Minutes 7th March 2019

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CHARMOUTH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP HELD AT THE LIBRARY, CHARMOUTH, ON 7TH MARCH 2019 AT 7.00PM 

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

1  Apologies: David Clifford, Paul Oatway, Jo Seaman

2 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.  No interests were declared.

3  Minutes of last meeting, actions and matters arising

SE apologised that the full minutes were not yet available.

The draft policies are still in the library for anyone who wishes to read them, except for the work on Green Spaces: ET has this, together with the comments which have been received.

The main action that came out of the last meeting was holding the workshop, which occurred on the 23rd January. Jo Seaman has prepared separate Notes & Actions for this, which we are all working to.  

AB said that he had given a short presentation on the NHP at the parish council AGM and had had some conversations about it with people afterwards.  He was pleased to say that SG and BG are happy to resume helping with aspects of the NHP.  ET suggested that they took over Green Spaces, which is at a good stage to be handed over; TN suggested they would be ideally placed to read the draft policies, being well-informed about the work without having drafted it.  It was also agreed that they could be very effective in some of the VIPs (Village Improvement Projects).

4  Review progress

TS (Housing) has been through the relevant planning documents, consultations etc and worked on the justification for policies.  He has started to draw up a glossary, and needs to work on definitions etc.  AB has sent comments to TS. It was agreed that the section on commercial premises/buildings would fit better in the business section. AB will include.  There was some discussion about the meaning of “affordable housing”.

SL (Assets) has produced an updated draft.  Discussion followed on deciding which assets need ‘protection’ and how to frame policies to achieve this. It was agreed that it wasn’t so much about the business but more about the asset.  One example was the Heritage Centre and the value this has to the village. SL will review and amend document.

CLF (VIPs) is working on six possible VIPs, and is looking at organisations that handle those kinds of projects, such as Locality.  As an example, Watchet has a number of community bodies working together on improvement projects and has obtained funding for this. It was suggested that a Remit for each VIP be established.

ET (Environment) said that she and SE have had a break since updating the draft but are now working on issues such as climate change.

AB (Getting Around) has revamped the draft and reissued as Version 2. He asked for any comments within the next two weeks.

AB (Business, Employment & Tourism) has sent a draft to TN and Phil Tritton. TN will chase up PT for any comments. AB will reissue document shortly.

5  Activities/Timescales

 AB has been talking to JW about the work involved in her going through the draft plan and preparing the Basic Condition statement.  It will take her approximately three days.  The costs of this will be split between Parish Council and Locality but this funding must be used by the end of this financial year. It was therefore agreed that updated drafts would be sent to AB (cc to everyone else) by 22nd March, so that JW can complete the work within the time available. The drafts need not contain the relevant maps, photos, etc.

6  Finance

AB thinks that most of this year’s budget will have been spent by the end of the financial year if we complete the work outlined above.  Although we are not yet ready to print a draft Plan, which was budgeted for, it may be possible to purchase some supplies in advance.

7  AOB

AB will ask John Kennedy to come and talk to us about format of the NHP.

ET said that we had discussed asking someone from AONB to talk to us and it was agreed she will try to arrange that for the next meeting. One issue that we might learn more about would be the proposal for a Dorset National Park, which, if set up, would take over planning from DCC.

AB said that we will soon need to sort out a detailed timeline to accommodate, amongst other things, a session with WDDC. A draft timeline was issued by AB but we will need to agree ‘who’s doing what’.

We also need to be thinking about a SWOT analysis.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 16th April at 7pm (venue to be confirmed)

There being no further business the meeting ended at 8.03pm. 

AB Andrew Bateman; DC David Clifford CPC; SE Sarah Edwards; CF Chris Lakeman  Fraser;BT Beth Gillan; SG Steve Gillan; SL Simon Leech; TN Teresa Noel; PN Peter Noel CPC; PO Paul Oatway CPC; JS Jo Seaman; Tim Sheward; ET Eden Thomson;  TT Tanya Trenholm; JW Jo Witherdon.

(CPC – Charmouth Parish Councillor; NP Neighbourhood Plan)