Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of Council held on Tuesday 7^th August 2007

in the Village Hall, Maresfield

Present:         Cllr K Ogden (Chairman), Cllr W King, Cllr Mrs V Taylor, Cllr H Fry, Cllr J Handley,

Cllr R Street, Cllr J Gutteridge, Cllr R Galley, Mr T Allen (Clerk) & Mrs C Goossens
(Asst Clerk)

Public:            Ms M Thomas, Mr D Thompson.

It was Agreed that a debate of the Council’s draft consultation response would be held in the Public Session to allow for all present to be involved but that items 1308 and 1309 would be taken first.

1308.   To approve apologies for absence and to note other non-attendance.         

Cllr D Barlow, Cllr A Clarke, Cllr D Finch, Cllr P Harris, DCllr N Buck and DCllr Mrs S Martin.

1309.   To note declarations of interest. 

Cllr King re. item 1311, payment to Nutley PCC of which he is Secretary.

Cllr Street re. item 1311, payment to Fairwarp Village Hall of which his wife is a committee member.

The Chairman closed the meeting and opened the public session.

The Chairman asked Cllr King to lead on this part of the meeting.

A.         Public Session.        

The Council’s draft response document was discussed with the following additions and amendments noted:-

Q1       Agreed as per draft submission.

Q2       Agreed as per draft submission.

Q3       Agreed as per draft submission but with the inclusion of the following comment reference 3a:-

“Use of such land should be instead of rather than in addition to other sites.” 

            Reference 3b:- “Generally agree but we are concerned that this could be too restrictive and stunt development.  Flexibility is required necessitating site by site assessments.”

Q5       Change draft response to show that we prefer an up-rated 5a which should read:-

“Settlement boundaries should be maintained but should be expanded where needed subject to strict criteria to allow for only small scale development.  This should be limited to the satisfaction of local community needs which include cohesion and sustainability”.

            Comment re Conservation Area was Agreed as per draft submission.

Q6       Agreed as per draft submission.

Q7       Agree with draft response for 7a but also to include the Parish Council’s definition of “needs” to read as follows:- 

“Agree with Option 7a – if these are based on facts and the ability of the existing infrastructure to cope with increased demands.  Growth should be limited to the satisfaction of local community needs which include cohesion and sustainability”.

7b        Agreed as per draft submission.

7c        Agreed as per draft submission.

7d        Agreed as per draft submission.

Additional comment to draft response 7e:-

“WDC’s interpretation of its own criteria in relation to Nutley is incorrect and inaccurate and therefore Nutley should be defined as a village with limited growth potential”.

Q9       Agreed as per draft submission.

Q10     Agreed as per draft submission.

Q14     Agreed as per draft submission.

Q19     Change draft response to read:-

“WDC’s interpretation of its own criteria in relation to Nutley is incorrect and inaccurate and therefore Nutley should be defined as a village with limited growth potential”.

Q21     Agreed as per draft submission but substitute “We consider a figure of over 300 homes excessive” with the following:-  “We believe that an upper limit for Maresfield should be set at 300 homes”.

Q24     Agreed as per draft submission.

Q25     Agreed as per draft submission but re. option 25g “i.e.” replaced by “and for”.

Q27     Agreed as per draft submission with the following additional general comments:-

“Transport policy requires a more substantial assessment and additional work to maintain and improve the quality of life in our villages.  Consideration should be given in each case to the potential adverse impact of developments on the A22 in Nutley, the existing “rat runs” in Maresfield and the B2026 at Fairwarp, and the provision of suitable mitigation measures”.

Cllr R Galley left the meeting.

27b      Agreed as per draft submission.

27e      Agreed as per draft submission.

Q29     Agreed as per draft submission with the additional comment:- “The general call for infrastructure to be in place needs proper assessment.”

Q30     Agreed as per draft submission.

With the final sentence to read as follows:-

“The impact of the whole Plan needs to be fully assessed and a plan provided for fulfilment, and also to address additional concerns not currently shown in the consultation document, such as A&E provision, maternity provision, proximity of hospitals, GP provision, education, public transport and road networks.  Whilst many of these are outside of WDC’s remit, they should still be a prime factor in WDC’s site allocation policy.  WDC must be expected to provide a more complete review and ensure that site allocations be identified by reference to availability of existing services or planned services.”

Q31     Response amended to read as follows:-  “It is essential that Maresfield Parish should generally remain the same.  It is difficult to take one spatial view for the whole of Wealden and in particular the three villages in Maresfield Parish should be considered as separate and distinct.”

LDF Matrices A and B to be included in the response to the consultation to illustrate where WDC’s information is incorrect. 

ACTION:  All to provide comments to Cllr King by close of business 08/08/2007.

The Chairman closed the public session and re-opened the meeting.

1310.   To agree Council’s response to the WDC Core Strategy Issues & Options consultation for          the Local Development Framework.

It was Agreed that the Council’s response should be finalised by the Chairman, Cllr King and the Clerk in line with the points proposed in the Public Session as a development of the circulated draft response. 

1311.   Payments to be made: for approval.

The amended payments schedule was circulated to Councillors.  Cllr Street proposed payments totalling £4423.27 be approved, this was seconded by Cllr Mrs Taylor and Agreed by all.

1312.      Date of next meeting - 18^th September 2007 (Fairwarp).

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 21.33.