Loxwood Parish Council MINUTES of Loxwood Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday 6 th May 2014 in The Mursell Room, North Hall, Loxwood Present: Mr Roger Newman (Chairman); Mr Simon Bates (Vice Chairman); Mr Chris Agar; Mrs Sandy Barthorpe; Ms Annette Gardner; Mrs B Weddell () Cllr Janet Duncton, West Sussex County Councillor and five members of the public were in attendance. Apologies: Apologies had been received from Dr Clare Thornton-Wood, Mr Martin Loxton, Cllr Philippa Hardwick and Cllr Nick Thomas. 14/068 Meeting opening The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. The winning ticket in the North Hall Draw was held by Jenny Spiring. ACTION 14/069 Election of Chairman Proposed, seconded and agreed unanimously, Mr Newman was re-elected Chairman of the Parish Council for the ensuing year. Mr Newman signed the Declaration of Acceptance of office and took the chair. 14/070 Election of Vice Chairman Proposed, seconded and agreed unanimously, Mr Agar was elected Vice Chairman of the Parish Council for the ensuing year. Mr Agar signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office. 14/071 Declaration of Interests Mr Newman declared an interest in planning application LX/14/01151. 14/072 Public Participation Mr Maurice Bacon advised that the Loxwood Joust would take place on 2 nd and 3 rd August and that discounted tickets would be available for sale in the Post Office for Loxwood residents. In response to requests the previous year, Mr Bacon said that he would run a shuttle bus from Billingshurst and Loxwood Post Office to Loxwood Meadow, for a subsidised charge of 50p each way. Mr Bacon would provide a timetable to be included in the forthcoming Loxwood newsletter and the website. Mr Bacon said that he would liaise fully with nearby residents via email. Mrs Gibbon would speak under agenda item 14/xxx and Mr Colling would speak under agenda item 14/xxx.
14/073 Minutes The minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on 7 th April 2014 were approved as a correct record of the meeting. ACTION 14/072 Report from Chichester District Councillor Cllr Philippa Hardwick had sent a report, which is appended to these minutes. 14/073 Report from West Sussex County Councillor Cllr Duncton reported that this year is the 125 th anniversary of West Sussex Council and she is visiting local school to give mementoes of the anniversary. She said that the library is now open at The Grange and they already have over 600 members and over 400 people using the sports facilities. There is still lots of encouragement for schools to become academies, although there will be various issues to deal with when this happens, such as policies regarding exclusions. The council is continually looking at ways to save money without losing services. WSCC now has a gypsy and traveller transit site, which all Sussex district councils had paid towards. This should reduce the number of illegal encampments in the area. /Chairman/ Mrs Barthorpe 14/074 Chairman s Report The Chairman advised that Mr Serge Ireland had resigned his position as parish councillor and that procedures would be followed for co-option of a replacement councillor at the next meeting. Mr Newman, Mrs Barthorpe, Mr Agar and the had met with Domusea developments regarding a planning application. 14/075 s Report The reported that she, Mr Agar and Mr Colling had met with Kitewood regarding the progress of the S.106 agreement and as advised via email, Kitewood had offered 85,000 for maintenance of the land to be transferred to the parish council. The had written to Kitewood to advise that the Parish Council can receive a sum of money for traffic calming provided the receives a letter from Kitewood stating that it is for traffic calming. The reported that the internet banking had been applied for. The had produced a tender document for the playground, which would be approved by Mr Newman and Mrs Barthorpe 14/076 Adoption of the Accounts and Balance Sheet for the Parish Council for the year ending 31 March 2014 The accounts, as appended to these minutes, were approved and the Chairman and Responsible Financial Officer signed the completed Annual Return on behalf of the Council. The would circulate the internal auditor s audit plan for information.
