Agenda item

1.

Question from Charmian Sheppard to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

The CBC toolkit on Neighbourhood Planning says that before applying to your local planning authority to be designated as a forum, publicising your intentions is recommended as the first action. Holding engagement events is also recommended. The “How to set up a neighbourhood forum document. Putting the pieces together” document published by Planning Aid England is included in the toolkit and states that a prospective forum “should demonstrate that you have made every effort to secure membership from each as well as from different geographical areas and sections of the community”.

Schedule 9 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 states that

“The Council must be satisfied that the forum meets the following conditions –

1. it is established for the express purpose of promoting or improving the social, economic and environmental well-being of an area that consists of or includes the neighbourhood area concerned.”

It also says that a local planning authority must have regard to the desirability of designating an organisation or body whose membership is drawn from different places in the neighbourhood area concerned and from different sections of the community in that area and whose purpose reflects the character of that area.

What evidence did the council gather to be satisfied that the Springbank Forum Application was established for the express purpose of promoting or improving the social, economic and environmental well-being of an area that consists of or includes the neighbourhood area concerned and that it had made every effort to secure membership from each as well as from different geographical areas and sections of the community before recommending approval to Cabinet?

Response from Cabinet Member

The Springbank Neighbourhood Forum constitution, submitted as part of the application, states that “The Forum aims to promote or improve the social, economic and environmental wellbeing and conditions in the Springbank area as shown on the attached plan (the area), particularly through the preparation and implementation of a Neighbourhood Plan.”

The constitution also states that “The Forum will be as representative as possible of the people who live and work in the area. Thus membership will be drawn from different places in the area and from different sections of the community.”

A list of 42 members of the forum was included with the application. The location of the members is spread across the ward. It should also be noted that membership of the forum is open to anyone who lives or works in the area.

2.

Question from Charmian Sheppard to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

Government Guidance on Neighbourhood Planning

Paragraph:025 Reference ID: 41-025-20140306 states

The community should consult the local planning authority before making an area application. There should be a positive and constructive dialogue about the planning ambitions of the community and any wider planning considerations that might influence the neighbourhood planning process if the outcome of that process is to be a neighbourhood plan or Order that meets the basic conditions for neighbourhood planning.

What dialogue took place between the Springbank Neighbourhood Forum and the planning authority and what planning ambitions and wider planning considerations were discussed before an area application was made? Who was involved in that dialogue?

Response from Cabinet Member

Informal discussions have been ongoing between members of the Springbank Neighbourhood Forum and council officers since the beginning of January 2017. It is clear that the forum wishes to produce a Neighbourhood Plan and help to provide a voice for the local community with regards to the West Cheltenham JCS Strategic Allocation.

Whilst there is a need for positive and constructive dialogue paragraph: 035 Reference ID: 41-035-20161116 of the PPG also states that “a local planning authority should avoid pre-judging what a qualifying body may subsequently decide to put in its draft neighbourhood plan or Order.”

3.

Question from Liz Penwill to Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

CBC Guidance on Neighbourhood Planning states that “Electoral ward boundaries should be used as a starting point for discussions on the appropriate size of a neighbourhood area.” But it also says that the following could be considerations when deciding the boundaries of a neighbourhood area

• village or settlement boundaries, which could reflect areas of planned expansion

• the catchment area for walking to local services such as shops, primary schools, doctors’ surgery, parks or other facilities

• the area where formal or informal networks of community based groups operate

• the physical appearance or characteristics of the neighbourhood, for example buildings may be of a consistent scale or style

• whether the area forms all or part of a coherent estate either for businesses or residents

• whether the area is wholly or predominantly a business area

• whether infrastructure or physical features define a natural boundary, for example a major road or railway line or waterway

• the natural setting or features in an area

• size of the population (living and working) in the area

During the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting of 12^th June you stated a preference for ward sized neighbourhood areas.

Up and down the country neighbourhood plans are successfully being developed covering areas and populations far in excess of those in West Cheltenham, the character of the area being deemed more important than ward boundaries, Cheltenham Borough Council and Cheltenham Borough Homes, in their Master Planning exercise, recognise the four wards that make up West Cheltenham as having shared characteristics and are treating them as a whole.

What criteria did you apply when deciding that the area that the West Cheltenham Forum applied for was too large?

Response from Cabinet Member

The answer to the question lies in the word "Neighbourhood".

The template for Neighbourhood Areas is laid out in the legislation, which envisages Parish Councils as the statutory bodies responsible for developing Neighbourhood plans.

In Cheltenham there are five Parish Councils which range in size, the largest of which is Charlton Kings which covers the equivalent of two borough Council wards.

The aim of the Cheltenham guidance is to provide a coherent frame work for the development of Neighbourhood plans across the town which are compatible with the size of the statutorily recognised Parish Councils.

As a result I concluded that the most appropriate building blocks for Neighbourhood areas were the existing Borough Council Ward boundaries. These would provide easily understood boundaries, prevent areas of the town being excluded from Neighbourhood areas as a result of inconsistent boundaries, and provide areas of the same scale as the Parish Councils.

As a result I envisaged Neighbourhood Areas being formed on the boundaries of either one or two wards. This would allow them to be large enough to provide a meaningful Neighbourhood planning Area while being small enough to be a recognisable Neighbourhood.

I do not think that it is credible to suggest that an area consisting of four borough council  wards can form a single coherent Neighbourhood.

4.

Question from Liz Penwill to the Leader, Councillor Steve Jordan

At the Overview and Scrutiny Meeting on 12^th June, Cllr McKinley said that he had concluded the West Cheltenham Forum were no longer interested in designation.

On 6^th March, you chaired a meeting with the West Cheltenham Forum Steering Group, and Cheltenham Borough Councillors for West Cheltenham (including Cabinet members Coleman and Jeffries) where the WCF Steering Group made it clear that they intended reapplying for area and forum designation. Cllr Jeffries went from this meeting to a meeting of the West Cheltenham Greenbelt Group, where the minutes of that meeting show that he proposed setting up a Neighbourhood Forum to those present. Were you aware of Cllr Jeffries intentions to do this and, if so, why did you not, in the interests of Good Governance, inform the West Cheltenham Forum Steering Group?

Response from Cabinet Member

As I recall Cllr Jeffries had to leave before the end of the meeting on 6^th March but I wasn’t aware of the content of any subsequent meeting he attended. My intention in chairing the 6^th March meeting was to explore whether there was a potential consensus on the size and number of neighbourhood forums appropriate in the area. There were clearly differing views, so the realistic option for the Cabinet was to consider each subsequent application to create a neighbourhood forum on its merits, which is the legal requirement.