Record of a Hoylake Forum Management Committee Meeting Held on 24 April 2014

RECORD OF A HOYLAKE FORUM MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 24 APRIL 2014

Present:Cllr John Hale (JH), Mark Howard (MH)Rose Kirkby (RK), Vaughan Williams (VW) Matthew Biagetti (MB) Cllr Gerry Ellis (GE) Richard Stowe (RS) Chris Moore (CM)

Apologies:Peter Edwards (PE)Stewart Lowther (SL) Jackie Hall (JaH)

In Attendance:Paul Sheppard (Taylor Young), Carol Latham & Kate Bailey (Planning Aid)

1. Apologies for non-attendance were noted, the Chairman having been unavoidably detained in Court.
2. It was agreed to deal solely with the draft NP and the comments received from the Health Check in order to determine the way ahead. The 'In Attendance' contributors were welcomed and all present introduced themselves.

1. Health Check. The range and extent of comment from the independent property consultants arranged on HV's behalf by Planning Aid had surprised and disappointed. Although critical comment had been anticipated, the comments were more far ranging and procedural than had been expected. Both Carol Latham (CL) and Paul Sheppard (PS) had provided their comments to assist the Committee to assess the next steps required. Kate Bailey (KB), an experienced local authority planner and inspector also gave her views. In summary, although there were many positive aspects to the work already done and some points were covered, the draft NP needed to:

• Have a sharper focus:

• Why is the NP is needed?
• Who is it for?
• Be as simple to understand as possible
• Be better and more specifically aligned with the Wirral draft Core Strategy
• The HV NP should be based on the Core Strategy but go beyond it (ie amplify the issues)
• NP policies should be tighter, developed with the Council officers to give substance to the local policies
• Be as specific as possible (eg Green Belt, the golf resort, preservation/enhancement of facilities)

• CL would provide copies of other NP sample policies which had been successful through the inspection process
• Contact would be made with Wirral Council to check on the latest draft of the Core Strategy and to understand the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
• PS would review the draft to align and refine the NP policies as closely as possible with the emerging Core Strategy
• The Committee to re-convene as soon as practicable to undertake a joint workshop together with the Council officers and advisers to re-draft sections of the draft NP. MH to issue a Doodle planning message to all concerned.
• Planning Aid would continue to support HV through this process within the limit of the approved grant

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