14/077 Traffic Calming to discuss priority list proposed by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. This item was deferred to the next meeting. 14/078 Neighbourhood Plan The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group had circulated a briefing paper regarding the options for the Parish Council in the event of the Moat site planning application receiving permission. It was agreed that the Neighbourhood Plan should proceed to referendum but that the Steering Group would communicate widely with the village regarding the implications in the event that the Moat site application is approved. It was agreed that the parish council would write to members of the Planning Committee in response to the officer s report and to make them aware of recent planning appeal decisions. 14/079 Planning Consideration of new planning applications After full consideration of the following planning applications, the parish council decided to comment as follows: a) LX/14/01013/DOM. New entrance gates, detached garage, single storey rear extension and alterations to existing outbuilding. The Old Vicarage, Vicarage Hill, Loxwood. NO OBJECTION ACTION b) LX/14/01014/DOM. First floor side extension. Ivyhurst, Station Road, Loxwood. NO OBJECTION c) LX/14/01151/DOM. Side and rear extension. 2 Wyldbore Cottages, Walthurst Lane, Loxwood. LETTER OF COMMENT APPENDED d) LX/14/00979/FUL. Variation of Conditions 2 and 3 of planning permission LX/12/03128/FUL to accommodate participants outside of school hours and Saturdays in order to meet the needs of busy parents. Lily Meadows, Roundstreet Common, Wisborough Green. NO OBJECTION e) LX/14/01123/OUT Erection of 5 dwellings. Woolspinners, Guildford Road, Loxwood. LETTER OF OBJECTION APPENDED Mr Agar/ Mr Loxton Ms Gardner/ Mrs Barthorpe 14/080 Planning. Summary of the status of recent Planning Applications for information only. Mr Osborne a) LX/14/00503/FUL. Change of use and conversion of workshop into live C3 work (use class B1) dwelling. The Old Workshop, High Street, Loxwood PERMIT b) LX/14/00428/DOM. Erection of first floor extension. Pound End, Pound Close, Loxwood. PERMIT
c) LX/14/00305/DOM. Single storey extension to rear with roof modifications and internal remodelling. Brookside, Guildford Road, Loxwood. PERMIT 14/081 Gatwick Airport Consultation A briefing paper written by Mr Agar had been circulated prior to the meeting. It was agreed that Mr Agar would draft a letter of response to the consultation and the would circulate to neighbouring parish councils. The letter is appended to these minutes. The Chairman would draft a letter to Andrew Tyrie MP. 14/082 Annual Parish Meeting It was agreed that Poppy Scott would be invited to give a presentation about home energy efficiency. The would produce a notice for the Loxwood Newsletter. 14/083 Accounts for payment The following payments were approved: West Sussex CC April salaries 522.25 Peter Frost Internal audit 136.07 C Agar Mileage expenses 22.50 14/084 Updates a) Loxwood Sports Association Car Park there was nothing to report b) Drainage/flooding a follow-up meeting with the Environment Agency and WSCC had been arranged for 21/5. c) Highways/Roads WSCC had agreed to provision of one Speed Indication Device and the majority view was that it should be located near the Onslow Arms on the northbound side of the road. WSCC would liaise with Mr Agar about the location. WSCC had confirmed that the white centre lines on the road through the village would be reinstated. Ms Gardner would chase WSCC regarding the fallen sign at Burley Close. d) North Hall There was nothing to report. 14/085 Items for information or inclusion on a future agenda Mrs Barthorpe reported that the gate latch at the playground needed replacing. The would put this in hand. Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, Risk Assessment and Code of Conduct would be reviewed at the next meeting. 14/086 Next Meeting The next meeting would be held at the North Hall, Loxwood on Monday 2 nd June at 7.30pm. There being no further business, the meeting ended at 21:40
Loxwood Parish Council c/o Lock House Lodge, Knightons Lane, Dunsfold, Surrey GU8 4NU : Mrs Beverley Weddell Tel: 01483 200314 email: clerk@loxwoodpc.co.uk 14 May 2014 Mr Peter Kneen Planning Officer Chichester District Council East Pallant House 1 East Pallant Chichester PO19 1TY Dear Mr Kneen, Re: LX/14/01123/OUT Erection of 5 dwellings. Woolspinners, Guildford Road, Loxwood. Loxwood Parish Council has considered this application and OBJECTS to the proposals. The proposed development site is outside the settlement boundary and as such would not comply with the emerging CDC Local Plan, CDC saved policies or Loxwood s emerging Neighbourhood Plan, which states that Any land within the parish of Loxwood which is outside the Settlement Boundary of Loxwood village is deemed to be rural and development will be permitted where it complies with Policy 13 of the plan. The proposals do not comply with Policy 13, which relates to the re-use of agricultural buildings and new agricultural or business development. The application has been predicated on CDC s FAD policy, which has now been withdrawn. The Parish Council also considers that the density indicated on the outline plans is too great and does not provide for sufficient parking in this rural area. For these reasons, Loxwood Parish Council considers that permission be refused. Yours sincerely Beverley Weddell to Loxwood Parish Council
