MINUTES OF A NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 09 MARCH 2016 7.30 PM AT THE PAVILION ROOM, MEMORIAL HALL

Present: Chairman Mr C James. Mr C Bishop, Mr C Taylor, Mrs J Stephenson, Julie O’Rourke, B&NES. Mrs S Grimes, Ms C Batten, Mr C Wookey, Ms A Daniels, Mrs M Thomas, Mrs J Drury, Mr P Tyson.

1. Apologies were received from Mr C Reddy.

2. Chairman’s remarks: A welcome was extended to Julie O’Rourke.

3. Minutes of previous meeting (10 February 2016):

After being circulated and read were signed as a true record.

4. Matters Arising:

There were no matters arising.

5. Items for Discussion:

Open Days 18th & 19th March 2016.

Finalise Format: The main purpose of the March meeting was to finalise the format for the Open Days. Chairman suggested that the format for the May 2015 Open Days is followed, with displays going on tables. There will be a Welcome Board. A board explaining what is a Neighbourhood Plan. Copies of the Questionnaire will be available. Many of our Maps will be enhanced and displayed. Ones which define the Neighbourhood Development Boundary, Conservations Areas, Parish Map etc.
There will be separate areas for each Focus Group. An explanation of Policies.
At the very end there will be a “Thank You for coming” and “How Can you Help” area. There will be 10 display boards with approx. 14 posters.

Publicity: The Advertising Banners are up. There is one positioned on the bridge. The second will be displayed outside of the Memorial Hall. 40 Posters in all have been printed. Everyone was asked to take some and display in prominent places. An advert will be in the Parish Magazine. The Primary School will be asked to add flyers to the children’s book bags and an advert on their newsletter. Charlie to arrange the flyer.

Rota: Chris & Charlie will be at the hall on both days. All other members of the Group gave their availability and a rota was agreed. The Group were reminded that a head count was undertaken last May and it was agreed this should be repeated this time.

Analysis: “What happens next?” It was agreed that all Post It Note Comments made on the day will be collated from each Focus Group and subsequently be typed up to form feedback.
Name badges will be worn. It was suggested that the Cabinet Member for Homes & Housing Liz Richardson should be invited along with District Ward Cllr Paul May.
There will be copies of the questionnaire available and Julie O’Rourke kindly offered to produce maps to any size needed for the open days. A copy of the Green Spaces Map was given to Julie to enlarge to A1 x 2 copies.

Policy Writing : Progress reports from Focus Groups were brought to the table.

The Housing & Development gave their report. An Introduction was read out and quotes from the Results from the Housing Needs Survey carried out in 2012 were noted and how these results helped to draft the Policies. Policies drafted so far are for Local Connections, Convenience and safety of pedestrians in relation to footpath and pavement network. Local Distinctiveness and How to consider how best Parish owned land within the development Boundary can be best used to support the continuity in the community and meet the needs of those who need affordable housing. The Group agreed these first draft Policies. It was suggested that Car Parking could be made a Policy and could be added to the Housing Group.
It was agreed at this point that each group will be responsible for their own display however the same Font will be used by all. Verdana 16 Point.
Allotment Site: A discussion took place on the possibility of building on the Allotment Site. It was emphasised that should this happen Allotments have to be replaced for the same size and number of plots.
Julie O’Rourke agreed to scan the picture of the High Street drawn by John Gully which showed an idea for moving the village green to the front of the Lock Up. It was suggested that Highways B&NES should be invited to come and look at this idea.

Environment Group: The Environment Group had met on Wednesday 24th February and produced their set of minutes of the meeting. They also brought to the table a Map of Green Spaces and a Map of the Housing Development Boundary. Policy ideas will be produced around the ideas of a Heritage Trail, Footpaths, Fingerposts and Green Belt, Woodland. Julie O’Rourke suggested Action Policies which are ideas which explore policies or Community Projects. Anything which controls the use of land is a Policy…
There will be a display on the Fingerpost Project for the Open Days produced by Lydia.

Traffic & Transport: This report covered a Background of the A37 and its problems. Traffic Objectives, Traffic Policies, Traffic Reasons. Then also a background on Transport, Transport Objectives, Transport Policies and supporting documents.
Business & Technology: A list of local business’s had been produced. These will be clarified at the Open Days and broken down into what they do. It was suggested that maybe all the business’s sourced could go on the Web Site as a directory. Gas for the Parish was thought to be unlikely.
Broadband – A Policy cannot be made for this. Everyone receive different speeds of internet access.

Moving towards our Draft Plan : what needs to be done, how and when…this will be discussed at the April Meeting. Chairman thanked everyone for their hard work and extra meetings within their focus groups.

6. AOB: A new grant will be applied for from 1st April 2016…

7. Date and venue for next meeting: Wednesday 6th April 2016 at the Pavilion Room, Memorial Hall, Publow Lane.