Neighbourhood Plan Committee

Agenda

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

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

A meeting of the NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN COMMITEE will be held at the Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks on Thursday 27th October at 7.30pm.

Parish Clerk 19 October 2022

1. TO ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE.

2. TO ACCEPT DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST.

3. MINUTES to accept the minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on 27th July 2022 (previously circulated).

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

5. District Plan – Mid Sussex District Council Scrutiny Committee for Planning, Economic Growth and Net Zero considered the revised District Plan on the 5th October 2022 where members reviewed the proposed policies. The proposed site allocations were subsequently considered on the 18th October 2022.

MSDC members would then be requested to consider the adoption of the proposed draft site allocations and seek approval from Full Council to commence formal consultation for the adoption of the overall plan. The next scheduled Mid Sussex Full Council meeting is the 2nd November 2022.

At the time of drafting this agenda  Mid Sussex had produced a draft copy of the minutes for the meeting of the 5th (Extract of minutes produced as Appendix 1 please click here to view) together with the link to the agenda for the 18th October and a track changed version of the policies that were considered at the  meeting:

MSDCDistrictPlan081022ScrutinyCommittee Strategy and Non Housing Site Policies report together with a copy of the Agenda update sheet (tracked changes -100 pages) – Appendix 2)

The attached link relates to the scrutiny committee on the 18th October when MSDC members considered the site allocation elements of the plan.

District Plan Consultation draft -Reg 18 MSDCscrutiny181022

The impact of the review of sites in relation to Hassocks from the original version published earlier this year is that MSDC are now recommending two additional sites for inclusion within the plan:

DPH 15- para 68 p15 – land to rear of 2 Hurst road – 25 properties

DPH 27 Byanda – para 77 p16.

This is now at application stage and the officers’ recommendation of approval is to be considered at the district Planning committee on the 20th October. This is for the provision of 60 older persons units.

Members are requested to consider the progress and aspects of the District plan to date and determine whether any work should be undertaken by the Parish Council in advance of the formal consultation period.

The next scheduled Neighbourhood Plan meeting is programmed for mid-December. Members may wish to consider rescheduling an additional meeting in November particularly if the MSDC District Plan Regulation 18 consultation commences in early / mid-November. Member’s views are sought.

6. Hassocks Priorities Statement – Full Council approved the entering into a contract with Action in Rural Sussex to facilitate the delivery of this project. Members will receive a verbal update on arrangements progressed to date.

7. Any other business

8. URGENT MATTERS at the discretion of the Chairman for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

9. DATE OF NEXT MEETING. 15th December 2022

EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS

In view of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted Councillors will be referred to the Confidential Agenda. If any members of the public or press are in attendance they will be requested to withdraw from the meeting in the public interest.

10. To accept the confidential minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on the 27th July 2022 (previously circulated).

All members of the public are welcome to attend to attend meetings of the Parish Council and its Committees. Item 5 – a period of 15 minutes will be set aside for the public statements and questions relating to the published non-confidential business 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.

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.

Minutes

Minutes of the NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN COMMITTEE meeting held on Thursday 27th October 2022 at 19.30 pm

Attendees: Parish Councillors: Claire Tester, Ian Weir and Carolyn Barton

Clerk:  Ian Cumberworth

NP22/21 APOLOGIES: Cllr Kristian Berggreen and Cllr Bill Hatton

NP22/22 DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS: None.

NP22/23 MINUTES

Minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on the 27th July 2022 were agreed and accepted as a true record.

NP22/24 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

There were no members of the public present.

NP22/25 District Plan

Members were advised that Mid Sussex District Council members of the Scrutiny Committee for Planning, Economic Growth and Net Zero had now considered the proposed plan. Members reviewed the proposed polices at a meeting on 5th October and the proposed allocated sites at a separate meeting on the 18th October. Both reports were approved with only minor amendment to some wording and were recommended to Full Council for approval with a recommendation to commence the public consultation (Regulation 18). The proposed consultation period will run from 7th November – 19th December (6 weeks).