Loxwood Parish Council c/o Lock House Lodge, Knightons Lane, Dunsfold, Surrey GU8 4NU : Mrs Beverley Weddell Tel: 01483 200314 email: clerk@loxwoodpc.co.uk 14 May 2014 Ms Maria Tomlinson Planning Officer Chichester District Council East Pallant House 1 East Pallant Chichester PO19 1TY Dear Ms Tomlinson Re: LX/14/01151/DOM Side and rear extension. 2 Wyldbore Cottages, Walthurst Lane, Loxwood. Loxwood Parish Council has considered this application and makes the following comments. The Parish Council has concerns that the proposed changes to the roof will change the character of the cottage by the addition of a gable end. The parish council would prefer the roofline to be in line with the rest of the building. Yours sincerely Beverley Weddell to Loxwood Parish Council
Loxwood Parish Council c/o Lock House Lodge, Knightons Lane, Dunsfold, Surrey GU8 4NU : Mrs Beverley Weddell Tel: 01483 200314 email: clerk@loxwoodpc.co.uk 15 May 2014 Gatwick Runway Consultation Ipsos MORI Research Services House Elmgrove Road Harrow HA1 2QG Dear Sirs, Loxwood Parish Council response to Gatwick Airport Authority request for consultation input on their proposals for a second runway at Gatwick Airport The following comments form the consultation response for Loxwood Parish Council (LPC) to the request for input from Gatwick Airport Authorities (GAA s) consultation document on the proposal to provide a second runway at Gatwick Airport. The response covers seven main areas of concern:- 1. The actual need for a second runway at Gatwick. 2. The noise associated with overflying local villages such as Loxwood. 3. The need for a restriction on night time take-offs and landings at Gatwick. 4. The choice of runway options detailed in GAA s discussion proposal document. 5. The disruption to local environment as a result of a second runway. 6. The increase in volume of people requiring housing whilst such a runway is under construction. 7. The housing impact due to the increase in volume of people required to service the airport with a 100% increase in passengers per annum as a result of the preferred GAA option. Our comments against the above areas of concern are as follows in order of listing. 1. The need for a second runway. In the consultation discussion documents provided on line from GAA there is no valid economic case made for a second runway at Gatwick. It is assumed that, as there is a nationally identified increasing demand for air travel, a second runway at Gatwick should be the answer. LPC believes that if there is a national need, this should be accommodated closer to London, with better transport infrastructure, as the majority of future air transport needs are likely to be more business
oriented requiring easier access to London and places to north of London. Heathrow is more ideally suited to meet this requirement. There are inadequate fast transport links to the centre of London from Gatwick which makes it less attractive for business travellers and those people who need to onward transit to other parts of the UK. 2. Noise The villages to the south west, south and south east of Gatwick reside in the heartland of the South Weald and South Downs and border on the South Downs national Park. This is, or was, a tranquil part of southern England to which many residents have moved because of its peaceful and countrified way of life. It is already blighted by continual aircraft noise from dawn to dusk with overflying at various altitudes depending on the flight path approaches to Gatwick and the prevailing wind direction. When the wind is between north west and south east (approximately 30% of the time), all landings at Gatwick are south west to north east. During these periods residents have monitored aircraft overflying every 45 to 60 seconds at peak times and at all times of day and night. Recent changes to flight paths and height of overflying aircraft have exacerbated this noise nuisance. A second runway with the GAA preferred option of Option 3 will double aircraft movements by 2050 making the overflying noise intolerable at peak times. The spread of flight paths necessary to service a two runway option will also affect a much larger areas of West Sussex and Surrey and the associated villages directly underneath them. No compensation has been proposed for residents outside the 57Dba noise footprint which occurs closer to the airport and within a narrow corridor extending immediately NE and SW of the runways. The value of houses directly affected by aircraft noise will inevitably reduce as a consequence. Loxwood Parish Council objects to this proposed increase in air traffic movements above the parish of Loxwood and adjacent parishes within the North East cluster of Chichester District Council. 3. Restriction on Night time air traffic movements Heathrow already has severe quota restrictions on night time flying between the hours of 23:00 hrs to 07:00 hrs., and there are restrictions to the number of flights and type of aircraft allowed to fly during this period. The noisiest aircraft are restricted further and not allowed to take-off or land between the above hours or 22:30 and 0600 hrs depending on their noise assessment criteria. Gatwick has no such restrictions and a second runway will increase the amount of noise pollution at night due to the proposed 100% increase in aircraft movements. Irrespective of any other objections and in the event that a second runway does go ahead, we would urge GAA to apply night-time flying restrictions to at least the same degree as Heathrow or greater due to the rural nature of the flight paths. 4. Choice of proposed runway options Loxwood Parish Council would prefer that no second runway be built at Gatwick. In the event that a second runway at Gatwick gains government approval, the preferred option for local residents would be the one which gives the least increase in aircraft movements, i.e. Option 1. 5. Disruption to local environment
