Private Sector Forum meeting

30th June 2015

Council Chamber, Carrick House, Truro

Minutes

Present:

Michael Griffin – MA Griffin Associates (Chair) / Sam Irving – Cornwall Council
Morwenna Milburn – Cornwall Council (minutes) / Terry Grove-White – Cornwall Council
Cllr Joyce Duffin – Cornwall Council / Sharon Bundy – Cornwall Council
Alan Green – Ocean Housing / Ben Colman - Midas
Jon Pearson – Highways Consultant / Peter Crawford - Wainhomes
Greg Oldrieve – Vickery Holman / Laurence Osborne – Trevithick Developments Ltd
Russell Dodge – Business Location Services Ltd. / Hollie Nicholls – Laurence Associates
Jason Mitchell – Robertson Developments Ltd. / Damien Burley – Walker Developments
David Stein – Acorn Blue / Andrew Selleck – Selleck Nicholls Homes
Versha Koria - HCA
Introductions and apologies
Welcome from the Chair Michael Griffin (Chair HBF South West)
Michael welcomed attendees to the Forum.
1.  Presentation from IBEX Recycling on their new product - recycling system for new builds and existing properties (circulated with minutes). Any feedback or technical questions are welcomed on this new product that is designed to help meet recycling targets.
Any enquiries about the IBEX Sorta please contact www.ibexrecycling.co.uk
2. Matters arising from meeting held 12.12.14
No matters arising.
3. Update on Development Management – David Edmondson, Strategic Developments Manager, Planning and Enterprise
David provided an update on the Development Management service covering 6 points:
1)  Wind turbines – Following the Ministerial Statement on Wind Turbines, no new planning applications can be registered unless on an allocated site and applications need to have the backing of local communities. Current, live applications will need careful consideration, to assess the level of community backing.
2)  Non Material Amendments (NMAs) - it has been agreed through the Planning Portfolio Advisory Committee on 17th June, that NMAs will now be subject to a 14 day notification period to Local Members and Town & Parish Councils.
3)  Peer Review – a Peer Review of the Planning Committees is due to take place in November. There is an opportunity for the Developers’ Forum to be involved in the process and to help to decide on the issues to be covered. ACTION DE to circulate information to Developers’ Forum and co-ordinate their involvement
4)  Design Review Panel – the DRP has undergone a review and will be re-launched in September. A new panel of professionals has been recruited and the idea is that a bespoke panel will be put together depending on the developments on the agenda. Dates from September are now available – details from panel administrator Judy Howard on 01872 224311 email
5)  Planning Performance Agreements – a review and improvement of the system is underway and the input from Developers is welcomed. Please contact David Edmondson for details.
6)  Agents’ Forum – a Major Developments Agents’ Forum is planned for 2nd October at St. Erme Community Centre. Agents attending Developers’ Forum are welcome to attend and may find this a better forum for their requirements – please contact Nic Phillips on to register.
4. Update on Neighbourhood Planning, Terry Grove-White, Cornwall Council
72 parishes are currently in development stages of producing a Neighbourhood Plan with a further 60 parishes in discussions with the Council about starting the process.
A general discussion was held about the expectations of the Parish Councils and what they think they can include in their plan. TGW explained that NPs have to go through several stages including an eternal examination and should be evidence based. There is scope for NPs to include information on desirable space standards etc. but the Neighbourhood Plans Team will provide guidance on what can and can’t be included in their plan.
A suggestion was made to form a Panel from the Developers’ Forum to give guidance and objective information to the Neighbourhood Planning Team when a plan was in its early stages. It was agreed that this was a good idea. ACTION TGW to co-ordinate.
5. Update on Local Plan Inspection – Terry Grove-White
Interim advice has been given by the Inspector and the examination has been suspended until the Council have considered the recommendations. A new timetable will be available soon. All of the information including updates to the timetable will be available on the website http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/planning/planning-policy/cornwall-local-plan/local-plan-examination/
The Inspector’s comments are considered as material consideration until the Local Plan is adopted.
6. S. 278 update
A proposal was circulated prior to the meeting for consideration. This proposal was as a result of ongoing discussions with Forum members and has been worked up over a number of months following discussions with the Council’s Portfolio holder for Highways and the Highways Team. No further comments have been received by MG and so the proposal will be taken forward by MG with the necessary review mechanisms built in so that the Forum can see how it is working. ACTION MG to consult with Portfolio Holder and Highways Team.
7. Help to Buy on 106 sites
David Worlledge has raised the issue of Help to Buy not being available on s.106 intermediate sale units with Sarah Newton MP who has in turn written to the Minister of State for Housing and Planning for a response. The Forum agreed that they were interested in lobbying on this issue and MG agreed to start the ball rolling. ACTION MG to draft a letter.
8. Right to Build Act
Unfortunately Jon Sawyer wasn’t available to come along so we will move this to the next agenda in September.
Versha Koria to send details of the loan funding and guidance for the HCA’s Custom Build programme to the Forum. ACTION VK.
9. Build Costs
MG has been noticing an increase in build costs and wanted a general discussion to see whether others had experienced the same. General discussion about scheme viability being affected and some people reporting a 10 – 20% increase in build costs recently. Agreed that this information should be shared with the affordable housing team when viability assessments were being considered by them. ACTION SI.
10. Working seminar to address planning issues
DE very happy to take this forward and will liaise with David Stein. ACTION DE/DS
11. Any other business
It had been raised by a Councillor that there have been some queries asking about the purpose of the Developers’ Forum. As a result it was agreed that a set of Terms of Reference will be drafted and minutes of the meetings to be published online. ACTION MG and LDw to draft ToR and MM to publish minutes once agreed by MG.
Ground contamination issues – to be discussed at next Forum.
Highways s.106 contributions update – DE explained that a guidance note is due to be published after the Council’s legal team have explored the issue.
A request from the Cornish Language - Place-name & Street Signage Panel has been made to come along and speak to the Developers’ Forum about how they can engage with developers at an early stage to suggest place and street names for new developments. ACTION MM to invite to next meeting.
Change of meeting date – it was agreed that Fridays aren’t good for a lot of people and so the date of the next Forum will be changed to a Wednesday (16th Sept).
Case for Cornwall – the Council is putting forward a ‘Case for Cornwall’ to Government which could potentially include receiving more devolved powers for matters such as housing and funding. An update will be provided in due course.

Page 1 of 4