6 weeks then it goes for referendum.

December timescale is critical for the funding element of the NP.

  1. Date of the next meeting – Tuesday, 12th August at 6.30pm in the Committee Room.