Neighbourhood Plan Committee

Agenda

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

To:      All Members of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee (Bill Hatton, Ian Weir, Carolyn Barton, Kristian Berggreen and Don McBeth) with copies to all other Councillors for information.


A meeting of the NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN COMMITEE will be held at the Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks on Thursday 8th February 7.30pm.

Parish Clerk – 29th January 2024

1. TO ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

2. TO ACCEPT DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

3. MINUTES to accept the minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on 28th September 2023 (previously circulated).

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

5. District Plan Regulation 19 Consultation (Appendix 1)

The District Plan consultation commenced on 12th January 2024 and will run until 23rd February 2024. The Council have been invited (Appendix 1) to submit a consultation response on the proposed plan.

Although the consultation is being co-ordinated by Mid Sussex District Council this is being undertaken on behalf of the Planning Inspectorate.

The link below accesses the Main District Plan website where the detailed documents can be viewed.

https://www.midsussex.gov.uk/planning-building/mid-sussex-district-plan/district-plan-review

In addition the following links extracted from the District Plan consultation page provides further detail on the processes to be followed

  • Statement of Representations Procedure and Availability of Documents

https://midsussex.inconsult.uk/gf2.ti/-/1531298/193398917.1/PDF/-/Statement%20of%20Representations%20Procedure%20v2.pdf

  • How to make comments using the Online Consultation System Inovem

https://midsussex.inconsult.uk/gf2.ti/-/1531298/192590853.1/PDF/-/How%20to%20make%20representations%20on%20inovem.pdf

Members are requested to review the documents in advance of the meeting and identify any areas where they wish to consider submitting a representation on behalf of the Council.

6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

7. URGENT MATTERS at the discretion of the Chairman for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

8. DATE OF NEXT MEETING. 28th March 2024.

EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS
In view of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted Councillors will be referred to the Confidential Agenda. If any members of the public or press are in attendance they will be requested to withdraw from the meeting in the public interest.

All members of the public are welcome to attend to attend meetings of the Parish Council and its Committees. Item 4 – a period of 15 minutes will be set aside for the public statements and questions relating to the published non-confidential business of the Meeting.
It may be necessary to consider particular items in confidential session and where this arises, these items will be considered at the end of the agenda.

FILMING, RECORDING OF COUNCIL MEETINGS AND USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA During this meeting members of the public may film or record the Committee and officers from the public area only providing it does not disrupt the meeting. The Confidential section of the meeting may not be filmed or recorded. If a member of the public objects to being recorded, the person(s) filming must stop doing so until that member of the public has finished speaking. The use of social media is permitted but members of the public are requested to switch their mobile devices to silent for the duration of the meeting.

Appendix 1

Mid Sussex Planning Policy Consultations

Submission Draft Mid Sussex District Plan 2021-2039:
Regulation 19

You’ve been invited to participate in the Submission Draft Mid Sussex District Plan 2021-2039: Regulation 19 consultation by the consultation manager, Mid Sussex District Council (Miss Estelle Maisonnial).

This consultation is open from 12 Jan 2024 at 08:00 to 23 Feb 2024 at 23:59.

Mid Sussex Consultation Submission Draft District Plan 2021-2039 (Regulation 19)
January 2024

Mid Sussex District Council has published a submission draft District Plan 2021-2039 for consultation from the 12th January, closing 23:59 on the 23rd February 2024.

The Mid Sussex District Plan 2014-2031 was adopted in March 2018. In accordance with legislation and national policy, Local Plans must be reviewed every five years and updated as necessary. The adopted District Plan commits the Council to reviewing the Plan with submission to the Secretary of State in 2023. The submission draft District Plan 2021-2039 is published for Regulation 19 consultation which is the first formal stage in its preparation.

The draft Mid Sussex District Plan 2021-2039 reviews and updates the adopted vision and strategic objectives while implementing a revised strategy to guide growth during the plan period. It provides updated and new policies to ensure that the Plan remains effective and in accordance with National Policy. It also includes new housing allocations to meet identified housing needs. The drafting of the Plan is supported by a proportionate, up-to-date and robust evidence base available alongside the consultation documents.

All of the consultation documents can be viewed on the Regulation 19 Consultation webpage at https://midsussex.inconsult.uk/districtplanreg19/. Supporting evidence is accessible from this webpage.

At Regulation 19, responses must follow the format required by the Planning Inspectorate and be framed around the Tests of Soundness and legal compliance. Responses can be submitted online using the above link, this is the easiest way to respond to the consultation and will facilitate the processing of responses. Detailed guidance on how to respond to this consultation is available on that page.

