25 September 2018 – Agenda
SUMMONS TO ATTEND A MEETING OF
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN CONTINUITY COMMITTEE
TO: All Members of the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Committee
Cllrs B Austin (Chairman), D Bretherton (Deputy Chairman), P Cowell,
D Dodds, M Dyer, H Fickling, C Jones, P Lambert and M Stiles
Ex Officio (Voting) Members – A Midwinter (Town Mayor) and L Emery (Deputy Mayor)
To: All other Members for information
VENUE: Upper Chamber, Thame Town Hall
DATE: Tuesday 25 September 2018
TIME: On the rising of the Planning & Environment Committee and not before 7pm
Graham Hunt
Clerk of the Council
Date: 19 September 2018
AGENDA
1. Apologies for Absence
2. Declarations of Interest and Dispensations
To notify of any items that appear in the agenda in which there may be an interest that has not been recorded in the Member’s Register of Interest; and confirmation of any relevant dispensations.
3. Public Participation and Public Questions
To consider applications from members of the public to address the Committee (5 minutes maximum), in respect of any item of business included in the agenda. Applications to speak must have been received by the Town Clerk no later than 5pm on the last working day preceding the meeting.
To consider questions from members of the public (who live, work or run a business in the Parish). Written questions must have been received by the Town Clerk no later than 4pm on the last working day preceding the meeting.
4. Minutes
To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Committee Meetings held on 14 August 2018.
5. Working Groups
To receive a report / update from the chairmen of:
a) The NPCC Co-Ordination Working Group
b) The Infrastructure Delivery Plan Working Group
c) The Green Living Plan Working Group
d) The Town Centre Working Group
5d. Market Town Co-Ordinator Update – 25-09-18
e) Transport Plan Working Group
f) The Community Facilities Working Group
g) The Burial Space Working Group
6. Public Arts Strategy
To review and approve the Public Arts Strategy as prepared by the Public Arts Working Group (PAWG) and approved by the Town Centre Working Group (TCWG), giving the TCWG permission to progress projects proposed in Section 10, within budget to completion, in line with the Strategy.
6. PUBLIC ART STRATEGY – final draft
7. South Oxfordshire District Local Plan
To note that comments from the District’s planning barrister at a planning appeal near Emmer Green show the District are arguing a need for 627 dwellings per year, in line with the revised national methodology for calculating housing need. This would give the District a 7.6 year housing land supply.
This does not mean this figure will translate into the pre-submission version of the District LP in spring of 2019. The Growth Deal and the new national methodology for calculating housing need conflict, with the former providing a mechanism for significant growth to expand the region’s economy, controlled by infrastructure and environmental constraints, and the latter being more constrained by being a function of population movements and house prices. The two simplest models for the new plan are outlined below. Please note that due to the delay in the plan’s submission another year will have to be added to the Plan’s lifespan, giving a plan period of 2011-2034:
1) Relying upon the pure national methodology to give an annualised figure, i.e., the 627 mentioned above (which is presumably an adjustment of the early Government calculation of 617 per annum). This would equal a total of 14,421 homes, excluding any extra that might result from cross-border agreements.
It is worth noting that within their first pre-submission plan (October 2017) SODC identified 13,284 dwellings as having been allocated through the Core Strategy, completed, under construction, or with planning permission. There should therefore only be a requirement for a maximum of 1,137 homes to be allocated within the new plan, excepting any commitment to provide for unmet need from other areas. The reality is this number should be lower, as more planning permissions will have been granted since October 2017;
2) Proposing the growth expected of the District under the Oxfordshire Growth Deal. This would give an annualised housing need similar or identical to that proposed within their first pre-submission local plan of 775 homes per annum. Note however this did not include Oxford’s unmet need, nor the unexplained uplift that resulted in over 22,500 homes being identified as either completed, current supply, or new allocations.
Option 1) is less contentious, and would provide an up to date “stop-gap” local plan prior to the adoption of the Joint Statutory Spatial Plan (JSSP) for Oxfordshire. It would also serve to remove a main driver for non-plan-led planning applications which are costly to deal with in terms of resources.
Option 2) would therefore come forward as a result of pressure on the authority from the Growth Deal partners, and/or the Government. The 100,000 homes agreed for Oxfordshire are to be delivered by 2031, yet the District would have to plan through until 2034. It would be natural for other parties to expect to see the 100,000 homes within this draft plan, i.e., for concrete proof that SODC intend to meet its part of the deal.
Balanced against the wish to exert pressure on SODC will be the need of the partners and Government to recognise the recent change of leadership at SODC, and the absolute requirement for the Planning Team to be free to focus on the JSSP.
