Minutes Parish Council Meeting 4th July 2024

Silverdale Parish Council 4 July 2024

Report of the Chair

1 Local Plan: Key Committee Dates and Future Consultation

Thu 11 July Economy & Place Scrutiny Committee at 7.00 pm. No report yet published.

Wed 24 July Full Council at 7pm Final decision on key strategies and land allocations See Final plan on where 5,400 North Staffordshire homes will be built ‘almost done’  Sentinel 28 June Philip Corrigan. Reproduced below:

Newcastle Borough Council will publish the final draft of its local plan in less than two weeks. The local plan, which has been in the works since 2021, will guide all development in the borough, including homes and employment sites, over the next 20 years. The first draft plan, published last June, included site allocations for up to 5,395 homes at 41 locations across Newcastle, including some Green Belt sites.

The full council is expected to approve the final draft for a minimum of six weeks of public consultation on July 24. But members of the public will be able to see it from early July, when it will be published on the council website as part of the agenda for a special scrutiny meeting.

Members of the economy and place scrutiny committee were given an update on the progress of the local plan at their meeting on Thursday.

Councillor Richard Gorton raised concerns over whether the proposed consultation would be long enough. He said: “At the last meeting there was some discussion over the consultation period for the final draft, and whether it could be changed from six to eight weeks.

Could it be explained why the decision was reached to not go for eight weeks?”

Councillor Andrew Fear, cabinet member for strategic planning, suggested that the final draft’s publication in early July would give people time to read and digest the document ahead of the consultation. He said: “The report talks about a minimum of six weeks, and my hope is that it will still be eight weeks. I also draw to members’ attention the fact that because we’re having a special meeting of this committee, at which the draft will be discussed, that will mean it will be a public document from that point onwards. That means of course that anyone who wants to read this document will be able to do so.

“Everyone will be able to read the document before the portal for comments goes lives, so effectively we will have a longer consultation anyway. You won’t be able to make any input at that point, but having read it you’ll be good to go from day one of the consultation.”

Allan Clarke, planning policy manager at the borough council, told the committee that the consultation on the final draft would be a more formal process, seeking views on whether the plan is legally compliant and meets the ‘test of soundness’, rather than the more general comments which were invited during last year’s consultation.’ https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke–on–trent–news/final–plan–5400–north–

staffordshire–9360889 dated 28 June 2024.

NPPF 2023 Test of Soundness: 4 Principles and the Housing Component

1. Positively prepared – providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs (…); and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development;
2. Justified – an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and

based on proportionate evidence;

1. Effective – deliverable over the plan period, and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground; and
2. Consistent with national policy – enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in this Framework and other statements of national planning policy, where relevant.

….For housing needs ‘such needs should be assessed using a clear and justified method, as set out in paragraph 61 of this Framework’

61. To determine the minimum number of homes needed, strategic policies should be informed by a local housing need assessment, conducted using the standard method in national planning guidance. The outcome of the standard method is an advisory starting-point for establishing a housing requirement for the area (see paragraph 67..).

There may be exceptional circumstances, including relating to the particular demographic characteristics of an area (areas that are islands with no land bridge that have a significant proportion of elderly residents) which justify an alternative approach to assessing housing need; in which case the alternative approach should also reflect current and future demographic trends and market signals. In addition to the local housing need figure, any needs that cannot be met within neighbouring areas should also be taken into account in establishing the amount of housing to be planned for. 

2 PAPG and General Election and By elections

Before the announcement of the General Election, the action group opposed to Audley green belt development, Protect Audley Parish Greenbelt were asking for a common approach to opposition to green belt development.

A meeting took place between Val Newsome and Graham Bibby of Keele Parish Council and me (and later discussion with Chrissy Mrozicki) about the response to the request.The suggestion was overtaken by the likely impacts of the two elections. I have focused the borough council stated positions.

The test of soundness taken from the government’s current planning policy guideline and the housing need methodology is the key circumstance on which there are grounds to oppose the Local Plan.

The specific grounds are

• that Newcastle under Lyme does not follow national population trends
• and furthermore it adjoins a unitary authority (Stoke City Council) and statistics for the two authorities have not been adequately distinguished in certain presentations which overall give a misleading picture of the housing need in Newcastle under Lyme.

I will update my documents on housing need to write up a response on behalf of the parish council to the next consultation for the next meeting in August.

Henryk Adamczuk

4 July 2024

Cllr. R Adcock report for Parish Council July 2024

Walleys Quarry

I have emailed Andrew Hitchings the EA group manager for Walleys Quarry to ask for a full explanation into why the recalibrated data has not been released more than 6 months after it was promised. I have yet to receive a reply. There will be a Walleys Quarry Liasion Committee meeting next week where I intend to follow up on that question and other issues.

I have continued to meet with the Walleys Quarry Committee of inquiry to review submissions and prepare for the inquiry day. This has been postponed due to the General Election campaign and a date of 23^rdJuly has been proposed. With the EA unable to be available until August, an additional date to question them has been proposed for 14^th August. When these are confirmed, they will be advertised to the public.

