Minutes 28th June 2018

Aug 27, 2018 | Minutes Archive

DNP Working Group minutes 28th June 2018

7.00pm Desford Library

In Attendance: Bernard Grimshaw, Colin Crane, David Crocker, Ewan Lindsay, Gary Kirk (YL), Jim Houghton, Judy Sharpe, June Morris, Martyn Randle, Pat Crane, Paul Angelinetta

Apologies: Andrew Norton, Darren Tilley, Scott Wakefield

  1. Welcome:

Martyn welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked for apologies to be listed

  1. Minutes of last meeting / matters arising:

The minutes were discussed and approved as a true record and signed by Martyn accordingly.

Martyn asked if there was any progress in the change of postcode for Neovia. Colin reported that he had met with LCC and they will send a letter of support to the Post Office.

Martyn asked about the traffic survey report. Colin said that this had been received and that it would be circulated to the group. He also added that he had met with LCC Highways and raised several issues with them including HGV traffic along Main Street and Lindridge Lane.

Martyn stated that the Vision Statement was not currently on the PC or DNPWG website.

  1. Declaration of Interest:

NONE

  1. Chairman’s Report:

Martyn commented that funding was in place and that things were now back on track for the September deadline.

  1. Treasurers Report / grant applications:

Bernard had circulated his report by email to the group.  Pat noted that the amount of grant received from Locality was £6,000- not £6,500, as stated in the report. Colin commented that there had been an email confirming the approval of the funding from Awards for All but that the money had not been received yet. Action– Bernard to publicise receipt of grant as suggested in email.

Gary reminded the group that VAT is recoverable and Colin confirmed that the full amount of the YL invoice would be paid and the VAT recovered in due course.

Gary commented that SEA was not part of the grant bid as RCC will do this. A sum of money has been put in the bid for the consultation; however the RCC may do this and therefore save us money. YL can work in conjunction with RCC.

Action-Bernard to talk to John at RCC about this.

  1. Communication Officer’s Report:

Bernard had circulated his report by email to the group.  The change of address of RCC was noted.

  1. Discussion of Initial Draft of Neighbourhood Plan

Discussion of the Initial Draft Plan took place. It was agreed that this was sensitive information and was embargoed until the Draft is released for Pre- Submission Consultation.

  1. Web page / Twitter /Spotted Desford

Jim confirmed that the Vision Statement was not on the DNPWG website and that there were about 2 people a day viewing the website.

  1. AOB

Gary stated that he will be sending another invoice from YL shortly.

  1. Date of next meeting:

       Tuesday 7th August 2018 7pm at the library.

Meeting closed.  8.50 pm.

I confirm this is a true record of the meeting:

Signed……………………………………………………………..   Name……………………………………………………………

Date…………………………………………………………………

Minutes 17th May 2018

Aug 27, 2018 | Minutes Archive

DNP Working Group minutes 17th May 2018

7.00pm Desford Library

In Attendance: Andrew Norton, Bernard Grimshaw, Colin Crane, Ewan Lindsay, Jim Houghton, Judy Sharpe, June Morris, Martyn Randle, Pat Crane ,Scott Wakefield

Apologies:David Crocker, Darren Tilley, Gary Kirk, Kay Smith, Lisa Botterill,

  1. Welcome:

Martyn welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked for apologies to be listed

  1. Minutes of last meeting / matters arising:

The minutes were discussed and approved as a true record and signed by Martyn accordingly.

There were no matters arising.

  1. Declaration of Interest:

NONE

  1. Chairman’s Report:

Martyn explained that although Darren is now taking a less active role in the group he had agreed to reconcile the 2017-18 accounts with the Parish Clerk, and submit the second part of the grant application. He thanked

Bernard for taking over the role of interim treasurer. Bernard thanked Darren for all his work.

Martyn said that an email from Gary had been received. He had apologised for not attending the meeting

and had asked for the chapters to be finalised and the draft chapters to be circulated to him a week before the

next meeting.

