Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor North, Councillor Henry Clark, Adrian Chapman, Patricia Stuart – Mogg, Cate Harding and Jeff Smith.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 June 2013 were approved as a true and accurate record.

Peter Heath-Brown, Planning Policy Manager and Emma Naylor, Strategic Planning Officer Delivered a presentation on Neighbourhood Planning to the group. The following key points were highlighted within the presentation:

Neighbourhood Plan

·         A plan which set out policies in relation to the development and use of land. It could also include site allocations.

·         Considered alongside the Local Plan therefore neighbourhood plan policies did not need to repeat the policies in the local plan

·         They could further expand on local plan policies or essentially fill in the gaps by covering policy topics not featured in the local plan

Parish/ Village Plan

·         A plan prepared by Parish Councils

·         It may be useful to Parish Councils as they could be an action plan document which covered a range of issues

·         It was not a Town and Country Planning document therefore carried no weight in reaching decisions on planning applications

Advantages of Having a Neighbourhood Plan

·         It effectively gave communities a greater influence over planning in their area

·         Helped facilitate development which was in line with local needs and priorities

·         Processes and strengthens community relations

·         Parish Councils would be eligible for 25% of relevant CIL receipt money compared to 15% without a neighbourhood plan

Challenges of Having a Neighbourhood Plan

·         Most of the time and costs associated with the preparation of a plan were borne by the Parish Council/Neighbourhood Forum. They could take up to two years to prepare and they were cost dependant on many factors.

·         The process was resource intensive

·         Differences of opinion would need to be dealt with

·         Difficult issues would need to be tackled

In England three Neighbourhood Plans had been formally made, fifteen had been submitted for examination and over three hundred and sixty neighbourhood areas were designated.

In Peterborough four neighbourhood areas were designated: Deeping Gate, Glinton, Northborough and Peakirk. Bretton Parish Council’s application to designate the whole of the Parish as a neighbourhood area was to be determined at the Planning and Environmental Protection Committee in October 2013.

Sally Anne Jackson, Peakirk Parish Council gave a verbal presentation to the group regarding Peakirk Parish Council’s Neighbourhood Plan. The following key points were highlighted:

·         A Neighbourhood Plan could cost up to £100,000 to produce

·         Peakirk were planning to have their Neighbourhood Plan adopted by Peterborough City Council by 2014. They had a timescale document which they were working to

·         The aim was to get residents thinking where they wanted to be in 2025. There were as many 16 year olds and younger in the village as there were 60 + and they found there were no facilities for younger people.

·         Residents were consulted with to decide the consensus

·         There was a steering group in place for Peakirk which consisted of five Parish Council members and six non Parish Council members

·         Peakirk introduced a theme of past, present and future

·         Peakirk obtained a grant of £4,619

·         To date Peakirk had spent £2874.10 on preparations for their Neighbourhood Plan

·         A neighbourhood planning specialist had volunteered to transform the work in to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Jawaid Khan briefly updated the group on the progress of Parishing Peterborough, he informed them that meetings had taken place to discuss the matter and the government had published guidance on making parishing easier. A fund of £10,000 had been created which could be applied for as a grant. Further funds were also available to carry projects through. Two grants had been applied for the Parishing Peterborough project.

ACTION

The key speaker for this item, Ian Dewar was not present therefore it was agreed by the group that information was to be distributed in the form of a briefing note via email to all group members.

David Hedges, Werrington Neighbourhood Council gave a verbal update to the group and the following key points were highlighted:

·         All of the Parish Councillor’s Feedback from last year’s Parish Conference was very valuable and led to the decision of changing the location and format of the conference.

·         The Parish Conference would be held on 26 November 2013 from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm at the Bedford Hall in Thorney

·         Adrian Chapman, Head of Neighbourhood Services would present a follow up at the beginning of the meeting followed by four themed onstage debates:

1.    Stronger – this would focus around strategic planning

2.    Safer – Superintendent Dan Vajzovic would be facing Councillor John Fox on the subject of community policing

3.    Cleaner – A community representative was required to debate with Enterprise waste management and recycling

4.     Greener – Charlotte Palmer, Climate Change Team Manager would be discussing energy efficiency and a community representative was also required for this debate.

·         There would be an opportunity for the floor to join in on the debate

ACTION

Members of the group agreed to advise Cate Harding of who from each Parish would like to join the debates and which debates they were interested in joining.

Cate Harding would establish whether members from the voluntary sector would be invited to the Conference. 

The Key speaker for this item was not present therefore it was agreed that the item would be deferred to the next meeting of the Parish Council Liaison.

18 December 2013