Slinfold Parish Council
PO Box 315, Billingshurst, West Sussex RH14 9XX
Tel: 01403 785864 Email:
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting
Held on Thursday 26th February 2015
7.30pm in the Parish Room, Village Hall
24/15 Attendance and Apologies for Absence
Those present: Councillors S Bailey (Acting Chair); G Constantine; P Redmond; E Skeates; G Stenton Chandler; H Sherwin-Smith and M Wellesley- Wood
Also present, acting Clerk J Bromley
Apologies: Cllrs: C Gibson; L Day.
There were 9 members of the public present.
25/15 Declaration of Interests and Notification of Change to Members’ Interests
No interests recorded.
26/15 Public Speaking
None
27/15 Chairman’s Announcements
The Chairman reminded all Councillors to check the pink document box as there was quite a lot of information available in there.
An E-mail had been received from a resident of Hayes Lane bringing the attention of the Parish Council to a Facebook page that has been running since the Taylor Wimpey consultation, the comments give an insight into what residents feel about the development (many expressions of angst at the loss of yet more countryside habitat for wildlife and further negative impact of more traffic on the Lane). A gathering at the site was arranged on 15th February for residents to have their say and over 200 attended which was covered by WSCT. A biologist lives opposite the field and has recorded: glow worms; bats and nightingales all thriving on the site.
A letter had been received from Taylor Wimpey dated 24th February 2015 querying the Parish Councillors’ concern noted at the previous meeting that the consultation was held at short notice thereby not allowing all Parish Councillors to attend. Taylor Wimpey confirmed that standard timings were used and they considered they had a good turnout form the village of 188 people.
Parish Councillors confirmed that the minutes of the last meeting remain unaltered and that insufficient notice had been given to enable Parish Councillors to be consulted prior to the public consultation.
Notice was given that a public consultation from Slinfold Developments Ltd had been arranged for 27th February 16.30 to 19.30 in the village hall with regard to a development proposed for behind the cricket Club Pavilion.
28/15 Approval of the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 29th January 2015
The draft minutes having been circulated were taken as read. Cllr Stenton Chandler asked that the minutes were amended on one point and all agreed. It was RESOLVED that the amended minutes be approved and signed as a true record.
29/15 Matters arising from item 5 for information only (as circulated or on the agenda for this meeting)
HDC had approved the Parish Council’s decision to name the new development lane at Cherry Tree Farm as Brick Lane. HDC writing to Cherry Tree Farm owners to get their views and if they were in agreement to officially name the road, HDC asked if PC would have any objection – none raised.
30/15 Matters arising from the last Public Session
None
31/15 Taylor Wimpey presentation – Lane East of Hayes Lane
Presentation from Lynn McIver (LM) (Taylor Wimpey – developers); David Abraham (DA) (Vue Point Consulting – community consultation); Glenn Chambers (GC) (C & A Consulting Eng. Ltd- transport highways, drainage); Andrew Williams (AW) (Boyer – planning consultant)
The Chair asked the representatives to introduce themselves and explain their area of responsibility.
The notification period with regard to the public consultation was discussed and the developers confirmed that standard times had been adhered to for optimal turnout. Chairman advised it would have been desirable if Taylor Wimpey (TW) had come to the Parish Council earlier and worked with the PC to achieve maximum feedback from all, for both TW and the PC. TW confirmed that 188 attended and 109 feedback forms were completed.
DA gave some feedback from the consultation: 20% support with reservations; 70% opposed; 10% no views. Approx. 50% had concerns re flooding and drainage; 1/3 traffic concerns and the ability of Hayes Lane to cope with the added traffic; 50% with ecology and walks around the site being lost. The Scout hut had been repositioned to the North of the plan to accommodate comments. There were many more one off comments.
Cllr Wellesley-Wood reported that there had been a protest meeting at the site of over 200 people and that the group should consider public feeling shown by that protest.
District Councillor Youtan commented that she thought this to be a tick box exercise going through process that was expected and not having real concern for the village.