  1. Treasurers Report / grant applications:

Bernard stated that the £6000 Locality grant for the housing survey had been received and that the group was still awaiting the Awards for All funding. Bernard is away for the next week but will check with the Parish Clerk that everything has been done. No further work is possible until the grant is awarded. Colin mentioned that the Parish Clerk must sign the confirmation email for the receipt of the Locality grant. Pat stated that this should have been done today (17th May).

  1. Communication Officer’s Report:

Bernard reported that he went to the stakeholders meeting for the Stanton under Bardon, Bagworth and Thornton  neighbourhood plan. He said that the meeting was very similar to ours and that it had taken them 2 years to sort out a joint body. They were being advised by John Preston and team. The NP contact from Barlestone would be joining them. Pat asked if anyone from the industrial site in Merrylees had attended. Bernard said he was not aware of anyone from Merrylees but there were a lot of community organisations and several farmers there.

  1. Pegasus/ Davidsons development

Pat reported that regular emails had been received from the Pegasus group asking if their representatives could meet the Parish Council / DNPWG with regard to Davidsons proposed development. She said replies had been sent to them from the Parish Council stating that they will be informed in due course with everyone else. She mentioned that the Davidsons initial planning application for 100 homes had been turned down. Bernard stated that at present the parish had fulfilled their land supply until 2026 but that Pegasus may still apply to HBBC again. He also commented that YL will be able to advise the WG on our approach in the future. Colin said that Davidsons would have the opportunity to comment later.

  1. FATE focus group:

Jim commented that the group had made a little progress and had now received comments from almost all community groups. Time was now needed to tidy the chapter up and the traffic survey had to be added.

Colin commented that the traffic survey results had been received by the clerk on the 16th May. He explained that the survey had taken place on a Tuesday from 7am to 7pm and that cameras had been set up on Lindridge Lane, outside the library, on Parkstone Road and on Hunts Lane near the Bellways development.  Colin said that he had been surprised by the number of HGV vehicles on Parkstone Road and Lindridge Lane.  Neovia has the same postcode as 1 Peckleton Lane and this causes problems with the HGV sat navs. The Parish Council had asked the Post Office if this could be changed but they had refused. The PC will be asking them again to do this. (Caterpillar has a different postcode). The results of the traffic survey will be circulated to the DNPWG and Jim asked for an abridged version for the FATE chapter.  He also asked if there is a model for the font and print size for the chapter. Pat said she thought that Gary was going to co-ordinate this. Jim said he intended to abridge the main part of the chapter and put further information into appendices. Colin offered to help Jim with this.

  1. Environmental Group:

Pat said that there was nothing further to report and no cross referencing has been done as yet. Judy commented that the group needs to check they have received the most recent copy of their chapter from John to check through. Pat agreed to email John and Gary to check this.

Bernard mentioned that the Awards for All grant may come through in mid-June in time for the next meeting. He also said that as soon as Gary has given the DNPWG the overall draft, it can then be sent to HBBC and could be ready for formal submission in September / October 2018.

  1. Housing Group:

Bernard stated that David had apologised for not attending the meeting and had asked him to comment. The housing group had met on the 16th May  and had gone through the first draft of the chapter. They hoped that this would be done by the 21st June.

Two points had come up. 1- There is no research to show the impact of any future development located to the west of the village on the traffic affecting the primary school or the Peckleton Lane/ High Street junction. 2- There needs to be a balance of views on the Davidsons site versus an eastern village site. This needs to be well supported and consistent.

Bernard stated that no more new sites will be needed in the parish until 2026 unless the HBBC plan review changes this. From then until 2036 80-90 sites per year may be needed. Scott commented that we need to be sure of what we know now, and what we think will be needed, so that there will be no sudden need to act in the future.

11.Cross referencing /Communication between groups/ group leaders meeting:

This had been covered earlier in the meeting.

Scott asked if Gary will look at the document overall and raise any potential conflicts. Martyn replied that Gary would proof read, correct and meld it into a cohesive document.

