23 February 2016 – Minutes

THAME TOWN COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting of the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Committee held on 23 February 2016 at 7.30pm in the Upper Chamber, Thame Town Hall

Present: Cllrs B Austin (Chairman), D Bretherton (Deputy Chairman), N Dixon (Town Mayor), D Dodds, L Emery (Deputy Mayor), H Fickling and A Midwinter.
Non Voting
Cllr Dyer
Officers
C Pinnells, Community Services Manager
A Oughton, Committee Services Officer

1 Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Cowell (Business), Stiles (Business) and Graham Hunt, Town Clerk.

2 Declarations of Interest and Dispensations

There were no declarations of interest.

3 Public Participation & Public Questions

There were no applications to address the Council.
There were no questions put to the Council.

4 Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2016 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

5 Working Groups

a) Infrastructure Delivery Plan Working Group

Cllr Bretherton reported that work continued on the S106 agreements and whether the funding matched the projects identified on the Capital Projects List.

Concentrating on the Sports Facilities Strategy there was some concern as to the timescale of projects coming forward ahead of the receipt of S106 funding from the developers. This may lead to funding coming in behind the project timescales. Organisations should be made aware of the potential risk.

The S106 Agreements state that the developer has to provide a quarterly report on the progress of the development and a projection of when funding would become available. The next report was due in April. It was suggested that Cllr Dodds be invited to attend the next planned meeting with the District Officer responsible for S106 funding along with Cllr Bretherton, the Town Clerk and the Asset Maintenance Manager.

The District Council had a process and form that was used to apply for funding. Cllr Bretherton would look at how this could be adapted for use by the Town Council to avoid applicants having to answer the same set of questions twice.

b) The Green Living Plan Working Group

Cllr Fickling drew Members attention to the report produced by the RSA on the main urgent issues for the Green Living Plan. A list of RSA members working on the GLP had been received.

The RSA were currently concentrating their efforts on the Thame to Haddenham cycle path. Oxfordshire County Council and Buckinghamshire County Council’s preferred option was for a ‘road route’ alongside the main roads and had instructed Sustrans to prepare a feasibility study for the route. The alternative would be a more direct (largely off road) route across fields via existing footpaths and bridleways.

The RSA were also getting to grips with the traffic plans that had been produced for each development at the time the planning applications had been submitted.

Cllr Fickling continued to work on increasing the membership of the GLP Working Group, looking particularly for people who had an interest / expertise in environmental matters and the time to devote to working with the group.

c) Town Centre Working Group

Cllr Emery reported that the Terms of Reference had been agreed and circulated. An electronic survey had been agreed in principle and a draft questionnaire distributed for comment.

The appointment of a Town Planner was being progressed. The Vibrancy and Vitality Study for Thame Town Centre had been approved with Miller Research UK chosen to execute the work. A provisional date of 22 March 2016 had been chosen for Miller to conduct face to face interviews in the Town and to run a workshop in the evening at the Town Hall.

The Town Centre Working Group would continue to ensure effective ongoing communication between all interested parties and would review the post impact of the Planning Authority’s decision on the Tesco planning application be it successful or not.

6 Infrastructure Delivery Plan / Capital Project List

The Capital Projects List was an essential requirement as part of the CIL process. A project could not be considered for funding if it had not been identified on the list. It was a high level list under which a separate sheet would be produced for each project containing the detail.

It was anticipated that the list would be ‘fluid’ with new projects added as they were identified whilst some projects would drop off the list.

RESOLVED that:

i) The first draft of the top level Infrastructure Delivery Plan / Capital Project List be approved.

7 Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer

The report on the progress of the recruitment of a Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer was noted.

8 Neighbourhood Plan Amendment Process

The report on the progress of the Neighbourhood Plan Amendment Process was noted.

The meeting concluded at 8.25pm
Signed ………………………
Chairman, 5 April 2016