LPC is concerned at the additional volume of land required for the development of a second runway at Gatwick. A total of 577 additional hectares of land will be absorbed into the airport requiring the diversion of at least one river, a major road, several minor roads and the demolition of numerous residential properties including grade 2* and 2 listed buildings. The majority of land required will be agricultural, which will affect the local economies of those local farms and their employees. Also brown field sites will be absorbed into the enlarged airport area affecting many businesses close to the airport. These businesses will undoubtedly require further business development locations close to the newly enlarged airport which will absorb even more green belt and agricultural land. Although not a direct impact on the rural parishes to the south west of Gatwick, the impact of loss of employment and the increase in the demand for business premises will add to the pressure already felt by village communities for increased housing and business premises. There is insufficient infrastructure to accommodate such an increase and the consultation document does not address these issues. The green environment will also suffer affecting the natural habitat for other sensitive fauna and flora. Doubling the aircraft movements will have a negative impact on the CO2 and pollution levels in all of the surrounding areas. 6. Housing of construction workers There is already an identified housing shortage within the south and south east of England. Chichester Emerging Local Plan identifies a need for in excess of 6,900 houses in the Plan Period and has designated the North East Cluster of parishes to provide 339 houses on allocated and windfall sites over a similar or shorter period to meet their shortfall on their 5 year housing supply. There is little or no temporary housing in the locality and no space to provide it. Construction workers will need to be housed close to the Gatwick Airport site which will put pressure on adjacent areas as the available housing supply is absorbed. No mention is made in the consultation document about how the construction is to be managed nor has the impact been addressed of a large number of itinerant workers local communities or their infrastructure. The type of skills needed for the construction of major civil engineering projects is not readily available in the locality and as such it will not benefit the local economy of the local areas. 7. Permanent housing impact of additional airport workers If Option 3 is adopted, this will mean a vast increase in terminal buildings to cater for the additional flights and thus will lead to the need to provide services to the doubling of passengers per annum over current figures. Proportionally this will need another 21,000 employees given the current level of employment at Gatwick. Local housing adjacent to the Gatwick Airport area is severely limited by available land and will be further reduced by the land take for the new enlarged airport.
This means that the pressure for housing on the local towns of Crawley and Horsham will increase way above the current levels. There are already huge housing estates being constructed in and around both towns even without the requirements of an enlarged Gatwick. The knock on effect to surrounding villages and parishes cannot be estimated, but without doubt it will be significant. Many villages in the Chichester District, north east cluster are developing Neighbourhood Plans which are development plans attached to the CDC Local Plan. The timescale for these plans extends to 2029. This means that CDC will work to the local NPs in terms of allocated development sites thus limiting the amount of available development land. No consideration appears to have been made for the housing locally of the large increase in airport workers required to service the doubling of passenger numbers projected. Local schools are already well overloaded with little or no money available for the expansion of existing or the building of new schooling to accommodate a large influx of families into the surrounding areas. Other amenities are similarly impacted such as churches, shops transport services etc. LPC objects to the impact increased airport worker housing demand will inevitably have on local villages and parishes where there are serious infrastructure deficiencies already in terms of housing supply, school places, shops, fresh and foul water infrastructure, flood alleviation and electricity supply services. Also local road infrastructure and transport services are inadequate or limited even at current population levels. Conclusions Loxwood Parish Council objects to the proposals for a second runway at Gatwick Airport for the reasons expressed above. The Option 3, proposed by GAA, will double the current impact on local villages and parishes under the proposed expanded flight paths creating much increase noise pollution. Night flying needs to be addressed. Little or no consideration has been given to the impact of the construction or running of the enlarged airport and its impact on the local environment and the housing, schooling and sustainability of such a large project especially on neighbouring local parishes. Yours faithfully Beverley Weddell to Loxwood Parish Council
