Agenda item

To receive any announcements through the Chairman and to note the following item for information:

·         Interactive Public Meetings – considering challenges ahead

The Chairman had three announcements to make, as follows

Challenges Ahead - Interactive Public Meetings

An invite was extended to all members of the public to attend one of the meetings hosted by Wiltshire Council with members of the Council’s cabinet to discuss the challenges being faced by the council.

Draft Housing Site Allocations consultation

A public consultation was being undertaking into the draft housing site allocations plan and this would close on 22 September 2017. Attendees at the meeting were encouraged to submit their comments through the advertised channels.

Tristan Stevens and Mike Smith spoke on behalf of the neighbourhood plan steering group and made the following points: that they wished the Area Board to take note of the strength of feeling about the proposals for Crudwell and that the attendance of around 120 Crudwell residents demonstrated this; that the steering group was newly established and would be making a formal submission to the consultation process; that they were keen to hear from residents and members of the Crudwell community; that the steering group had not been set up as a protest group and that they were not anti-development but would instead be working to establish and represent the views of the village within Wiltshire Council and the planning process; and that a planning consultant had been appointed with funds raised locally to help them do this. It was reported that the steering group were due to meet with the Head of Spatial Planning later in the month.

The Chairman thanked the steering group representatives for their comments and agreed that their contact details would be promoted on the Malmesbury Community Matters website and newsletter. Cllr Grant, Cllr Sturgis, and Cllr Thomson explained the stages that their respective areas had reached with regards to their neighbourhood plans and an offer of help was made to share experiences of methodologies and plan creation should it be useful. The Chairman then invited Cllr Toby Sturgis to offer further comment on the planning process and consultation.

Cllr Sturgis explained that neighbourhood plans were very important in the planning process and that they had to include plans for development but could be shaped to meet public needs. He stressed the importance of the consultation process on the draft housing site allocation plan as Malmesbury Community Area had been tasked with finding a number of new houses and that this amounted to around 30 per village, with some better suited than others to accommodate them. He reported that while the Crudwell neighbourhood plan would not be in an advanced enough stage to carry much official weight in the site allocation plans, the information collected would be useful in feeding into the consultation.

The Chairman reiterated his support for the neighbourhood planning process and that while it could be a long process at times, having an adopted plan did work in defending areas from unwanted development and increased the amount of Community Infrastructure Levy that the parish council could draw down from new development to 20% which could be spent within and for the benefit of the community.

Household Recycling Centre changes

Stanton St Quinton household recycling centre (HRC) would be closed for the period 4 – 18 December to allow for modifications to be made to improve access and usability. Residents could use Purton HRC as an alternative while the work was carried out. Further information on this is appended.