Minutes of Hoylake Neighbourhood Plan Management group – 22/02/2017 Meeting held in the MEOLS room

Present - Peter Edwards (Chair), Mark Howard, Stewart Lowther, Chris Moore, Julian Priest, Richard Stowe

  1. Summary and aftermath of the AGM

The AGM was successful with a turnout of 40 and supportive commentsregarding the result of the referendum. As a group all those present at this meeting had been elected unopposed to be the management group for the coming year. Some new members have come forward as being interested in being part of the management group. It was agreed that the following Alex Woods, ChristinaWotchet ,Meg Parks and Rosie Savillewould be invited to the next meeting and asked to confirm their intent on being involved. Chris said thatAndrew Collenge, Tony Trembler and John Hall were interested in playing a role as part of the management group. It was agreed a further approach to these would be appropriate following the forthcoming meeting. Peter suggested that since the desire was for the Management group to be more inclusive then we should also consider more representation from Youth, Disabled and ethnic minority people in the forum and management group.

  1. Constitution

The meeting endorsed the need to develop and change the constitution post referendum. Chris agreed to present proposals at the next meeting. As part of the discussion further information was requested regarding the progress on the Council’s commitments regarding the section 108 and Community Infrastructure Levy funding with regards to Neighbourhood planning areas. Richard accepted the request to draw up a letter to the Council to identify their current position regarding these monies which are accrued from developments.

  1. Planning and Development engagement

The meeting noted the need to establish terms of involvement regarding actual and potential planning /development issues. This has become established through planning applications and the acceptance of the need to refer to these in the context of the adopted neighbourhood plan. Julian is responding to applications with support of the management group and these reactive appraisals have established a recognised and constructive role for the neighbourhood plan. Regarding approaches from developers, such as those on behalf of the Presbyterian church site, there is less clarity as to what our role should be. Stewart suggested the approach should be to attend meetings with developers and listen, then report back to the Management group and /or the forum discuss compliance with the NDP and open up community consultation particularly with the local residents who are most affected. The meeting endorsed this suggestion. Regarding being proactive for development there was a consensus that discussions could be held with relevant stakeholders where the potential development would be supportive of the objectives of the neighbourhood plan.

  1. Website

It was agreed that we should have an archive of the work and evidence regarding the pre referendum content. Members of the management group will have access to discuss issues through an exclusive sign in facility. There may also be a role for wider participation in on line surveys and comment however this will be a selective content and the role of the site as a public forum was not endorsed. Mark agreed to take on the archive role and as controller of the site would enable access to the management group members.

  1. Evidence Base

There is a wide range of evidence available relevant to the need of developing the plan for 2020. However, a further survey using a booklet was endorsed to develop community knowledge and opportunities to gauge opinion. The need to trawl, or develop, the evidence would be determined by how it would relate to each area of the evolving plan. Expertise in these areas could draw on council commissioning such as traffic surveys or be carried out by community / forum members or potentially be commissioned by the forum. Further expertise in this could bee forthcoming wwit new members.

AOB Peter explained that, due to commitments elsewhere, he will not be able to continue as chair and this will be need to be addressed in the near future.

  1. Next Meetings – 1 st March 6.30 Parade Community Centre.

11 April 6.30 Parade Community Centre