Perranzabuloe Neighbourhood Development Plan
Steering Group Meeting – 8th February 2018
Minutes
1 Address by Kathryn Statham
Prior to the start of the meeting, Kath Statham (Landscape Planning Officer -Cornwall Council) gave a presentation upon ‘Local Landscape Character Assessment and Neighbourhood Planning’. A copy of the slides is attached to these minutes. Kath is prepared to offer help and training (at a cost) from the CC to enable this to be addressed in the Neighbourhood Plan. She also provided high definition large scale maps of the area. The presentation was very well received.
Post the meeting Kathryn sent us:
- Copy of her presentation, “Local Landscape Character Assessment, Cornwall Neighbourhood Planning“.
- LLCA Support Services (V10), which is a list of costings for support services (valid at the time they were sent to us)
2 Attendance and Apologies
The Chairman, Rory Jenkins welcomed everybody to the meeting. The list of attendees is appended to these minutes.
Apologies were received from Alison Wright. New observers were Marijka Zwozdiak and Tanya Mock.
3 Approval of Minutes of Meeting dated 9th January 2018
Proposed by Rory Jenkins, seconded by Chris Ashby-Zwozdiak and carried unanimously by the meeting.
4 Matters arising from meeting dated 9th January 2018
William Rogers reported that in order to apply for grants from CC it will be necessary to progress the Neighbourhood Plan to a position that we can assess costs of assets and activities fairly accurately.
WR submitted a request to the Gardens Charities to consider providing a grant in their January 2018 allocation.
Due to the departure of Jenny Bowden, it has been necessary to appoint a new Vice Chairman. Kevin Havill offered himself for this position. There were no other nominations, or objection to Kevin. Hence he was appointed by the Steering Group.
Nick Joy’s temporary position of Communications Officer was endorsed unanimously to become a permanent position.
4a New Issue – Report on Meeting between RJ, WR and Guy Thomas of CC
Given the progress that Cornwall Council has accepted that Perranzabuloe has ‘Designated Area Status’ for a NDP, that we should have a Steering Group and Focus Groups, it seemed appropriate to have an update with Guy Thomas. He will be one of our primary contacts in Cornwall Council for the duration of the project.
Rory (NDP Chairperson) and William (NDP Secretary) met Guy at the Cornwall Council offices in Truro.
Prior to the meeting, Rory wrote up the following notes that were pre-circulated by Willaim. A quick summary of these were given at the meeting.
From having been involved with many NDP’s around Cornwall Guy had the following advice:
1. Spread the load. If the project is taken on by too small a group, it can lead to it stalling or collapsing.
2. St Agnes have stood out for their level of on-going information to their community. Their almost monthly updates to the community is yielding dividends with them typically getting around 20% respondent rates to their consultations. This is apparently high.
3. Don’t attempt community consultation in the holidays. Spring and Autumn work well.
4. Always keep evidence of all engagement and responses.. Without the final NDP being backed by evidence of being the wishes of the community it won’t get accepted by CC
5. If we feel we might need external experts, ask Guy and his team first. They might have the skills we need, for free or cheaper than elsewhere. Or they might know where to get the best skills at the best price.
6. Imogen Day in his team is their expert on policy. So not only can she help with what we can and can’t influence, she will also be there to help write up the NDP so that it fits with existing planning policy.
Progressing this, Guy suggested the following 2018 time scale.
Feb / March
Engage with the community to say that work has started on a NDP. Explain what this is. Say we want everybody’s views, input, help etc. Give contact details. (Website, Facebook, email list, notice boards). Say that from the initial group and meetings, which we hope will grow as more learn about it, It was suggested by RJ that we should identify items that cause the most concern for the Parish, and home in particularly on the top 5 subjects to examine in depth.
the initial TOP 5 issues are …… .Ask what they think about these. Ask if what issues, if any, they would put instead of any of these issues. Have it so that responses are delivered to drop off points at local shops, pubs etc.
Late April / May
Have the first community engagement meetings. Having these where the community normally meet apparently works well. eg a local pub.
This would involve the first questionnaire to establish top concerns.
June
Attend events throughout the Parish
July & August
Consolidate and analyse the responses.
