NP Meeting Open Forum

Published: 13 May 2018

Location: Holy Trinity Church Rooms, Lower Beeding  |  Timing: 8th May 2018 at 19:35 hrs

Present

NP Leader: Geoff Peckham (GP)
NP Co-Lead: Leslie Bamford (LBa)
Planning Consultant: Laura Bourke (LBo)
NP Working Party Members (NPWP)

Lower Beeding Parish Residents – all signed an attendance sheet

Meeting Agenda

1. Introduction and general overview.
2. Horsham District Planning Framework update.
3. Housing Needs Consideration Report.
4. Parish Site Assessment updates.
5. Exhibition of preferred sites, 1st and 2nd June 2018.
6. Questions and discussion.

Minutes

1.0 LBa opened the meeting by giving an introduction and general overview of the current situation with the NP. She suggested that the meeting should adjourn at 21:00 hours with questions being taken between 21:00 – 21:30 hours. She introduced LBo to all those present.

1.1 LBo distributed a document, ‘Housing Need Considerations for the Lower Beeding Neighbourhood Plan’, to all present.

1.2 LBo then went through the document from the contents page as follows:-

• Introduction
• Method 1 – Action in Rural Sussex (AiRS) Affordable Housing Needs Assessment Projection.
• Method 2 – Parish Change between 2001 and 2011 Projection.
• Method 3 – Household Formation Projection.
• Method 4 – Trend-Based Demographic Projection.
• Method 5 – Policy Projection.
• Method 6 – Policy Trend – Based Demographic Projection.
• Method 7 – Economic Projection
• Market Signals
• National Standard Approach to Calculating Housing Need.
• Considerations

1.3 LBo spent a considerable amount of time discussing the different methodologies of calculating the housing needs and numbers of proposed dwellings for Lower Beeding Parish. Each methodology produced a different calculation of houses but from Horsham District Council (HDC) the current forecast is 22 – 44 dwellings.

1.4 LBo emphasised that the calculation could change in the future with government and district council pressure to add to the housing stock. HDC currently has a commitment to increase the number of homes by 1500.

1.5 LBo informed the audience of the following :-

• Lower Beeding has been classed as one of the smaller villages in the HDC. 
• There are seven further villages classed as small within the council.
• There are under 30 parishes in HDC.
• We are waiting, three months thus far, for HDC to advise parish councils on any increase in housing requirements.
• There have been three further additions to the possible development sites including Haven Motors brownfield site.
• Thus far HDC have agreed on our methodology in calculating our proposed housing need.
• This methodology currently stands at 24 new dwellings.
• How the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) process worked.
• The CIL process came into operation in Oct 2017.
• The original Call for Sites was issued in June 2016. At that time there were 21 sites.
• Further sites have been added and 25 sites have been assessed by the same procedure for each site. 
• There have been some withdrawals and recent additions from the original list of sites.

1.6 Questions / Suggestions from the floor

• Ed Allen (Lead Councillor) suggested that a Parish infrastructure requirement be given from the Parish Council to the NPWP and prospective developers.
• A proposed timeline is prepared by the NPWP.
• A detailed discussion on the next meeting of the NPWP with options of the 15th or 22nd May. The latter date was agreed due to the closing of the reply from developers on their proposals for new sites on 21st May.
• The public meeting on 21st May will agree on the final ten sites that will be voted on by the parishioners. The Top and Bottom three preferred sites will be voted on during the Exhibition.
• There was also a prolonged discussion on whether the next Exhibition for the Parish should be delayed from 1st – 2nd June. It was finally agreed by all that the meeting should not be delayed.
• There was concern from several of the attendees that the Church Hall and Church was not appropriate for developers displays. The Village Hall and the Village Primary School were suggested as options. GP stated that he would contact the school on availability.
• The final allocation of 24 dwellings was agreed by the LBWP. 
• Kate Hough suggested that secondary sites should be kept in mind with a view that HDC may ask for a greater number of dwellings in the parish in the near future.
• Elizabeth Ogg questioned LBo on calculation of Housing Density on some of the proposed sites from low to medium density. LBo replied that she was following HDC’s guidelines on housing density.
• Any questions residents or developers should be forwarded to the NPWP who will then forward to the Planning Consultants.

There were no further questions from the floor.

The meeting closed at 22:10 hrs

The next meeting will be held in the Church Hall on 22nd May at 19:30 hours.

p.s. The Primary School has agreed to let the Exhibition be held at the school on the 1st and 2nd June 2018.