12.Web page / Twitter /Spotted Desford:

Jim reported that the Vision Statement was not up on the DNPWG website yet. Colin asked if it was on the Parish Council website. Pat replied that she did not know but that it had been agreed to put it up. Jim mentioned that there are only about 2 hits a day on the website currently.

 13.AOB:

Bernard mentioned that the RCC seem to have been arranging informal pre-submission events for Newbold Verdon, free of charge, even though Newbold Verdon had engaged YL to work with them. The statutory consultations eg with the water board had been done by YL.  Pat stated that she had been to the pre-submission consultation exhibition in Newbold Verdon library and that the NVNPWG had done this themselves. She was unsure what contribution the RCC have made or will make. She mentioned that Newbold Verdon had talked to HBBC planning department as soon as they had received the draft plan. Bernard said he would ask the RCC to do the same for the DNPWG. It was already agreed to ask them for help with SEA. Newbold Verdon had used PlanetX to do this and that there was £500 allowed in the Awards for All bid to fund a company like PlanetX.

Colin raised the impact of the new data protection scheme. He said that it was important not to delete any information until HBBC had endorsed the plan. Pat will reply to the email. Martyn asked about the effect of the act on the DNPWG. Colin explained that the DNPWG will need to follow guidelines issued by the Parish Council.

It was agreed that Gary would be emailed the date of the next meeting asap.

  1. Date of next meeting:

Thursday 28th June 2018 7pm at the library.

Meeting closed.  7.53 pm.

I confirm this is a true record of the meeting:

Signed……………………………………………………………..   Name……………………………………………………………

Date…………………………………………………………………

Minutes 12th April 2018

Aug 27, 2018 | Minutes Archive

DNP Working Group minutes 12th April 2018

7.00pm Desford Library

In Attendance: David Crocker, Ewan Lindsay, Judy Sharpe, Martyn Randle, Pat Crane, Scott Wakefield

Apologies: Bernard Grimshaw, Lisa Botterill, June Morris, Colin Crane, Andrew Norton , Darren Tilley, Jim Houghton, Kay Smith

  1. Welcome:

Martyn thanked everyone for attending and asked for apologies to be listed

  1. Minutes of last meeting / matters arising:

The minutes were discussed and approved as a true record and signed by Martyn accordingly.

There were no matters arising.

  1. Declaration of Interest:

NONE

  1. Chairman’s Report:

Martynexplained that he had been unavailable recently due to family commitments and apologised for this.

He reported that Darren was to take a less active role in the group due to work and family circumstances.

Congratulations were offered on his wife’s pregnancy.

Bernard had offered to take over the role of interim treasurer and was thanked for this.

  1. Terms of Reference and Governance document:

Martyn asked whether everyone had received and read the above document.  This was acknowledged.  He explained that Bernard had compiled the document and Pat had proof read it.  It was noted that if the document was endorsed by the DNPWG it would go the next Parish Council meeting for approval.  There was a brief discussion about the contents and a reminder that the agendas and minutes of DNPWG meetings need to be posted on both the Parish Council and Desford Vision websites.  It was also mentioned that any expenditure by the group needs to be approved by the Parish Council.

It was then proposed that the Terms of Reference and Governance document for Desford Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan Working Group be accepted.  Proposer- David Crocker, Seconder – Scott Wakefield. This was carried unanimously.

A copy of the document will be sent to the Parish Clerk and is an agenda item for the next Parish Council meeting.

It was noted that the DNPWG had a Terms of Reference document when it was originally set up but this formalises what we are now doing.

  1. Treasurers Report / grant applications:

Martyn stated that the Awards for All grant application had been sent in early April.

Locality funding: Applications for this had opened again on the 3rd April. Bernard had emailed to ask the group to clarify who would be filling in the application form.  Pat said that Gary had completed the first draft and sent it to Darren for comments.  Darren had offered to complete this and it was agreed to ask him if he would do this as soon as possible.  Action –Pat to email Darren and ask him to complete and send the application and also to let the DNPWG know when this had been done.  David asked about the timescale once the application had been submitted.  Pat replied that she thought it would take 2 to 3 weeks.