Members were informed that the main difference in respect of the proposed site allocations from the original version published in January 2022 that impacted Hassocks related to two sites being allocated in Hassocks: 2 Hurst Road (25 properties) and Byanda – provision of 60 older persons units.  With regard to the Byanda site a planning application was subsequently considered by MSDC Planning committee on the 20th October where the application was refused however this site remains allocated in the site allocation report to be considered by MSDC Council 2nd November.

Members were invited to go through the reports and consider how they wished to deal with the consultation incorporated within parish agenda papers. Members proceeded to go through the review paper setting out the amended track changed policies. Members particularly focused on those policies that had been subject to amendment as some that remain unchanged had already passed the inspectors previous review when the original plan was considered. Cllr Tester clarified for members that Mid Sussex is a designated water stressed area (availability of water). Member’s discussion focused on a number of specific policies including:

Members acknowledged that DPS2 Sustainable Design and Construction and been amended and was more reflective of the position the parish have taken over a number of years regarding energy efficiency and improved building standards.

DPN3 Green infrastructure – members noted that some locations identified for safeguarding specifically referenced to the ‘Green Circle’ around Burgess Hill,  a few further sites identified in East Grinstead, Haywards Heath, Worth etc., however members felt there would be merit to a wider geographical recognition of potential green infrastructure sites across the district.

DPS1 Climate Change – Cllr Weir indicated that he felt in respect of the section on adaption and mitigation this should also incorporate the requirement to include natural fire breaks to minimise the risk of wild fires.

DPS6 Health & Wellbeing – should acknowledge the need for Residential Amenity and provide sufficient buffers from existing gardens which in some recent developments within the village has not been the case.

Members then briefly discussed the allocation of the two Hassocks sites as part of the site allocation process:

2 Hurst Road (25 properties)

Byanda (60 older persons units)

The Clerk circulated extracts from the Sustainability Appraisal which provided further detail on the assessment of the sites.

Members expressed concerns about both proposed sites and in particular with regard to the 2 Hurst Road site and the potential adverse impact it could have on Stonepound crossroads and general traffic flow within the vicinity.

Byanda although planning permission was refused on the 20th October the site continues to be allocated within the site allocation plan. Members indicated they will continue to raise the objections they have submitted previously as part of the planning process recommending refusal of this development. Members could feed back their concerns as part of the consultation process.

Members discussed how best to deal with the consultation, it was suggested that in light of the timeline members should submit proposed points for consideration to the Clerk and Chair of this Committee to co-ordinate the Councils response. This would then be pulled together into a combined response for consideration at the December Neighbourhood Plan meeting prior to submission of the Councils representation. Members AGREED to adopt this approach.

Neighbourhood Plan Committee Members were therefore requested to review the content of the District Plan and submit any comments/points they would like to be incorporated in the Councils formal response which will be considered at the December meeting prior to submission.

NP22/26 Priorities Statement.

The Clerk updated members on the progress to date and were advised that:

  • Service agreement entered into
  • Promotional flyers promoting the initial virtual sessions on 15th November publicised
  • Website tile created on the Parish Council’s website with embedded links and flyer
  • Two page advertisement to appear in Hassocks Life magazine (November)
  • Community groups, clubs, schools and organisations being contacted to promote the event and encourage attendance
  • Member’s workshop scheduled
  • Further promotional material scheduled for future Hassocks life publications (December & January)
  • Venue booked to hold feedback sessions in February

Members NOTED the action taken to date and the level of action taken to engage as widely with the village community as possible.

NP22/27 Any other business – None

NP22/28 Urgent Matters. None

NP22/29 DATE OF NEXT MEETING. 15th December 2022.

The Chair then read out the following ‘In view of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted Councillors will be referred to the confidential agenda. If any members of the public or press are in attendance they will be requested to withdraw from the meeting in the public interest.’

NP22/30 MINUTES

Confidential Minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on the 27th July 2022 were agreed and accepted as a true record.

Meeting was closed.