REDBOURN NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN
Notes from the meeting held at the Redbourn Parish Centre on Tuesday 24th October 2017.
Present: David Mitchell, Becky Firth, Ivan Hickmott, Ian Caldwell, Chris Bowden and Teresa Finnigan
Apologies: Dennis Bigham and Maria Maynard
Declarations of interest: Ian Caldwell and Ivan Hickmott bothdeclared aninterest in the Land East of Redbourn site, as they live near to it.
SADC/Planning Updates:
David provided an update on SADC’s Local Plan.Theyare starting from the beginning and are in the process of putting togethera draft version of the plan, a Regulation 18, which will ask a series of questions to the public and relevant bodies,as well as a call for sites. The SKM Green Belt Review report will be used again, confirmed they will not be doing another one. SADC needs to find extra sites for housing development, as the previous planwas looking at 436 houses to be built each year,this has now been increased to 913, calculated via a standardised methodology, accessing needs and how to cater for those needs. SADC’s Planners will decide on the extra sites needed and these will come from the new round of call for sites.There are rumors that Redbourn could potentially be surrounded with a large scale housing development, effectively turning it intoa town.
The Housing White Paper, which was due out earlier this year, has been postpone again and Chris suggests we might hear more detail on this in the forthcoming November budget. The Government are still saying we need to protect the GB, but they are in a bind, as they need to deliver more housing to meet demand, especially affordable homes. Brexit has also been another major factor that has delayed any concrete decisions being made.
Chris’s recommendation is for us to get the NP through the last stages to completion. The GB sites can’t come out of the GB until SADC’s Local Plan is in place. Our strategy is positive on growth within the village and it provides a framework for when the Local Plan is in place.
Site Allocations/Report Revisions:
- Site 2 – East of Redbourn
Car parking options, the Millennium Site – felt it would be better used as a play area/green space than a car park, due to the future housing being proposed nearby.Approval of up to 20 parking spaces to be provided on the southern end, either on thefloodplain, its one use for itor at Kanes Haulage site. We will amend the map to show a round circle rather than a square, in thesouthern area.
Potential use of Kanes Haulage site, light industrial units, wouldneed to research the need for this, talk to the local business community to see if there is a demand. If land is not available via London and Cambridge, it’s a no go.Chris and Becky to look into the breakdown of the consortium for this site.
- Site 7 – Gaddesden Row
Approvedthe removal ofRED 3 - last paragraph “Provision through Policy RED 11 (land off Gaddesden Lane)”, due to the constraints and amount of actual land that is available once these constraints were considered
Hot offices – still working and enables opportunities for small businesses to set up, we are in support of this and are open to enlargearea.
- The plan period will be amended to 2017 – 2036 to mirror the SADC’s Local Plan.
Project Plan/Timescale
Our NP will be the first in the District to proceed to the next stage, a Regulation 14, once the November’s Full Council meeting has approved the amendments above.The timescale from Regulation 14 to the end of the process should take between 9-12 months.Regulation 14 – is when all relevant statutory bodies need to be consulted (Becky, Chris said SADC should be able to provide us with a list and emails of all the relevant bodies that need to be contacted)
If new sites come forward at the Regulation 14 Consultation stage, it’s too late for them to be considered. It’s a last chance for everyone to have their say on the NP and ours to make any final amendments from this consultation.
Thispublic pre-submission consultation – Regulation 14, will run from the 1st December 2017 to 31st January 2018.
We need to alert the community – David and Becky will write something in the up and coming Parish Newsletter, Facebook sites, Parish Council websites, notice boards, banners and signage. Have hard copies of the NP in the Parish Centre, Library, Health Centre and Village Hall, along with all the evidence. Potential to advertise and promote this at the Christmas Markets on the 3rd December. We couldalso have it as an item on the Full Council agenda.
Becky to email Councillors the general NP flow chart.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an EU Legislation that looks at the positive and negative environment and its impact on the EU habitat, it’s a process that we need to go through. We submit the NPto SADC after its been approved at the November’sFull Council, to screen for the need of an SEA,this can take up to 5 weeks and they have a duty to support us on this. SADC doesn’t legally need to do the scoping report, which follows, we have to get someone else to prepare this. This can take a further 5 weeks, it’s a document that goes to all the relevant statutory bodies and once its complete, is submitted at the Regulation 16 stage.
Once any amendments have been made to the Regulation 14 plan, it will then be submitted to SADC for a Regulation 16, along with all relevant documentation, such as the GB review, sites assessments, SEA Scoping report and so on and then it’s out of our hands. SADC examine the documents and decide whether we can proceed to a referendum or it requires changes.
At the Referendum stage, the Parish Council can’t lobby for a yes vote, individually you can, the majority that turn out need to tick the yes box, been seeing a 30%-40% turnout rate.
The main issue we have had all along is the housing numbers, no one has given us one, so we don’t have a specific housing number allocation.
Finance:
Chris Bowden mentioned a grant that we could apply for, itruns till March 2018, for allocating sites in complex areas, amounts to £6,000, can be used for anything related to the NP, doesn’t need to be ring-fenced, could help pay for the SEA scoping report, Chris’sconsultation fees and the public consultation. As we understand it, the Referendum is paid for by SADC.
Chris Bowden will give Becky a quote for his consultation fees to run till the end of the process.
Any other Urgent Business
None
Date of Next Meeting:Monday the 27th November at 7.30pm at the Parish Centre
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