Cllr Redmond commented that she had spoken to attendees at the consultation who had thought the feedback they were giving was for the Parish Council as well as Taylor Wimpey and this may not have been made clear.
AW confirmed that there was a process to be gone through and that this had been followed correctly. HDC had identified the site as a SHLAA site for development between 0-5 years and due to car parking and access points this then became 0-10 years.
The Parish Council confirmed that the SHLAA information was incorrect and had now been amended by HDC to a potential site in 5-15 years on the SHLAA report. The Parish have never seen it as a desirable site.
GC had met with Richard Speller WSCC re the drainage on the site. A sustainable urban drainage scheme was proposed to take the watershed of the site to the north west. Porous paving; water butts and a wet ecological pond were amongst the proposals for the site.
Cllr Wellesley-Wood advised that a bottle neck occurs at the culverts not in the ditches which were all clear.
GC confirmed that the watershed from the site by their proposals would be reduced by 70% compared to what it was currently.
Cllr Skeates advised that this subject was very technical and would have to be considered by those technically skilled in due course and as such councillors could offer no response.
GC advised that a traffic survey had been carried out where required which was at the access point to the site and speed was below 30mph on average. Approximately 600 vehicles per day which was well within capacity. Car parking was haphazard but ultimately does have a positive impact on traffic speed.
Councillors expressed serious concerns that the traffic survey had failed to recognise the ‘pinch points’ of Hayes Lane and the knock-on impact on traffic flow through the village. The impact of the new Cherry Tree site as well as extra proposed site traffic from this site should be factored in to see if the traffic could still be accommodated.
District Cllr P Youtan asked who TW had spoken to at HDC.
TW responded: Rosemary Freeman on 11th February 2015 and Ian Glenn from Transport who had written a scoping note but had not visited on the site.
The proposed outline site plan was circulated to councillors. 50 units genuine mix 1- 4 beds, with 35% affordable. A pre-planning process had been gone through and an outline plan would shortly be submitted to HDC.
The Chairman then asked if any members of the public had any questions or any comments.
A resident gave some local knowledge that Hayes Lane was on a ridge the Northern side of which headed to the River Arun. Heavy rain caused the ditches and Lane to flood and the proposed development will add to problems further down in the village.
A resident expressed concern that the error on the HDC SHLAA had resulted in this proposed development which was not suitable for the area.
A resident asked when the villagers of Slinfold would be able to assess the potential development sites.
Cllr Wellesley-Wood confirmed that there would be a public consultation on 17th and 18th April hosted by the Slinfold Neighbourhood Plan Working Group at the school. The Working Group were aware that the sites were at various stages some at the pre application stage.
A resident asked that the Parish Council look at the public enquiry that was held regarding the development of the site some 20 year ago and councillors confirmed this would be a good idea.
A discussion regarding the ecology of the site took place, residents had seen: glow worms; nightingales; uncommon butterflies; lizards all on site recently. LM agreed to take a further look into their ecology report.
32/15 Village Shop
Cllr Skeates confirmed he had reviewed the lease and consent has now been given in writing to the shop. The valuation and survey were to be put on hold, until the current public survey was finalised.
33/15 Police
The report from PCSO Tracy Field was noted, a scam involving victims being telephoned and told their debit card had been used fraudulently was being carried out. Attempts to obtain pin numbers and cards, even to the extent of sending a taxi round for collection, had been made and residents need to be alerted to this. 53 incidences so far in Horsham and a flyer is to be sent out by the police.
Report of a suspicious person down Spring Lane was made but nothing further on this.
Report of milk stolen from Spring Copse Business Park
Report of a suspicious vehicle In Hayes Lane where an attempt at covering the number plates had been made, police attended but the vehicle had left.
A meeting is to be arranged with Sgt Miller to address speeding issues in the Village. After this initial meeting there is the possibility of a multi- agency meeting to address all issues and concerns.