  1. Communication Officer’s Report:

This was postponed to the next meeting.

  1. FATE focus group:

Martyn reported that Jim had received an email regarding consideration of the opening of The National Forest Railway Line (Ivanhoe Line) to passenger traffic.  Mike (YL) had suggested that this could be included in an appendix at the end of the NP document.  There was also a possibility of the group adding 5 extra appendices.

The plan document including future rail transport for the region can be found at http://www.llstrategicgrowthplan.org.uk/.  Consultation deadline has been extended until the 10th May.

Martyn stated that the group still needed more information on a number of village organisations.

Also that there needed to be a general review of the traffic and transport section to ensure that nothing had been missed eg cycle paths.

David asked if the group had completed their work with Mike (YL) and Martyn said that they were nearly there.

  1. Environmental Group:

Pat reported that the group had not met since the last meeting.Pat is still waiting to hear from Paul Grundy (HBBC).June has been to a meeting of the 3 Villages Walking Group which had discussed footpaths. A short report had been written and forwarded to John.  The group still need to discuss cycle paths.

10.Housing Group:

David reported that the housing group have been waiting for funding since February and are now planning a meeting on the 26th April.  Derek (YL) thinks this will be the penultimate focus group meeting with Your Locale. When all assessments are completed they will be sent to HBBC who will then forward the individual assessment to each of the stakeholders. There will then be a time limit for them to respond.  Replies to responses will be handled by Your Locale.  The same set methodology applies to each assessment.  This will help to determine DNP preferred sites, although the quota has been met until 2026.  Pat asked if the DNPWG could see the assessments and it was agreed that a summary of these would be sent to the group when completed.  Judy asked when the environment group would be able to comment on the sites.  This input will take place when the favoured sites are chosen.

Pat asked if the owners of the garages in St. Martin’s Drive had been identified.  David replied that this was with HBBC at the moment.

Ewan asked how the stakeholders had been identified.  David replied that this had started with the landowners showing interest in building in the parish when HBBC invited expressions of interest to be included in their site allocations document. He also commented that no new stakeholders had been identified in the latest review.

11.Cross referencing /Communication between groups/ group leaders meeting:

No group leaders meeting had taken place. It was agreed that this would be postponed until the draft chapters were almost completed.

12.Web page / Twitter /Spotted Desford:

No recent information.

 13.AOB:

David asked about progress of the traffic monitoring. Pat said the VAS was waiting for a reply from the County Council as agreement was needed on the positioning of these.  The traffic survey consultant has started work. David then asked if the results could be included in the DNP.  Pat stated that Gary (YL) suggested that these could be included provided that it did not hold up the progress of the DNP.  Currently there is no indication of the timescale of the survey.  It was then asked if it would be possible for the DNPWG to do its own survey eg of HGV.  The difficulties about doing this were discussed.  Pat reported that the Parish Council would like to put a CCTV camera on the Co-op building at the top of Peckleton Lane to monitor traffic there. The PC is waiting for the Parish Clerk to approach the Co-Op.

The date for the next meeting was discussed. Due to the relatively few members able to attend the meeting it was decided to set a provisional date.  Judy was asked to canvas the active members of the DNPWG to see if a date to suit a greater number of members could be agreed.

  1. Next meeting:

Thursday 17th May 2018 7pm at the library.

Meeting closed.  8.02 pm.

I confirm this is a true record of the meeting:

Signed……………………………………………………………..   Name……………………………………………………………

Date…………………………………………………………………

Minutes 13th March 2018

Aug 27, 2018 | Minutes Archive

DNP Working Group minutes 13th March 2018

7.00pm Desford Library

In Attendance:  Bernard Grimshaw, David Crocker, Ewan Lindsay,  Judy Sharpe, June Morris, Kay Smith, Martyn Randle, Pat Crane, Colin Crane, Scott Wakefield

Apologies:  Lisa Botterill, Gary Kirk (YL), Andrew Norton (PC), Darren Tilley

  1. Welcome:

Martyn thanked everyone for attending and asked for apologies to be listed

  1. Minutes of last meeting / matters arising.

The minutes were discussed and approved as a true record and signed by Martyn accordingly.

