29 January 2019 – Agenda
SUMMONS TO ATTEND A MEETING OF
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN CONTINUITY COMMITTEE
TO: All Members of the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Committee
Cllrs B Austin (Chairman), D Bretherton (Deputy Chairman), P Cowell, D Dodds, M Dyer, H Fickling, C Jones, P Lambert and M Stiles
Ex Officio (Voting) Members – A Midwinter (Town Mayor) and L Emery (Deputy Mayor)
To: All other Members for information
VENUE: Upper Chamber, Thame Town Hall
DATE: Tuesday 29 January 2019
TIME: On the rising of the Planning & Environment Committee and not before 7.15pm
Graham Hunt
Clerk of the Council
Date: 23 January 2019
AGENDA
1. Apologies for Absence
2. Declarations of Interest and Dispensations
To notify of any items that appear in the agenda in which there may be an interest that has not been recorded in the Member’s Register of Interest; and confirmation of any relevant dispensations.
3. Public Participation and Public Questions
To consider applications from members of the public to address the Committee (5 minutes maximum), in respect of any item of business included in the agenda. Applications to speak must have been received by the Town Clerk no later than 5pm on the last working day preceding the meeting.
To consider questions from members of the public (who live, work or run a business in the Parish). Written questions must have been received by the Town Clerk no later than 4pm on the last working day preceding the meeting.
4. Minutes
To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 18 December 2018.
5. Working Groups
To receive a report / update from the chairmen of:
a) The NPCC Co-Ordination Working Group
b) The Infrastructure Delivery Plan Working Group
c) The Green Living Plan Working Group
d) The Town Centre Working Group
e) Transport Plan Working Group
f) The Community Facilities Working Group
g) The Burial Space Working Group
5d. Market Town Co-Ordinator Update – 23-01-19
6. South Oxfordshire District Local Plan
To approve that the Local Plan Consultation Team will coordinate a response from Thame Town Council on the District Council’s second, Final Publication Local Plan, which started on 7 January 2019.
Following attendance by Cllr Dyer and the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer (NPCO) at the Briefing Event on 3 January 2019, work has commenced on the analysis of the document. Several key pieces of evidence have been renewed or expanded upon and alterations made to enable the Plan to be judged under the new National Planning Policy Framework guidance. Some main changes from the previous document include:
* An updated recognition of windfall permissions means the proposed housing allocation for Thame is now 363 homes
* A minimum presumption for net housing density of 50 dwellings per hectare
* An allowance will be made for windfall development of 100 per year across the District, reducing the need for absolute allocations
* Thresholds and % requirements that change by geography, plus amended mixes for affordable housing, by type, including homes for social rent.
The District Council is undertaking a consultation event on 5 February in Thame, with District Council officers staffing the community stall at the market and a manned exhibition within the Town Hall Chamber between the hours of 10am and 2pm. The display boards will remain until 6pm.
The consultation closes at 5pm on 18 February 2019. The comments must be processed, analysed and summarised for submission to Government by 31 March 2019 in order for the District to comply with the Oxfordshire Growth Deal.
7. Thame Neighbourhood Plan Revision
To note that the NPCO has sent letters to each of Thame’s neighbouring parishes inviting them to declare any matters of concern that might require notice within the TNP review.
The NPCO prepared a briefing note (as attached) for Great Haseley Parish Council and attended their Council meeting of 14 January 2019. The NPCO recommended the Thame NP area be extended around the boundary of the approved Cattle Market site in Rycote Lane. The NPCO has agreed to meet with representatives of Great Haseley and the District’s neighbourhood planning officers to discuss the benefits or potential pitfalls in such a joint working arrangement.
To note that a joint Call for Sites has been declared for the TNP review and for the Thame Community Land Trust.
To note that the NPCO will be preparing a paper explaining the evidence base document requirements for the TNP review for the NPCC.
8. Oxfordshire Growth Board
To note the Growth Board held a day helping form the vision for the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 (the JSSP). Invited were representatives from planning, government bodies, business and representing environmental and technology issues. This event was used to help launch the new website for the Plan, and promote the first consultation events. These can be found at www.oxfordshireplan.org.
To note the allocation of £8m towards the Thame / Haddenham cycleway as shared by e-mail and mentioned at the Planning & Highways Committee in late November 2018.
9. Oxford – Cambridge Expressway
To note that it is considered that a change in legislation will be required in order for the Oxford – Cambridge Expressway to be integrated within Local Plan documents. The Expressway is being taken forward as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, for which there would be no need for a Strategic Environmental Assessment. In order to be aligned with sound opportunities for housing and employment growth a spatial plan will be required, which by law must be subject to a SEA. This may yet impact on the preparation of the proposed JSSP.
There is no known timeframe for this change nor is it yet clear what form that legislation would take. The existing timeframe for the route preparation by Highways England continues regardless.
10. Joint Statutory Spatial plan (JSSP), known as the Oxfordshire Plan 2050
To note that the NPCO responded to the Growth Board’s consultation on their Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) (as attached). The SCI describes who will be engaged throughout the preparation of the Joint Strategic Spatial Plan for Oxfordshire, as well as how and when.
To approve that the NPCO reviews the Growth Board’s proposed scoping report to be used in the preparation of the JSSP’s Sustainability Appraisal document. This has been placed for public consultation between 7 January – 18 February 2019.
11. Affordable Housing / Community Land Trust (CLT)
To receive an update on progress of the Thame CLT.
12. Housing Needs Analysis
To receive an update on any progress towards the production of an up-to-date Housing Needs Analysis for or including Thame.
13. Lord Williams’s Lower School Site
To note there will be a presentation of the draft Design Brief for the Lower School site to the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 26 February 2019.
14. Government consultation: Supporting the high street and increasing delivery of new homes
To note that the NPCO and the Market Town Co-ordinator replied to the Government’s latest proposals to remove the need for most planning applications in the high street (as attached). This would introduce the ability to change the use of a shop to many other uses without planning permission.
Other proposals included changing the permitted regime further to allow for upward extensions of homes across much of England’s towns and cities. This included proposals to permit existing flats or apartments to be extended upwards, too.
14. TTC response to supporting the high street and increasing the delivery of new homes Oct 2018
15. Other Items to Note
a) To note that the Town Clerk attended the PEORA AGM on 24 January 2019, to respond to any relevant questions raised.
b) To note that the NPCO attended a further meeting with the Henley Neighbourhood Plan team on 25 January 2019.
c) To note that a recent amendment to P18/S3143/O – DAF Trucks Ltd, Eastern Bypass has been reviewed by Officers and it is their view that it would not alter the Town Council’s recommendation or comments as made previously.
d) To note that an internal meeting with Stofords to discuss options on the Cotmore Wells / Howland Road site has been scheduled for 6 February 2019.
e) To note that an internal meeting with Bloor Homes is being arranged at the request of their agent to discuss potential future site allocations.
f) To note that Cllrs Dyer and Fickling are booked onto the Historic Towns Forum Neighbourhood Planning Review event on 26 February 2019
g) To note that the NPCO, Town Clerk and Cllr Dyer will be presenting on Neighbourhood Planning to Masters students at Oxford Brookes University on 12 March 2019.