September
Use the analysed responses to start a second round of questions and engagement.
In relation to the overall plan and next stages, Guy in particular mentioned the Consultation and Engagement Toolkit and the Project Plan links which are to a PDF and an Excel template: These can be accessed though the following hyperlinks.:-
– Project Planning
– Project Plan Template (which WR has already started looking at)
All events Should be recorded and logged, together with the extent of representation from the public.
5 Reports from Focus Groups
Housing (Roger Kayes)
Roger Kayes started off by saying that he felt that the Housing Focus Group was adopting a different approach to that of the other focus groups – in particular, because of the constraints and opportunities generated by the planning context within which any neighbourhood plan proposals will have to be developed.
Having held a few meetings with himself (given that he is currently the only member of this Focus Group), he reported that he is preparing half a dozen briefing notes on key dimensions of this planning ‘framework’. It is intended that these briefing notes should help the Steering Group decide the key choices open to the NP process; these being the choices which could be presented to the wider community in the forthcoming consultation.
An example of this is regarding the allocation of new housing sites. The current situation is that the Cornwall Local Plan, itself adopted in November 2016, contains an allocation of 1100 houses for the local ‘Community Network Area’, an area which spans 8 parishes running from St Agnes up to Crantock. According to Cornwall Council’s monitoring, enough houses had been developed or given planning permission from the beginning of the plan period in 2010 to April 2017, to fulfil the target of dwellings to be built before the end of the period, 2030. So our NP does not have to allocate further large sites.
He briefly presented some points around CC’s policy of rural Exception Sites which are required to provide at least 50% of the capacity as ‘affordable housing’, as well as the topic of the Community Infrastructure Levy which has implications for any proposal to include a ‘Permanent Residence Condition’ for new housing developments in the parish.
Karen Collam offered to help with the work of this focus group (and immediately after the end of the meeting, Susan Dutson also volunteered to help).
BETI (Business, Employment Transport & Infrastructure) (Kevin Havill)
The group has met twice since the previous Steering Group Meeting. The BETI focus group consists of seven members plus two parish councillors as participating observers. The group has a broad knowledge base and managed to reach a positive and broad consensus on the points discussed to date.
At the first meeting the group extensively explored the scope of what should be considered under the headings of Business, Employment, Transport and Infrastructure.
Together with these we also considered various potential sources of information and contact groups to support building the evidential base, and to whom we can inform of the Perranzabuloe Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) process with the view of gaining participation and feedback.
At the second meeting they followed Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) recommendations to agree a vision statement that was felt to be applicable to BETI areas of interest and which they hoped would be in line with the ambitions of the other groups. The group then specified a reasonably comprehensive number of hard and soft objectives which can be taken to the community as the starting point for discussion and debate.
Meeting Notes were made and circulated. These recorded those present and issues discussed.
The agreed Vision Statement was:
To create an environment for a healthy, vibrant and thriving local economy serving the needs of all year round residents and visitors alike. Perranzabuloe will seek to attract and retain people and their families who can live, work and enjoy active leisure time in the locality.
Businesses including those within new technologies sectors would be attracted to establish and enlarge due to the provision of new infrastructure, a local labour pool and suitable premises.
Environment & Heritage (Chris Ashby-Zwozdiak)
Several areas of expertise were identified and all agreed that this is a huge remit. Energy is to be focused into Local Landscape Character Assessment LLCA areas and plans. The group is awaiting the next steering group meeting to provide clarity on zoning.
The group discussed the NDPs from Newquay, Falmouth, St Ives, Bude, and Crantock. They have looked with particular focus on St Agnes as the sister parish. Of particular interest was the St Agnes Parish Open Space Strategy which has been analysed by CC using the same methodology/criteria as Cornwall Council’s own Open Space Strategy. It was suggested that it would be in the Council’s interest if this NDP completed the Open Space Strategy (OSS) for the whole Parish as they intend eventually to roll it out across the entire Duchy. It was queried as to whether it would be necessary to add further areas though retrospectively. It seemed rather thin on farmland, and hedge/scrubland. Newquay NDP also includes ‘valued landscapes’ and protection of views and vistas.