There were some issues raised.

Martyn asked about the constitution of the working group.  Colin confirmed that the Parish Council have no objection to considering the DNPWG as a working group. Bernard offered to circulate some Terms of Reference for the working groupfor the next meeting.

Martyn raised the financial situation of the DNPWG. This was discussed further under the Chairman’s and Financial reports later in the meeting.

  1. Declaration of Interest

NONE

  1. Chairman’s Report

Martyn stated that the balance of the Locality grant, £1,500, was due to be claimed by Your Locale on the 23rd March and asked if there was any further money.

Pat replied that the PC had set aside money for the DNP but that this was to be regarded as an emergency fund. The plan had always been to fund the DNP through grant money.  There was a need to apply for the Awards for All grant as this takes 12 weeks from submission of the application form.  It was asked if the PC money could be used as a ‘bridging loan’ until the Awards for All grant could be paid but Pat explained that this was not possible as the Awards for All grant funding was for specific listed costs and could not be used retrospectively.

Martyn stated that the application for the technical support grant had not been made. Applications for the next financial year can be made in April.

Martyn then reported on the three focus groups.

Housing is awaiting funding for the housing site assessment – this is not now able to take place until at least mid-April, they are hampered by this delay. The Environment group’s work on their chapter is quite advanced.  FATE has made good progress on the business sector but further work was needed on transport and local clubs.

In conclusion the delays in funding and outstanding work have put the time scales back. It is hoped that there will be an advanced version of the DNP draft by the beginning of May.

  1. Treasurers report / grant applications

Darren had emailed to give his apologies and a financial report.

He confirmed that the Neighbourhood Planning Grant had been received from Locality and this was the full amount available under this scheme.

The technical support grant will need to be applied for in the next financial year, ie. in April.

His advice for the Awards for All grant was to determine what additional funding will be needed before the application is made.

He stated he would be meeting with the Parish Clerk to finalise the accounts for the DNPWG for this financial year and should be able to report on this in April.

There was discussion about the items raised in the Chairman’s and Financial reports.

It was asked if any other NP groups would be able to help voluntarily during the gap in funding. Colin mentioned that Market Bosworth had gone through a successful NP with HBBC and that their plan was published. Pat added that Newbold Verdon had also been working with Your Locale and that their NP was ready for pre- submission consultation beginning on the 30thApril. There may also be other published reports that we could look at.

In light of the current financial situation it was proposed that all groups should continue working on their own, without support from Your Locale, until the Awards for All funding was available. This was agreed.

Bernard proposed that a sub group be formed to include Martyn, Darren, Gary (YL), a member of the PC, the Parish Clerk and other members of the group, as available, to fill in the details needed for the Awards for All application. Colin suggested that some of the PC funding money could be used to cover the YL expenses for this meeting. It was agreed to ask GK what his fee would be.

Action – Martyn agreed to contact Darren and circulate possible meeting dates asap.

6 Desford Vision

Bernard stated that a copy of the Draft Vision statement had been sent for uploading to the website. This also included a section asking for comments.

7 Communication officer’s report

Bernard and Pat had attended a meeting of the 3 villages group. The minutes of this have been circulated to the DNPWG. It was noted from this that Newbold Verdon had been unaware that funding was needed for the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA). It was suggested that Desford will need to include this in the Awards for All funding bid. Newbold Verdon are hoping that their plan will be ready for referendum in late November. Barlestone  are a small group and are not as advanced as Desford.

Following Newbold Verdon’s community speed watch, LCC had also done their own traffic survey in 4 locations. These included the B582 at both ends of the village, Dragon Lane and the Heath. The results of this showed that there were approximately 50,000 vehicles using the B582 over a week and that these were within acceptable speed limits.

