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 meeting of the NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN COMMITTEE will be held in the Parish Centre, Adastra Park on Thursday 2nd September at 7.30pm.

Parish Clerk 24 August 2021

1. TO ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE.

2. TO ACCEPT DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST.

3. ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR

4. MINUTES to agree the minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on 29th April 2021 (previously circulated) and the minutes for 29th July 2021.

5. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

6. Infrastructure projects at the previous Neighbourhood Plan meeting held in July a number of amendments were suggested to the infrastructure schedule which had been drafted in 2016.

The attached document (Appendix A) reflects the amendments requested at the last meeting and members are now invited to consider the revised version and determine if any further adjustments are required. Consideration should also be given as to whether members wish to prioritise these initiatives at this stage. To view Appendix A please click here.

Members should also determine how best to engage with Mid Sussex District Council to enable these projects to be considered for progression in the event future development contributions are realised.

7. West Sussex County Council Proposed Dale Avenue, Hassocks Improvements Consultation Survey: Members may recall that at the last meeting it was agreed that the Clerk and Cllr Tester would agree the content of the Council’s response in regard to the recent consultation undertaken by WSCC. This survey was part of a county wide initiative in respect of a number of cycling and walking initiatives of which Dale Avenue represented a small part. When accessing the consultation portal the space available to submit a written response was limited (e.g. 250 characters) which was insufficient to submit any meaningful response, authority was therefore sought and obtained from the survey co-ordinator from WSCC for the Parish to submit a response via email. Members are asked to note the response.
The submitted response is set out below:

Members were supportive of the principal of improving/establishing cycling /pedestrian routes however concerns were raised over the current proposals for Dale Avenue and would not be supportive of the current scheme as it stands.

Members feel that WSCC have 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.

The Council believe that any proposal involving the village centre needs to be considered holistically and not considered in isolation. The Parish Council remains keen to work with County however regard should be had taking into account the Parish Councils aspirations to enhance its character and sense of place in accordance with Policy 18 of the Hassocks Neighbourhood Plan, and make it safer for users, not just cyclists. This should include measures to reduce vehicle speeds

Policy 18: Village Centre (Extract from Hassocks Neighbourhood Plan)

7.4 A District Council Retail Study, dated November 2014, found a healthy commercial centre, of the Parish with a typically well-maintained public realm and limited number of vacant units. It noted that in the 10 years since the previous survey, the overall number of units had increased. There was, however, some shift in use with a decline in ‘convenience’ and ‘comparison’ units, and an increase in, amongst others, cafes.

7.5. It is considered important to seek to preserve and enhance the vitality and viability of this retail and commercial centre. In particular, support is offered for proposals that would enhance the character and sense of place of the centre. Such works should facilitate the experience and enjoyment of users of these facilities. This could be achieved by a range of measures

Policy 18:
Village Centre Development proposals which would enhance the character and sense of place of the central retail and commercial area of Hassocks will be supported.

Proposals to enhance parking facilities, traffic flow, pedestrian and cycling facilities, shop frontages, green spaces, public realm and signage will be particularly supported.


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

9. DATE OF NEXT MEETING. 28th October 2021

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

Item 5 – a period of 15 minutes will be set aside for the public 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 2 September 2021 at 19.30 pm

Attendees: Parish Councillors: Claire Tester, Ian Weir and Kristian Berggreen

Clerk:  Ian Cumberworth

NP21/29 APOLOGIES: Cllr Bill Hatton and Cllr Carolyn Barton

Absent without apologies: Cllr Nick Owens

NP21/30 DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS: None declared.

NP21/31 Election of Chair and Vice Chair the Clerk informed members that he had not received any specific requests from individuals to fill these roles however the Committee earlier in the year (March) prior to the Annual meeting nominated Cllr Tester as Chair and Cllr Owens as Vice Chair. As Cllr Tester was present and confirmation was sought as to whether Cllr Tester would be happy continue in that role as Chair and other members were invited to express an interest if they were interested in the position.

Cllr Tester indicated that she would be happy to continue in this role which all members were in favour.

Members therefore RESOLVED to appoint Cllr Tester as the Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee.

In light of some members not being present including Cllr Owens who had previously held the position as Vice Chair it was determined to hold over the appointment of the position of Vice Chair until the next meeting.

NP21/32 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

There were no members of the public present.

NP21/33 Infrastructure Projects – Members discussed the attached Appendix A: (to view appendix A please click here). Hassocks Infrastructure Schedule which had been updated at the previous meeting in August. Members were invited to review the amended document and determine whether further adjustments were required and determine whether the suggested schemes should be prioritised as short term/medium term or long term projects that they would like to see supported by future developer contributions (section 106 & CIL contributions).

Members went through the paper line by line and identified and categorised each scheme in turn. It was agreed where developer funding streams had been allocated or known to have been received these should be incorporated in the document.

The Clerk undertook to amend the document to reflect the proposed amendments.

Members expressed the view that it will be necessary to liaise with MSDC officers directly and through the scheduled infrastructure review process to ensure that the Hassocks Parish Council can effectively influence the process of utilising future developer contributions for the benefit of the community.

NP21/34 West Sussex County Council – proposed Dale Avenue, Hassocks improvements consultation survey – Members were asked to note the contents of the Parish Councils consultation response. As it was necessary to submit the Councils representation outside of the portal due to the limitations on free text able to be used in the portal. Confirmation was obtained from County that the Councils comments will be considered as part of the consultation process.

Members NOTED the content of the response.

NP21/35 Urgent Matters. The Clerk requested that members note that he and Cllr Weir had recently attended a briefing session where MSDC provided an update on the Site Allocations DPD and the District Plan review timeline. It was indicated that in respect of the District Plan review that the Regulation 18 consultation is anticipated to be carried out at the end of 2021 with the Regulation 19 consultation in the summer of 2022 prior to the submission to the Planning Inspectorate.

NP21/36 DATE OF NEXT MEETING.  28th October 2021.