It was proposed that an Online Recording Kernow & Scilly (ORKS), via the Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (ERCCIS) study be conducted for the area. Details of CC’s Environmental Growth Strategy together with the associated Biodiversity were discussed. The Biodiversity Targets document which accompanies will also need to be embedded. Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s ‘wildlife resource map for neighbourhood planning was also examined.
Lizzi Larbalestier and her team on Perranporth’s Plastic Free Coastline Status were congratulated. It was agreed that there are many volunteers involved who may also wish to join the group with this, not to mention expertise associated with knowledge of Sites of Special Scientific Interest/ Areas Outstanding Natural Beauty SSSI/AONB’s, dune management re: planning, flora and fauna etc..
Assistance from Natural England and Historic England was noted and welcomed. The CC Interactive Map/Magic was discussed
The extent of conservation areas within the parish, (perhaps Callestick or Bolingey), need to be investigated further.
It was mentioned that reference to, and investigation of, the Town and Country Planning Act is required in addition to other planning documents. This is in order to maintain conformity and to shape general policies without getting bogged down in detail over area specifics. The AONB Management Plan also applies to far west of the Parish.
Skate Park (Bolenna) difficulties were discussed as part of CC Public Open Space observations. The key observations of the existing provision were that there were low levels (per person) of types 4 (children’s equipped play) and 5 (youth) provision, However to some degree these would be compensated by the considerable beach assets. The level of types 1 (park/amenity) and 2 (natural open space) are higher in Perranporth than in most other towns, BUT the Insight report states that green space and access is low for Perranporth. Further investigation is needed, hence also the requirement for a more comprehensive Parish wide survey in conjunction with wildlife/ORKS mapping/LLCA’s.
The group concluded with a look at language for a possible mission statement for this group or as a whole.
No further meeting date was set, as the FG will meet at next steering group when a clearer picture of evolving LLCA will emerge, and the volunteers to train for the process are identified.
6 Communications
New Logo acceptance.
It was agreed that the new logo would be used, and that a strap line should be added. NJ will send suggestions of appropriate strap lines. The SG will decide upon the final wording.
Communications Strategy
NJ will write the NDPs Communication Strategy document. This will define how the group will engage with all parties throughout the process to ensure transparency and inclusion. It will define how communication flows between organisations like Focus Groups to public, etc., how to provide evidence of meetings and consultations, as well as responsibilities. A draft will be sent to SG in by end of February to be approved at next March SG meeting. Focus Group leaders will be asked to approve the draft.
Emails:
All SG members are to have an email account like nick@perranplan.com
In addition, Officers and focus group leaders may have specific like housing.focus@perranplan.com, business. focus@, Chairman@ etc. .These can be accounts to use or forward to private accounts.
Estimated Communications Timings
It is expected that the 1st Engagement flyer will be distributed during April/May depending on assistance that is available.
Consultations by involving everyone, especially the Focus groups – throughout 2018
The main Community Survey will be programmed to be actioned during Jan/Feb 2019
It is essential to represent the NDP at all possible events throughout the Parish.
Groups were asked to email their meeting write ups to Rory and Nick so that these can be added to the Website
7 Financial Issues
An application has been made to the Perranporth Garden Charities for funding.
8 Any Other Business
None
9 Date of Next Meeting and Closure
The next SG meetings have been scheduled for Wednesday 7th March and Monday 23rd April. Both will take place at the Parish offices.
The meeting closed at 21h15.
Perranzabuloe Neighbourhood Plan
Appendix 1 – 1 List of Attendees
Jack Clark Karen Colam Angela Maynard
Janine Branch Chris Ashby-Zwozdiak William Rogers
Andrew Bone Susan Dutson Kevin Havill
Rory Jenkins Nick Joy Roger Kayes
Michael Callan Marijka Zwozdiak Tanya Mocke
Kathryn Statham (CC)
Appendix 2 – Members of Steering Group as of
8th February 2018
Chris Ashby-Zwozdiak Nick Joy Andrew Bown
Andrew Kent Jamine Branch Phil Moor
Susan Dutson Kevin Havill William Rogers
Philip Henwood Roger Kayes Rory Jenkins