Bernard had circulated two documents- the National Planning Policy Framework draft text and the NPPF consultation document to the group. He had read both of these and took from them two particular points:

the need to be proactive and that there was a firm statement that if a plan is up to date (within last 5 years) and meets targets there will be a bias against approving large scale housing development . Great regard will be made of NPs. HBBC plan was approved in 2016 and Desford has met its land supply until 2026.

  1. FATE focus group

Martyn reported that the business section of their chapter was completed and the latest draft had been circulated by Jim. There was more work to be done on transport and local clubs. Colin commented that not all clubs had replied and although the group could write about them it was thought better if the clubs did these themselves.

Colin commented that Desford PC had agreed to fund a traffic survey and that there was a meeting on the 20.3.18 to discuss this. LCC will not supply data to explain why they wish to use money available from the proposed Neovia development to fund improvements to the Desford Crossroad  junction rather than in the centre of the village and at the Dan’s Lane junction with the A47.

Colin also mentioned that the PC are buying 2 mobile flashing speeding signs. These take power from an existing lamp post and several locations for siting them had been identified around the parish. They also contain data loggers which can count the numbers of speeding vehicles- but not identify them.

  1. Environmental Group

Pat reported that the group had not met with John but were continuing their work. June and Judy have sent photos of 7 of the best views to John and have 1 more to take. Pat is going through the local heritage list and is still waiting to hear from Paul Grundy The group still need to discuss footpaths.

  1. Housing Group

David reported that the housing group are waiting for the technical funding bid in April before any further progress can be made. They have a meeting with Derek on Tuesday 20th March and will ask how much more time and money will be needed then.

  1. Cross referencing /Communication between groups/ group leaders meeting.

No group leaders meeting had taken place. It was agreed that this would be postponed until the draft chapters were almost completed.

  1. Local Plan Drop In Sessions

No further drop in sessions had been attended by members of the DNPWG. HBBC had been to Desford on a Thursday morning and commented that quite a lot of people had viewed the display. Consultation had now finished and note will be taken of any comments made. Site consultations will be held next.

  1. HBBC Community Sector Partnership Feedback

Kay reported that she had been unable to attend this but will email to ask if there are any minutes of the meeting. It was agreed to ask Jim about this at the next meeting.

  1. Web page / Twitter /Spotted Desford

The report on the use of Twitter by SID is to be carried over to the next meeting.

It was suggested that consideration should be given to the possibility of employing someone to promote the DNP, through social media, as a part of an Awards for All bid.  Newbold Verdon has had a lot of hits on their social media sites; Desford a lot less.

  1. AOB

Martyn raised the issue of the day of the week that the DNPWG meet. He stated that Andrew Norton would be interested in joining the group but has regular commitments on a Tuesday. A different day may also enable Darren and others to attend.  After discussion it was agreed that the next meeting of the DNPWG would be on a Thursday.

Pat stated an invitation had been received to attend a stakeholder meeting from Bagworth & Thornton and Stanton under Bardon NP group. (Desford is invited as we are adjoining parishes.) The meeting is on the 12th April, 5.45pm for 6pm in Stanton under Bardon village hall. Bernard expressed interest in attending this.

  1. Next meeting

7pm Thursday 12th April  2018 at the library.

Meeting closed.  8.05 pm.

I confirm this is a true record of the meeting:

Signed……………………………………………………………..   Name……………………………………………………………

Date…………………………………………………………………

Minutes 13th February 2018

Aug 27, 2018 | Minutes Archive

DNP Working Group minutes 13th February 2018

7.00pm Desford Library

In Attendance:  Bernard Grimshaw, David Crocker, Ewan Lindsay, Gary Kirk (YL), Jim Houghton, Judy Sharpe, Kay Smith, Martyn Randle, Pat Crane, Colin Crane, Scott Wakefield, Andrew Norton (PC)

Apologies:  Paul Angelinetta, Lisa Botterill, Darren Tilley

  1. Presentation By Your Locale

Gary gave a presentation on Planning Policy Pitfalls which Your Locale had produced.

Examples of quotes from previous plans, and the examiners responses to these, were discussed.

2 additional members of the Parish Council also attended.