Cllr. Philippa Hardwick Chichester District Council Report to Ward May 2014 Contact: phardwick@chichester.gov.uk 01428 661 866 Your Neighbourhood Plan Loxwood Neighbourhood Plan was the subject of an Independent Examination dated 11 April 2014. The report makes interesting reading and there are several key findings (required modifications). The weight that should be given to the plan in the planning process has now increased. A referendum date of the 24 July 2014 has been set. CDC s Local Plan Chichester s Local Plan was approved last week by the full Council for submission to the Secretary of State for examination. The Secretary of State will now appoint a planning inspector to conduct the examination and report back to the Council as to whether the plan is sound, not sound, or sound subject to modifications. It has taken a great deal of time and money to get the plan to this position. It is never easy to try to get consensus over what the plan should include and providing the evidence base to demonstrate that the plan can be delivered in an acceptable way is challenging too. The Council believes that it has struck an appropriate balance over the need to provide for development and the need to protect the outstanding local environment. The plan proposes a housing target of 410 dwellings per annum (with an indicative figure of 60 over the entire plan period to 2029 for the parish of Loxwood). The overall total (410 per year) is some 50 dwellings per year below the bottom end of the range of the objectively assessed need for housing and there is therefore a risk that the inspector will indicate that the plan cannot be found sound unless this number is increased. Crucially however the Council believes that it has the evidence to demonstrate that to increase this figure would contravene significant environmental constraints and that this case is defensible in an examination, however, everyone should be aware that many local plans have been rejected at examination recently. If there is one thing that is certain, it is that the development industry will be arguing for an increase in the rates of development in the plan. The plan will be submitted before the end of the month and then the Council will hear which inspector has been appointed to conduct the examination. As the plan passes through the various stages of the statutory procedures it gains weight in its application through the decision making process. Once the plan has been submitted for examination it has significant weight and you will see increasing references to it in reports to the Planning Committee. The Council will be appointing a programme officer to assist with the smooth running of the examination. Although appointed and paid for by the Council, the programme officer is independent of the Council and acts as the means of contact to the inspector. All administrative arrangements and correspondence with the inspector have to go through the programme officer. This applies to the council as much as it does to parish councils, members of the public and developers. Some objectors have indicated that they wish to appear at the examination and they will be contacted by the programme officer. Anyone else who wishes to speak at the examination can only do so at the discretion of the inspector. The inspector can decide if he or she
wishes to invite relevant interests to speak on specific topics. The inspector may not hold hearings on all topics. All of the consultation responses from the pre-submission plan will be before the inspector and the inspector may decide that there is sufficient information to come to a view on some issues without a hearing. In other cases the council or others may be asked to submit information in writing. Once the plan is submitted the council is not able to add to its evidence base unless specifically asked to do so by the inspector. Anyone can attend the hearings as they are all held in public. The actual programme for the examination will only be formally determined once an inspector has been appointed. We are expecting the examination to commence at the beginning of September and sit for around 3 to 4 weeks. We anticipate the inspectors report will be available in November and hope to move to adopt the plan in December. However, this timetable will only be achievable if there are no significant issues raised at the examination or the need to make significant changes to the plan. The timetable is liable to change depending on how the examination progresses. The Grange Having opened for business on 3 March the early phases of use are going well. Our partner WSCC opened their Library and registrar services on 31 March. The centre is benefiting from the additional footfall, particularly the catering facilities. People are invited to celebrate the opening of the Grange by taking part in a free fun day on Sunday 11 May. The fun day will take place from 10am to 5pm. There will be a chance to try some of the activities offered at the centre including badminton, pre-school gymnastics, short tennis, table tennis and trampolining, a bouncy castle and indoor go-kart track! For the adults there will also be taster classes in Pilates, Kettle Bells, Fitness Interval Training, Spinning, Fitness Pilates and Power Yoga. The Chichester Wellbeing team will also be available to offer help and advice on a range of issues. Forthcoming meetings 20 th May : Annual Council 2.30pm The Assembly Room, Chichester City Council, North Street, Chichester Weds 28 th May: Planning Committee 10.00am The Assembly Room, Chichester City Council, North Street, Chichester (Moat site application likely to be determined Can I encourage interested parties to speak please book in advance if wish to speak call CDC switchboard.)