34/15 Local Plans and Neighbourhood Planning
Cllr Stenton-Chandler presented the Planning Report to the Parish Council. The report was reviewed, approved and the Parish Council RESOLVED the decisions made by the Planning Advisory Committee as appropriate. Details follow:
New planning applications:
The Planning and Development Committee has reviewed the following applications. HDC has been or will be advised of the Parish Council’s recommendations as follows:
HDC Application number / Date validated by HDC / Address & Post Code of application / Nature of application / Name Applicant or Agent / CommentDC/15/0134 / 21-Jan-15 / Stone Cottage, Lyons Road, Slinfold Horsham West Sussex RH13 0QT / Single storey link extension, single storey rear extension and garage conversion to form dining room / Dr S Webb / No objection 4/4
DC/15/0089 / 23-Jan-15 / Waterland Farm Cottage, Waterlands Lane, Rowhook West Sussex RH12 3PX / Demolition of existing cottage and construction of new 2 storey, 3 bedroom house / Mrs E Armstrong / Refer to HDC for clarification re anomalies on site drawings and purpose of build
Applications permitted, refused and withdrawn:
HDC Application number / Address & Post Code of application / Nature of application / Status / Feedback to HDC Planning Committee (Date)DC/14/2717 / Eastedfield Wood, Five Oaks Road Slinfold Horsham West Sussex RH13 / Replacement of existing cabin to be used for Woodland Management purposes and recreation (amendments to DC/2280 involving re-siting of cabin) / Application Permitted / Objection - future development rights should be restricted
DC/14/2621 / 1 Railway Cotts, Spring Lane, RH13 0RT / New detached 2 bedroomed house / Application Refused / No Objection
DC/14/2558 / Park Farm, Park Street, Slinfold RH13 0RB / Replacement swimming pool equipment enclosure / Application Refused / No Objection
DC/14/2009 / Stablehayes, Five Oaks Road, Slinfold Horsham West Sussex RH13 0SX / Conversion and extension of existing brick shed to provide residential use as a annexe to the main dwelling Affects the setting of a Listed Building / Application Permitted / No objection provided annex is tied to the main dwelling
DC/13/2280 / Eastedfield Wood, Five Oaks Road Slinfold Horsham West Sussex RH13 / Replacement of existing cabin to be used for Woodland Management purposes and recreation / Application Permitted / 19/12 - Resolved Objection. Concern that this will become a permanent dwelling. The size is inappropriate for the intended use.
DC/13/1685 / Rapkyns Care Centre Guildford Road BBH West Sussex RH12 3PQ / Variation of Condition 22 (The development hereby approved shall be used for nursing care of adult patients with mental and/or physical impairment and for no other purpose (including any other purpose in any class of the schedule to the Town and Country (Use Classes) Order 1987) of planning permission DC/10/1889 (Additional special care facilities) / Application Permitted / HDC 27/9, No Objection
2014/5 Planning applications pending consideration or decision by HDC (for information only)
DC/15/0001/2 / 23-Dec-14 / The Cowshed, Nowhurst Lane, West Sussex RH12 3PJ / Proposed rear extension, replacement front door and screen set and provision of 1No. section of wall infill / Mr & Mrs Hutchinson / No Objection
DC/15/0030 / 30-Dec-15 / Ironwood House Clapgate Lane Slinfold Horsham West Sussex RH13 0QU / Works to 2 trees (Trees in a Conservation Area) / Mr R Simms / No Objection
DC/14/2453 / 20-Nov-14 / Aptos, Nibletts Yard, Hayes Lane Slinfold Horsham West Sussex RH13 0SA / Conversion of Barns / Mr Phil Pavey / No Objection
DC/14/0812 / 20-May-14 / Lane End, Lyons Road RH13 0QS / Replacement Barn / Mr D Williams / No Objection
Appeals: Cllr G S-C asked to attend APP/Z3825/A/14/2224668
Planning Inspectorate Reference:APP/Z3825/A/14/2224668