  1. Welcome:

Martyn thanked everyone for attending and Gary for the informative presentation. Pat introduced Andrew Norton (Parish Councillor) who then stayed for the DNP meeting.  Martyn asked for apologies to be listed

  1. Minutes of last meeting / matters arising.

The minutes were discussed and approved as a true record and signed by Martyn accordingly.

There were some issues raised.

Martyn asked about the constitution of the working group.  Pat confirmed status of the DNPWG as a working group of the Parish Council. Martyn then asked about the need for declarations of interest. Colin said a common sense approach was needed about this.

Martyn asked if the fee for the hire of the church for the previous meeting had been paid. Pat confirmed it had.

Martyn asked if the DNPWG is on the agenda for PC meetings. Colin explained that the clerk writes the agenda for the PC, but that it is on the Planning Committee’s  agenda and can be discussed under this at PC meetings.

  1. Declaration of Interest

NONE

  1. Chairman’s Report

Martyn  explained that further to Kaye stepping down from the role of secretary she had now resigned from the group.

Kay had forwarded an invitation to Martyn to a HBBC consultation event. This was discussed more fully under AOB.

  1. Treasurers report / grant applications

Darren had emailed to give his apologies and a financial report.

He confirmed that the second Locality grant will shortly be paid into the Parish Council’s account, so this covers the next stages of work by Your Locale.  The additional grant for the housing site surveys had not yet been confirmed.

He had passed the invoice for the annual website hosting to the clerk for payment.

He noted that there had been some miscellaneous payments recently and he would check the DNPWG records against those held by the clerk prior to the end of the financial year. He hoped to do this shortly and present a summary of income and expenditure at the next meeting.

Awards for All Grant

Pat asked if there had been any progress in this application. It was agreed to ask Darren about this.

7 Desford Vision

Jim noted that there had been no updates on the website since September 2017.

He had received copies of the agendas and minutes and will try to upload these to the website.

Bernard commented that he had heard from HBBC/RCC that the Draft Vision statement had been approved. It was agreed to upload this.

8 Communication officer’s report

Bernard had circulated his report to members of the DNPWG.

He then discussed the highlighted sections and made some further comments .

1-Vision and Housing Context. Sam Hatfield also commented that there were no specific numbers or major allocation before 2026, but it would be good to build in some resilience. 454 per annum was the number for the borough as a whole, but it was likely that HBBC will have to help Leicester City fulfil their quota. Historically Desford has built on average 15 houses per year but this may need to rise to 17 per year from 2026. (Based on Desford’s population being 4,000 out of a borough population of 110,000) This means finding sites for 60-80 houses.

2-Government Consultation on National Planning Policy Framework. There is a major review coming out later this year, but a technical change will be happening soon. Gary confirmed that this should not concern NDP.

3- Consultation Leicester and Leicestershire 2050 Our Vision for Growth. Most growth will take place along A46.

4- Consultation Hinckley and Bosworth Local Plan Review. Bernard and David attended the Housing  presentation.  Copies of documents are available in the library and on Dropbox. There is a pro forma on the HBBC website www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/localplanreview for submitting views, which needs to be done before the 3rd March.

7- Overall Spatial strategy. The SW to NE of the borough is in line for growth because of the transport links.

Employment – There is already a large land area used for employment in the borough, particularly in the urban areas of Hinckley and Earl Shilton. Desford parish has 2 major employers, ie Caterpillar/ Neovia, so it was suggested that any further site for employment could be welcomed in that area. Colin pointed out that part of the Caterpillar / Neovia site is in Peckleton’s parish.

David stated that in the years 2026 to 2031 the consultation suggests that about 60 housing units would be needed. However these could be skewed towards older people- if there is an evidence base showing need. There is an older demographic in the parish. Gary stated that older people/ smaller family housing would be needed before 2026. The NDP would provide an ideal opportunity to build in a phasing programme. It was suggested that it would be a good idea to refer back to Midland Housing and their questionnaire results,

Kay queried section 7.4 of Bernard’s report. Gary explained that housing is a key element but that environmentally valuable sites can be protected by suggesting preferred locations in the NDP.

