Neighbourhood Plan Committee

Agenda

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

To:      All Members of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee (Claire Tester, Nick Owens, Bill Hatton, Ian Weir, Carolyn Barton and Kristian Berggreen)with copies to all other Councillors for information.


A virtual meeting of the NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN COMMITTEE will be held on Thursday 29th July at 7.30pm.

Parish Clerk  21 July 2021

1. CHAIR. To nominate and agree a Chair for the meeting.

2. TO ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE.

3. TO ACCEPT DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST.

4. MINUTES. To note the minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on 29th April 2021 (previously circulated)

5. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

6. SOUTH DOWNS NATIONAL PARK DESIGN GUIDE SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING DOCUMENT (SPD) CONSULTATION. Members are invited to note the following information on this consultation and to consider whether the Council wishes to formally comment on the consultation in respect of the SDNPA proposals, and if so how Members wish to progress the development of comments for submission.

The South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) is currently consulting on the draft Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). Public-Consultation-Design-Guide-SPD-low-res.pdf (southdowns.gov.uk)

The aim of the Design Guide SPD is to raise design standards in the National Park and to provide best practice guidance regarding the design of new development. The Design Guide SPD applies to both residential and non-residential development and will be a material consideration in the determination of relevant planning applications once adopted.

The Design Guide SPD and related documents are available to view on the SDNPA website.

The consultation is scheduled to run for ten weeks and will close on Monday 6 September 2021 June 2021.

7. INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS. At the previous Neighbourhood Plan meeting held in April it was suggested by Members that they may wish to review any potential infrastructure projects they would like to see progressed in the event of future developments coming forward such as provision of additional allotments. A background paper has been provided setting out previous proposals dating back to 2016.

In addition Members may wish to view the Mid Sussex District Council Site allocations DPD Infrastructure Delivery Plan via the following link https://www.midsussex.gov.uk/media/4385/site-allocations-development-plan-infrastructure-delivery-plan.pdf with specific reference to Pages 1-14 and 66-70.

Members are requested to consider the content of the circulated IDP Hassocks Infrastructure Schedule alongside the DPD Infrastructure Delivery Plan and determine whether any revision is required.

8. LEWES DISTRICT LOCAL PLAN – ISSUES AND OPTIONS CONSULTATION. Members are invited to note the following information on this consultation and to consider whether the Council wishes to formally comment on the consultation in respect of the Lewes District Council proposals, and if so how Members wish to progress the development of comments for submission.

Lewes District Council is seeking to consult on the Local Plan ‘Issues & Options’ document, and the associated Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report, over an 8 week period from 9th July 2021 to 5pm on 3rd September 2021. Both documents are available on their website at: https://planningpolicyconsult.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/LDLP_IO/consultationHome

In addition, a quick guide to the new Local Plan, together with some frequently asked questions, is available at https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/planning-policy/a-quick-guide-to-the-lewes-district-local-plan/

9. WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL PROPOSED DALE AVENUE, HASSOCKS IMPROVEMENTS CONSULTATION SURVEY. Members are invited to review the following information on this consultation and to consider whether the Council wishes to formally comment, and if so how Members wish to progress the development of comments for submission.

As part of the Government’s Active Travel Fund (ATF) initiative the County Council is consulting interested parties regarding a number of improvements across West Sussex.

Following successful bids to Central Government the County Council has subsequently secured DfT funding to deliver 6 schemes that support its approach to active travel that aim to:

  • Make walking and cycling to work, education and leisure activities more attractive
  • Improve health and wellbeing by offering eco-friendly travel choices
  • Broaden travel choices by offering safer, quick and easy walking and cycling options, particularly for short journeys
  • Support zero emission journeys and reduce reliance on car travel.

These proposed improvements are included in the WSCC Cycling and Walking Strategy as a priority together with forming part of the West Sussex Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP). The £850,000 schemes will help create links with local communities and encourage walking and cycling to and from schools.

WSCC is now seeking views from local communities to gather data on how these schemes will be received if the proposed changes were to go ahead. A list of the proposed schemes include:

Dale Avenue, HassocksAim – to improve the walking and cycling route in Hassocks connecting to Downlands School.
The proposals include –

  • Improvements to footways on Keymer Road and Dale Avenue
  • Road markings, road signs and footway surfacing to highlight the presence of pedestrians and cyclists
  • Improvements to the existing traffic signal controlled crossing on Keymer Road to enable use by cyclists too.