The further complication brought by the Expressway should not trouble this current South Oxfordshire Local Plan. If the Growth Deal for Oxfordshire succeeds, the SODC Local Plan’s lifespan will be brief, as it will be quickly superseded by the JSSP. With the exact route not to be announced until autumn of 2020, it is expected that growth related to the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge Expressway and the wider corridor will, therefore, be provided for within the JSSP.
Within the context of the growth corridor, no growth has yet been allocated to any geographic region within Oxfordshire. Any numbers seen to date are speculative.
8. Thame Neighbourhood Plan Revision
To note that work is underway on appraising the existing, cross-border evidence base. Particular attention is being paid to Thame’s sphere of influence in matters of retail, employment, education and health. 9 Oxfordshire Growth Board.
To note the meeting of the Oxfordshire Growth Board that is happening this evening. The Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer (NPCO) will expand on anything of relevance.
10. Oxford – Cambridge Expressway
To note the announcement made on 12 September 2018 that the preferred corridor for the Expressway was that called “B” (see attached Highways England booklet). The final route will be chosen, next. It has not yet been decided whether to route the corridor west of Oxford, potentially using an upgraded A34, or south and east of Oxford, crossing the M40 near Wheatley.
The route alternatives will be taken out to public consultation in autumn 2019, with a decision being made one year later. Build is due to start around 2025, with completion by 2030.
To consider any relevant comments by the Committee.
10. Oxford to Cambridge Expressway Corridor overview booklet
11. Kingsmead Business Park
To note that a pre-application meeting was held on 6 September 2018 between the Town Council and Angle Properties, owners of Kingsmead Business Park off Howland Road, on their revised plans for the whole site.
To note planning application P18/S1243/FUL – for the erection of 68 bed care home and associated vehicular parking, landscaping, ancillary infrastructure and other works on the DAF Trucks site has been withdrawn.
12. Affordable Housing / Community Land Trust (CLT)
To receive an update following the one day ‘Visioning’ Workshop held on Monday 17 September 2018.
To consider any relevant comments by the Committee.
13. Housing Needs Survey
To note that the Town Clerk raised the importance of a new housing needs survey for the market towns with the Chief Executive Officer for SODC, Mark Stone at his meeting on 31 August 2018.
14. Health Hub / Hallam Land
To note that an internal meeting has been arranged with Hallam Land, and a representative from the surgery, in order for the Town Council to further appraise and discuss Hallam’s pre-application proposal. This has been set for the 26 September 2018. All Members have been invited to attend.
The separate Town Councillor comments on the pre-application submission to SODC have been separately submitted, in case of use to the SODC officer.
15. Other Items to Note
a) Advice was given by the NPCO to Sonning Common neighbourhood planning group on how CLTs can ensure any rented or sold properties continue to be held for the benefit of the community.
b) The NPCO advised a neighbouring parish on how to deal with a request for a screening opinion.
c) The NPCO replied to a resident, outlining the responsibilities of Taylor Wimpey in the management of the public open space that is still in their control. It was explained how this would evolve to become the responsibility of a management company run by and for the benefit of the residents themselves. The resident was thanked for her proactivity in bringing to the attention of the appropriate authorities the small group of individuals who had set up a tented encampment in the wooded land adjacent to the Cuttlebrook.
d) The Town Clerk responded to a Cambridge University study that was seeking to understand how neighbourhood planning can create communities that support the ageing population.
e) National Planning Policy Framework: No particular matters have recently arisen in connection with the revised NPPF. The letter to Kit Malthouse re 2 year limit still awaits redrafting, but is less urgent given current housing land supply figures.
f) The Town Clerk provided information to Cirencester Town Council on life beyond a Neighbourhood Plan, to assist them in their decision making.
g) A further SODC Planning Report (for July) was circulated to all Councillors on 3 September 2018.
h) The Town Clerk provided advice to Bellway Homes on their allotment responsibilities, as defined in the s106 agreement. Members of the public continue to believe that the Town Council are in some way responsible.
i) A meeting with the consultants preparing the Lord Williams’s Lower School Design Brief in advance of the planned public exhibition / consultation was held earlier in the day.
j) A request for further discussions on both The Elms site and the land north-east of Moreton has been requested by Rectory Homes. Potential dates are being established.
k) The NPCO provided feedback on separate queries relating to Nursery Provision, social housing and gym provision, in relation to the Neighbourhood Plan.
l) We understand that no-one was available to attend last night’s Need not Greed meeting on the Joint Statutory Spatial Plan for Oxfordshire, but expect further detail in due course.
m) A Councillor responded to a query on excessive signage deployed by a developer, in relation to the Neighbourhood Plan.
n) The Town Clerk has provided suggestions on various ways forward in relation to the Conservation Area Appraisal required for Moreton.