Minutes 23rd May 2023
Held on Tuesday 23rd May 2023 at 7.30pm in the Christian Fellowship Church.
Present
Sam Coster – Chair, Steph Amey, Virginia Twentyman, Rufus Philip (via Zoom), Rachel Leggett, Andrea Long (via Zoom), Ali Doe
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Matthew Bradbury, Anne List, Paul Roberts, Steve Thompson and Austen Williams.
2. Accuracy of Minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 25th April 2023 were agreed as correct.
3. Pre-submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan. Any final amendments and sign off for consultation (AL and RL)
The steering group discussed the layout and policies of the draft plan amending grammatical/spelling errors. In addition to this the steering group agreed:
• wording for each policy
• to amend the plan period to 2023-2043
• to annotate photographs within the plan, including those used as full page pictures to add visual breaks within the pages of text
• correct the community infrastructure map and list to ensure that they correspond with each other, changing colour identifiers to numbers so the plan is clearer
• to substitute wording “community projects” to “community aspirations” when referencing items that would not be covered within the scope of the plan, some listed “aspirational” items were removed as they already exist within the town (e.g ATM machine)
• blur any identifiable vehicle number plates
• identify the parish boundary on the light pollution map
It was agreed to release the draft plan to the Town Council for their consideration at their meeting on 13 June 2023. Rachel advised that she would be working on making the draft Plan Website Accessible ready for its publication for the public consultation.
4. Environmental screenings
Andrea advised that environmental screening work was required. Generally Neighbourhood Plans are subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment and habitat assessment. Andrea advised South Norfolk Council would screen the draft before the Regulation 14 consultation and that as the plan is not seeking to allocate land for housing it is unlikely that additional work would be required, however if SNC requires a full assessment then this would delay progress of the plan after the Reg 14 consultation.
5. Briefing pre-submission consultation (RL)
It was noted that if the Town Council require policy changes then this would need to go back to the steering group and would delay the consultation.
A letter will need to be sent (by the Town Council) to owners of the green spaces and non-designated heritage assets (Rachel will forward the letter template and any contact details already established).
Local organisations needed to be added to the list of consultation contacts.
The flyer advertising the consultation (and drop in event) would need to be distributed approximately 10 days prior to the drop in event. Details of the consultation to be shared via local social media pages.
Virginia agreed to do a rota for the drop in event on 3rd July.
It was agreed that response forms for the consultation (paper forms) should be returned to the letter box on the public toilet
6. Arrangements for public consultation
(some points reiterated from agenda item above)
Local organisations needed to be added to the list of consultation contacts.
The flyer advertising the consultation (and drop in event) would need to be distributed approximately 10 days prior to the drop in event. Details of the consultation to be shared via local social media pages. Virginia agreed to do a rota for the drop in event on 3rd July.
It was agreed that response forms for the consultation (paper forms) should be returned to the letter box on the public toilets.
7. Community Land Trust
The steering group discussed the idea of a Community Land Trust as a way of including social housing as this was something that had been mentioned at the previous Town Council meeting.
It was noted that a Community Land Trust does not already exist and that they take some time to set up (needing a qualifying body willing to set one up). It was agreed that this was not something that could be incorporated into the Neighbourhood Plan, however it was noted that if a Community Land Trust was set up within the life of the plan, then the Neighbourhood Plan could be reviewed to include it if necessary.
It was also noted
that a Community Land Trust did not need to be included within a Neighbourhood Plan if a Trust was set up in the future.
8. Correspondence
None.
Date of next meeting
TBC.
Rachel advised that the next meeting would be in September after the consultation, date proposed 26 September 2023.
Rufus advised that he would not be available from September through to December.
Sam thanked everyone for their hard work.
The meeting then closed.