The Steering group discussed the draft Declaration of Interest document and, in particular, discussed the difference between pecuniary and personal interests.
Actions:
To ask SODC for further guidance.
Update on budget:
– No money has been spent in the last month, so the budget remains unchanged.
Grant applications:
A grant application for £2500 for costs of preparation for two public consultations expected to take place by the end of the financial year.
A technical package has been requested for Evidence base and Policy Development. This is free but needs to be approved.
Call for sites:
The group were updated on the initial inception call with a planning consultant from Aecom and the results of their subsequent research. The key points were as follows:
• Any site that has already gone through planning (such as the site at Cane End) cannot be included as a site in the NDP.
• According to the Aecom consultant our process for the call for sites was in adherence with the recommended guidelines. The NDP Steering Group do not need to pro-actively contact landowners within Kidmore End regarding the Call for Sites. The actions we have already taken, i.e. household survey, advert in the Henley Standard and notification via the parish website are considered sufficient. The onus is on the landowner to contact us regarding the call for sites.
• Following this recommendation we will not be pro-actively contacting individual landowners regarding putting sites on call for sites register.
• The sites within the HELAA and SHELAA should be included as possible sites
• Very small sites should also be included
• The Reading Golf course land cannot be categorised or protected as ‘local green space’
• The housing target for Kidmore End is still an outstanding issue The consultant suggested there is the possibility that the NDP steering group could use the existing Local Plan ratified in 2012. The hierarchy of settlements determines the required number of new dwellings and the proximity to bigger settlements is also relevant. The Aecom consultant is pursuing this with SODC.
• Other issues have been identified in the course of the Aecom Consultant’s research and they are pursuing these with SODC.
• Palmers Riding Stables and Reading Golf club will not be evaluated as part of the call for sites process as they are being re-evaluated by SODC as part of the emerging Local Plan.
• A Facilitation package is available from Locality to help with the call for sites so that issues can be officially resolved with SODC.
• According to the Aecom consultant, demonstrating the 5-year land supply in the NDP is not as important as the rigour around the site selection process.
• The call for sites group is having a next meeting with the Aecom consultant on 1st August 2018, sites are being visited and then the Aecom consultant will write up the proforma for each site.
Landscape study / sensitivity study:
The final draft for the landscape study commissioned by the Steering Group and conducted by terra firma has been completed and circulated. The study concludes that the land studied constitutes high landscape sensitivity.
The study recommends that the boundary of the Chilterns AONB is expanded to include the land to the south of the current boundary.
The recommendation from the study is that the Kidmore End NDP will seek for this land to be identified as valued land within the emerging SODC Local Plan.
Actions:
The Steering Group to review the final draft of the Executive Summary and provide final comments by 10th August.
The chair will sign the executive summary.
The final version will then be circulated to the Steering Group prior to the next meeting.
The finalised Executive Summary will be sent to all interested parties,
Strategy / Policy update:
An overview of the progress made on policy drafting was presented.
A draft of the economic policy and community policy have been circulated. Other suggested draft policies will be circulated for feedback in due course. It is expected that the policies will continue to evolve as we go through the NDP process.
The group were advised that there is a Master Planning Package from Locality which looks at existing density and character and this might be useful to us at some stage.
There is currently no confirmation of policy support from Locality.
Aecom have provided advise to suggest that the adopted Local Plan carries more weight than the emerging local plan and therefore the policies should be drafted accordingly.
Actions:
The sub-group will continue to draft the suggested policies and ask for input from the rest of the Steering Group.
SODC updated emerging Local Plan and implications:
It was hoped that the final list of sites going into the SODC emerging plan would be communicated by July 2018. This week interested parties were advised that a decision will not be communicated until Dec 18/January 2019.
In the meantime, Reading Golf Club have sent a letter to their members advising that they have found developers and asking members to vote on either remaining on the existing site or selling the site and acquiring a new site.
Actions:
There are no further actions until more information is available.
Update on writing up the NDP document:
A template has been created and some information has been incorporated into the template
Planning applications:
P18/S1522/0 – Kidmore End Parish council have objected to this application.
Planning Applications/Appeals:
The Sonning Common appeal went in favour of Sonning Common and in line with the Sonning Common NDP.
The Benson appeal was also rejected in favour of Benson’s NDP.
The Gladman appeal is due to restart on 29th August.