Crowhurst Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
Notes of Meeting held on Monday 9 April at 7.30pm
in Crowhurst Village Hall
Present: Gareth Bright, Ros Day (Chair), Tracy Hoad, Sonia Plato, Martin White, Pat Buckle
Apologies: Chris Davidson, Dave Howley, Diane Stainsby, Ann Wilson, Willy Wilson.
In Attendance: 3 Members of the Public
Ros Day opened the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.
1. Declaration of Interests
1.1. All present declared an interest as residents of Crowhurst.
1.2. Item 3.2 Land Use Task Group – Martin White declared a personal interest as the owner of Church Paddock, Crowhurst.
2. Notes of Previous Meeting held on 5 March 2018 - Approved.
2.2 Matters Arising – None
3. Task Groups Reports
3.1 Finance – Ros Day stated that she had been informed that there may be £2,000 available which would bring the total grant to £17,000. Although awaiting costings on what still needs to be done, the meeting discussed upcoming items to be included in the next application – £1,000 for car park concept design by Huskisson Brown Associates, although this was thought to be too high and will be looked at again; workshop for residents thoughts on design of dwellings; website updates; facilitator for workshop; stationery; hall hire; printing; flyers for workshop and reminders to residents to vote at the referendum; and possible extra work following Examination. It was estimated that £3,300 grant would be required. Work on the Habitat Regulation Assessment will be covered by the Technical Assistance grant. Ros Day stated that Locality can check through the NP at no cost as this would also be covered by the Technical Assistance Grant. The meeting agreed this would be useful.
3.2 Land Use Task Group – Martin White reported the Group had met on 20 and 21 March and 5 April to deal with the residents and statutory agencies comments to the consultation document. Most of the comments were dealt with, although a few need to be followed up. Some comments would be discussed with Rother District Council (RDC) at the meeting planned for the purpose on 17 April 2018. The meeting felt that the Hastings Borough Council proposal for a wind farm at Upper Wilting could not be added to the NP as a specific site without going back out for consultation. Advice will be sought from RDC. The offer of funding the commissioning of an outline design for the proposed car park had been withdrawn because grants may be available. If so, the funding will be used for something else in the village. Ashley Wynn had suggested a traffic consultant should advise on viability of access to the car park, and a local resident will be contacted to this end. Advice would also be sought from a local architect on the car park layout. A member of the public questioned whether a car park could be included in the proposed Station Road site but it was felt that the site was too small and there were issues around flooding and access. Some doubt was expressed as to whether Network Rail owned the part of Station Road from the farm entrance to the junction with Forewood Lane. It was noted that this would be for the developer to sort out but it was felt that a developer taking on the upgrading of all of Station Road would make the development unprofitable for them. There was some concern raised by a member of the public about the environmental impact of the proposed site for the a car park but was informed that the Environment Group had devised a check list for all the proposed sites which would pick this up.
3.3. Street Champions – Nothing to report.
3.4. Communications – Gareth Bright updated the meeting on progress towards compliance on the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The Regulations come into force on 25 May 2018 and are more stringent in that they give individuals more control of how their information is used. Any information not publicly available needs to be dealt with, all data must be secure and information should only be kept for as long as it is needed. The NP Group has already done most of the work which involves mailing lists created by the Steering Group and the various Task Groups, information on the website, and all emails will now offer the opportunity to unsubscribe. Task Group leaders to let Ros Day have a list of the type of information they hold for each of their groups. It was noted that the Steering Group and the NP website needed to match the Parish Council’s website.
3.5. Research Heritage – In the absence of Dave Howley, Sonia Plato reported that two local representatives of Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group (HAARG) want to assess the sites well before any development begins, including the Network Rail site at the top of Station Road. The work of the Group continues to expand and Bruce Cripps will be examining the local iron workings and linking with the County Archaeologist. It is hoped eventually to give a local talk on the findings. Ros Day reported that there was a comment on the consultation document suggesting that the Heritage document could have contained more information. However, it was felt that other documents in the Plan covered the points raised and that all documents should be read in conjunction with the Plan. This would be made clearer in the final NP and the Contents page would list all the documents that together make up the Plan.
3.6 Environment – Sonia Plato reported that the Group was now meeting twice a month. Sussex Wildlife Trust had lots of information on how to connect green corridors and the logging of trees and plants. Concern was expressed about the verges and that as they contain 50% of wild flowers, six cuts a year was too many. A survey needs to be undertaken to see what wild flowers verges contain. Sonia Plato stated that the work of the Group was expanding all the time and emphasised that the Environment Description included in the NP is a living document and will continue to grow.
4. Consultation Update – See item 3.2 above.
5. Meeting with Rother District Council
Ros Day stated that a meeting had been arranged with David Marlow, Planning & Policy Manager, and Frank Rallings, NP Liaison Officer, RDC for 17 April 2018 with a view to discussing RDC comments to the draft Plan; confirm subsequent stages in the process and agree a timeline; the need to book the Examiner early to avoid delay when the Plan is completed; the Hastings Borough Council’s proposed wind farm at Upper Wilting; the boundary of the Country Park which currently includes Crowhurst Recreation Ground; the Country Park’s management stating that it needs to see all future plans affecting the vicinity of the Park.
6. Any Other Business -None
7. Date of Next Meeting
Steering Group – Monday 14 May 2018 at 7.30pm in Crowhurst Village Hall - tbc
The meeting closed at 8.55pm.