The consultation opens on Monday 19th July and will run for 4 weeks till Sunday 15th August. The link to the consultation portal can be found here: www.westsussex.gov.uk/school-gates

10. URGENT MATTERSat the discretion of the Chairman for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

11. DATE OF NEXT MEETING. 2nd September 2021

Please note all members of the public are welcome to attend meetings of the Parish Council and its Committees.

Item 4 – a period of 15 minutes will be set aside for the public and questions relating to the published non confidential business of the meeting. If you wish to attend this virtual meeting please email info@hassocks-pc.gov.uk before 9.00hrs on the day of the meeting to be sent an electronic invitation by 12 noon on that same day.

FILMING, RECORDING OF COUNCIL MEETINGS AND USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
During this meeting members of the public may film or record the Committee and officers from the public area only providing it does not disrupt the meeting. The Confidential section of the meeting may not be filmed or recorded. If a member of the public objects to being recorded, the person(s) filming must stop doing so until that member of the public has finished speaking. The use of social media is permitted but members of the public are requested to switch their mobile devices to silent for the duration of the meeting.

It may be necessary to consider particular items in confidential session and where this arises, these items will be considered at the end of the agenda.

Minutes

Minutes of the NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN COMMITTEE virtual meeting held on Thursday 29 July 2021 at 19.30 pm

Attendees: Parish Councillors: Claire Tester, Ian Weir, Bill Hatton, Nick Owens and Carolyn Barton.

Visiting Member Cllr Sue Hatton

Apologies Cllr Kristian Berggreen

Clerk:  Ian Cumberworth

NP21/19     Members were requested to nominate a Chair to oversee the proceedings of the informal meeting. Members nominated and agreed that Cllr Tester to Chair the meeting.

NP21/20 APOLOGIES: Cllr Berggreen:

NP21/21 DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS: None declared.

NP21/22 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

There were no members of the public present.

NP21/23 South Downs National Park Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) Consultation Members were invited to consider the document and decide whether they wished to submit a formal representation from the Parish Council. It was a ten week consultation ending on the 6th September 2021.

Members expressed the view that most of the document from a planning perspective was considered and well written however concerns were expressed regarding how the National Park Authority were proposing to tackle global warming within the design guide . Issues were raised in particular by Cllr Owens regarding the National Park Authority’s proposed approach with regard to energy efficiency which seemed to be deficient when comparing this with the current Lewes Plan consultation proposals.

Members therefore agreed that a suitable response be drafted by Cllr Owens in conjunction with the Clerk and the Chair of this meeting (Cllr Tester) for circulation to members of the committee prior to submission of the Councils response.

NP21/24 Infrastructure Projects – Members discussed the background paper detailing the infrastructure projects the Council had previously identified in 2016 that they would like to see supported by future developer contributions (section 106 & CIL contributions).

Members reviewed the document line by line and identified those schemes that had already been delivered and proposed a number of amendments to be considered at a future committee for formal consideration.

It was also suggested that at this future meeting members should also determine which schemes they would wish to see prioritised.

The Clerk undertook to amend the document to reflect the suggested amendments and to circulate this to members and the revised document be brought forward to a future meeting for consideration and prioritisation.

NP21/25 Lewes District Local Plan – Issues and options consultation. – Members noted that the consultation only related to land outside of the National Park therefore it did not adjoin the parish of Hassocks. On this basis members decided against submitting a formal response on behalf of the Parish Council.

NP21/26 West Sussex County Council – proposed Dale Avenue, Hassocks improvements consultation survey – The proposed Dale Avenue scheme was part of a wider consultation on creating/improving pedestrian and cycling routes across Sussex.

Members were supportive of the principal of improving/establishing cycling/pedestrian routes however members expressed concerns over the current proposals for Dale Avenue. Members expressed the view that WSCC had not fully appreciated the number of pedestrians and cyclists using the village centre and Dale Avenue at peak times and concerns were expressed that the current proposals would be dangerous particularly where it was proposed the space was to be shared by both pedestrians and cyclists at the same time. It was agreed that the village centre needed to be considered holistically, taking into account aspirations to enhance its character and sense of place in Policy 18 of the Neighbourhood Plan, and make it safer for users, not just cyclists. This should include measures to reduce vehicle speeds.

Members agreed that the Clerk draft a response to the consultation with the Chair of this meeting setting out the views/concerns of the members. The closing date for the submission is 15th August 2021.

NP21/27 Urgent Matters. None.

NP21/28 DATE OF NEXT MEETING.  2nd September 2021.