Minutes 24th July 2018

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CHARMOUTH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP HELD AT THE LIBRARY, CHARMOUTH, ON 24TH JULY 2018 AT 7.00PM

Present: Andy Bateman (Chair), Sarah Edwards (Secretary), Chris Lakeman Fraser, Simon Leech, Jo Seaman, Tim Sheward, Eden Thomson.

Apologies: Teresa Noel, Elaine Phillips, Tanya Trenholm

The Chairman reminded members of the requirement under the Terms of Reference to declare any interest in any item on the agenda or in any topic that arises during the meeting.

Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

Actions/Matters Arising

SL has circulated a very good revised draft of “Charmouth the Built Environment – Assets and Amenities”. It was noted that the new guidance on neighbourhood plans gives scope for identifying buildings that are significant to Charmouth for historical or architectural reasons as well as for their usefulness. While existing acts/ policies relating to the preservation of buildings (eg listed status) will override a neighbourhood plan, a plan can still be used to support a case for preservation. SL would welcome any comments on this topic.

Review of progress on main work streams

Housing – AB has met with the parish council and given them the draft housing policy; they were generally supportive and offered some useful comments. AB and TS also met Nick Cardnell (Senior Planning Officer, WDDC) on 12th July. He made some useful suggestions about obtaining more evidence on some issues and also about being more specific in outlining some policies. WDDC agreed to follow up on queries raised by AB/TS. AB/TS said that we would like to be involved in the selection of the Examiner, which they agreed to.

Environment – ET said that she and SE were meeting again tomorrow, that a list of environmental assets was well under way and that they would soon begin to consider green spaces.

Business and Employment – TN has been away so progress is not known.

Preamble to NHP – EP’s draft “A Bit about our Neighbourhood Plan Area” received positive feedback. It was suggested that some information on the evolution of Charmouth, its transport and other links, and any housing development would be useful, particularly in the context of Charmouth’s position between Lyme Regis and Bridport, both places where a considerable number of houses are being built.

Service Providers Survey and Analysis – SE said that information from the survey is being entered onto a spreadsheet and she is still chasing responses. She hopes to have a session with JS soon to discuss progress as well as issues such as how to quantify the responses to some questions.

NHP Workshop

It was agreed that the workshop would enable the Group to look at the bigger picture in deciding what will go into the Plan, and also to identify areas where more evidence may be needed. This can be run past JW at a later date for her comments. The workshop will be on 29th August, 9.30-12.30, at The Elms if possible. AB and JS will meet before then to draw up an agenda.

Finance

AB has bid for a Locality Grant of £4460 for the period to 31.03.19, to cover the costs of printing, hiring rooms and obtaining professional services. The grant reference number is NPG 10402.

AOB

AB said that as a governor of the primary school he is aware of the problems caused by financial constraints and falling pupil numbers. Only 30% of the pupils are from Charmouth – a statistic which in itself is evidence of the need for affordable housing.

It was agreed that we need to recruit more people to the Group, and that an article in Shoreline (next deadline 5.11.18) might be helpful.

It was agreed that another Open Forum should be held towards the end of this year.

Date of next Meeting

The next meeting will be the Workshop on Wednesday 29th August, 9.30-12.30, at The Elms. It is hoped that as many people as possible in the Group will attend.

There being no further business, the meeting ended at 8.20pm.

AB Andrew Bateman; DC David Clifford CPC; SE Sarah Edwards; CF Chris Lakeman Fraser; JG Jan Gale; BG Beth Gillan; SG Steve Gillan; CG Carole Girling; SL Simon Leech; TN Teresa Noel; PN Peter Noel CPC; PO Paul Oatway CPC; JS Jo Seaman; TS Tim Sheward; ET Eden Thomson; TT Tanya Trenholm.

(CPC – Charmouth Parish Councillor; NP – Neighbourhood Plan)