Bernard was thanked by the group for his hard work in producing the detailed and informative report.

  1. FATE focus group

Jim reported that the group had made little progress since December in writing their section.

Traffic- Colin mentioned that there would be a traffic survey discussion at the next Parish Council meeting. The traffic issues were primarily in the centre of the village and at the Dan’s Lane junction with the A47, not at the Desford cross roads junction.

Business- Martyn reported that their consultation had, had 4 responses, with another one pending, but that there did not appear to be a lot of interest; even though all retail and businesses had been contacted. Scott suggested that these could be contacted again- stating that it would be assumed that they are content with the current situation unless the group hears otherwise. Jim suggested that the group works on that assumption for now.

Gary said that the consultants had offered to help and reminded the group funding was available until the end of March.

  1. Environmental Group

Pat reported that the group had met with John on the 29th January. John had submitted an updated version of the draft chapter for the report. Queries in this had been discussed. June and Judy are taking photos of the best views and Pat is going through the local heritage list. The group still need to discuss cycle ways with Newbold Verdon Neighbourhood Plan Group.

Gary reported that John was happy things were on track. He suggested that a list of the heritage buildings be compiled for the chapter, as the details of each listing will form part of an appendix and could be completed later. He also commented that it was too premature to arrange any further consultation/ local meeting or for the draft chapter to be seen by HBBC.  Gary said that he hopes all chapters will be done in draft by mid March, so that he can then begin to work on this as a coherent document.

11 Housing Group

David reported that the housing group are making progress. They have been through the SHLAA sites and done approximately 24 with 7 still to do in the next week.  The group need to ensure that they have the HBBC updated list, resulting from consultation sent out in December, and include all sites.  They are using the matrix from Your Locale and this will give a shortlist of sites. They will then bring this list to the DNPWG meeting for discussion.  It is unlikely there will be many apart from infill and sites for older people before 2026. Housing targets for 2026-31 and 2031-2036 could be skewed towards developments for older people.

Gary reminded the group that even if a site scores red on the matrix it can still be built on. The purpose of the matrix is to rank sites ie having a few favoured sites and others in reserve. He said he was aware of progress in the process and asked about design details. David said that the design decision was to not be too prescriptive.

Pat asked if we contact land owners now or wait until draft is completed. David replied that we wait until after the closing date of March 8th when the strict criteria can be seen. It has to be an open /transparent process.

  1. Cross referencing /Communication between groups/ group leaders meeting.

Gary suggested that the 3 group leaders should meet together a week before the next DNPWG meeting. This is to avoid contradictions in the report.

  1. Local Plan Drop In Sessions

Bernard and David had attended the housing session as reported in the Communication Officer’s report.

Pat and June had attended the environment session. There were no major surprises – it appears that we are doing OK.

There are some sessions on later in February should anyone wish to attend.

  1. Web page / Twitter /Spotted Desford

No further developments.

Jim suggested that links could be put in between websites for local businesses and Desford Vision. He also reported that SID will be employing Emma Sylvester for 2 hours a week, for 13 weeks, to promote certain groups by using Twitter. Jim suggested that this could be a possible resource for the DNPWG in the future.  Bernard pointed out that there is currently no money for this. It was suggested that Darren put this in as part of an Awards for All bid- to employ someone to promote the DNP through the use of social media. Jim agreed to feedback about this and it will be put on the agenda.

  1. AOB

Kay reported on an invitation she had received from HBBC to attend a Community Sector Partnership Forum meeting at the Concordia on the 26th February from 10am -12noon. This is to gain an understanding of community transport within the borough particularly in the light of continued budget cuts. She will try to attend and report back. Jim had also received the invitation and intends to attend.

  1. Next meeting

7pm Tuesday 13th March 2018 at the library.

Meeting closed.  9.19pm.

I confirm this is a true record of the meeting:

Signed……………………………………………………………..   Name……………………………………………………………

Date…………………………………………………………………

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