All responses made through the consultation will be collated by the District Council and submitted to the independent Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State alongside the submission District Plan, statutory documentation and full evidence base.

For any queries, please visit www.midsussex.gov.uk/districtplan or contact the Planning Policy team on planningpolicy@midsussex.gov.uk or by telephone (01444) 477053

Participate in this consultation

Minutes

Draft Minutes of the NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN COMMITTEE meeting held on Thursday 8th February 2024 at 19.30pm

Attendees: Parish Councillors: Carolyn Barton (Chair), Don McBeth, Kristian Berggreen

Visiting member: Cllr Lesley Cruikshank-Robb

Clerk:  Ian Cumberworth

NP23/21 APOLOGIES: Cllr Ian Weir, Cllr Bill Hatton

NP23/22 DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS: None

NP23/23 MINUTES

Minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee held on the 28th September 2023 were agreed and accepted as a true record.

NP23/24 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

There were no members of the public present.

NP23/25 District Plan Consultation – Regulation 19.

Members were informed that the Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) District Plan review was now subject to Regulation 19 consultation which is being administered by MSDC on behalf of the Planning Inspectorate. The Council had been invited as a consultee to comment on the draft published document.

All responses will be considered by the Planning Inspectorate and must follow the format required by the Planning Inspectorate and be framed around the test of soundness:

  • Has the plan been positively prepared i.e. based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed requirements?
  • Is the plan justified
  • Is it based on robust and credible evidence?
  • Is it the most appropriate strategy when considered against the alternatives?
  • Is the document effective?
  • Is it deliverable
  • Is it flexible
  • Will it be able to be monitored
  • Is it consistent with national policy

And that the plan is legal.

The Clerk advised members that the Council had previously submitted a response to the earlier Regulation 18 consultation, a copy of which was circulated at the meeting for reference.

The Council response was in relation to the following policies:

  1. DPN3 Green Infrastructure
  2. DPS1 Climate Change
  3. DPS2 Sustainable Design & Construction
  4. DPS6 Health & Wellbeing
  5. DPC3 New Homes in the Countryside
  6. DPH2 Sustainable Development outside the built up area

Site Allocations

  1. DPH15 2 Hurst Road (25 properties)
  2. DPH27 Byanda (provision of 60 older persons units)

These representations would have been considered by MSDC prior to the formalisation of the plan which is currently going through the Regulation 19 consultation process.

The Clerk highlighted that the draft plan acknowledges that there is currently limited further growth potential within Hassocks.

The Plan indicated that Hassocks has 726 Commitments as at 1st April 2023 with a further proposed allocation of 25 properties within the District Plan 2021-2039 therefore delivering an overall Housing supply for the life of the plan of 751 properties.

The additional 25 properties relate to DPH15 – 2 Hurst Road. The Council did make representations on this site at Regulation 18 stage and will have further opportunities to comment on this as the scheme progresses through the planning process.

In respect of the other allocated site within the parish DPH27 Byanda the Council did make representations against this proposal, however MSDC Planning Committee subsequently approved planning permission therefore this remains in the site allocation plan and will progress through the development cycle.

Members were invited to consider whether they wished to make further representations as part of the Regulation 19 process.

Members discussed various approaches and were minded to limit their response specifically to DPS4 Flood Risk and Drainage. Concerns were raised that the District Councils Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) Policy referenced in the proposed consultation plan was published in 2015 and is currently subject to review; it would be expected that a revised policy would be required to be in place prior to the conclusion of the inspectors review so that it accurately reflects the current situation which has worsened with the on-going progression of climate change and significant level of development since the original SFRA policy was drafted.

Members RESOLVED to authorise the Clerk in consultation with the Chair (Cllr Barton) to draft an appropriate response in respect of DPS4 and to submit this to MSDC prior to closure of the consultation period.

NP23/26 Any Other Business. Members discussed the option of revisiting the Priorities Statement to see whether this could be worked up further and requested the Clerk to provide some examples of statements from other parishes as way of background to assist in developing the statement. The Clerk undertook to do so but indicated that nationally there remain limited examples available therefore published versions maybe very much focussed on the format of those parishes within the South Downs National Park (SDNP).

The Clerk clarified that the statement does not have any formal standing unlike the Neighbourhood Plan, however it enabled the authority to gain insight evidence of the aspirations/concerns/vision of parishioners for the parish going forward. Therefore the evidence from this document could be used to make representations on future proposals that may be considered whether that be in support or objection. The document provides an evidence base of views and could be utilised to inform the business plan refresh. Members were keen to revisit this at the next meeting.

NP23/27 Urgent Matters. None

NP23/28 DATE OF NEXT MEETING.  28th March 2024.