Local Plan

Councillors have a briefing on the Local Plan next week and the final draft will be published. This will be discussed on the next Full Council agenda at the end of the month and it should then go out for the next 6 week round of consultation.

If there is a change of government, it is indicated there may soon be changes to planning policies around releasing more greenbelt land and a review to increase housing targets which will make having a local and neighbourhood plan in place even more important.

Quad bike/Moped nuisance

This continues to be an issue on various parts of the village as reported to me by residents. At the last Licensing Committee where imposing new rules on ‘car cruising’ was discussed, I asked if this could include a review of the use of off-road vehicles in similar gatherings. The officer confirmed this will not form part of this specific policy but will be sharing information with me in due course about a joint plan they are working on with Staffordshire Police following similar targeted operations in Stoke on Trent (e.g. Operation Transom) which will involve surveillance drones and the seizure of vehicles used improperly.

Development behind Bush Pub

I have been in communication with planning officer Debbie Hulme about this application and our concerns around it. I called it in to be considered by the planning committee. She emailed at the end of last week to say this would likely no longer be necessary as they have not received sufficient documentation from the developer around Noise Impact Assessments therefore this application was very unlikely to be approved by officers.

Development on Bath Road (former Parksite shop)

I have submitted comments on the application objecting to plans at present particularly focusing on the loss of a retail unit. Whilst I personally very much welcome development in Parksite, both Cllr. Brown and I had stated to Aspire our strong desire for the retail option to be retained, reflecting the demand from residents.

Ward Councillor report to Silverdale P.C.                          Date of report   2. 7. 2024

Councillor: Jacqueline Brown              No of cases: 71 No resolved: 57 ongoing: 14

Walley`s Quarry. Walley`s Quarry. Due to the calling of the General election 4.7.24 the WQ Inquiry day has been postponed until 23.7.24. Evidence has arrived from many sources including the M.P. the Labour PPC, Silverdale P.C. and other community organisations. There was an interim meeting on 13^th June at NULBC which I attended. The organisation of the Inquiry day was finalised and the discussion centred around which `witnesses` to call on the day. There will be a public gallery.

Planning & housing: Silverdale Sidings Section 106 money   I still have not heard from Anthony Harold Head of Legal at NULBC who I reminded about the case back in April.  As there is no Chief Exec at present due to Martin Hamilton`s departure Anthony Harold is exceptionally busy as he will be the Acting Returning officer in the General Election 4.7.24.

Work with schools Yr. 4 from Silverdale Academy visited the library on Mon 1^st July to have  a tour. They saw how the library books were organised and were delighted to see chess and jigsaws available. A group of 5 children then undertook a litter pick with me in the in the library vicinity.

The Reception children came for storytime that afternoon and presented two of the Parish Councillors with a thank you card they had made themselves. They were very pleased with the improvements to the outdoor area facilitated by the PC funding. There had been an event for parents, including a BBQ, to showcase the new improved area.

Anti-social behaviour

At the end of March PCSO Neil Moffat and I knocked on doors in the park vicinity of Heritage Park to check on the situation with any Anti social behaviour. Since then I have kept in touch with several residents. One reported some anti social behaviour, including urinating in bushes, from some older primary age children. Due to the school uniform we identified them as Silverdale Primary pupils, we also had at least two names, so I passed this on to the headteacher to deal with. I will be attending an assembly before the end of term to discuss, how we treat our community with respect during the long summer holidays. I did this last year too, but this year I am hoping to attend with PCSO Neil Moffat.

It seems the very unpleasant case of prolonged Anti social behaviour in the Bath rd/Cheddar drive area of Parksite may have come to an end. Residents inform me that after several visits from the RSPCA the individual in question has moved his possessions from the property. We hope this means the neighbourhood will get some well deserved peace.

On 29.6.24 a resident on Sutton Ave reported that a gang of older teenagers had caused disruption on the toddler park from 11pm to midnight the night before. The police had been called but had refused to come out. I was surprised at this because loud music and alcohol had been involved. The resident said neighbours had intervened and got the teenagers to go away, but the situation could have escalated. This resident also sent me photos and there was an intimidating image of a youth in a black balaclava. I took the incident number and have reported this to the ASBO lead at NULBC and the police. Yesterday, 1.7.24, the ASBO lead, Michelle Hopper, got in touch and said they are working with the police to identify these individuals. If they are able to do so action will be taken.

General Comments:

Toddler story sessions continue every Monday 1.45-2.15 at Silverdale Library.

We have recently had more babies arrive for the rhyme time at 2.30pm.

Afternoon tea at the Dell organised by Silverdale PC. I have continued to publicise this event. Wed 17^this now fully booked but there are still space on Tues 16^th at the time of writing this report. I am really looking forward to it as it will be a change to catch up with residents after the hectic G.E. period.

It is General Election time and of course local politicians are very busy at present. However it will all be over on Thursday 4^th July.

Weekly updates available F.B. page Councillor Jacqueline Brown in Silverdale Page