(Agenda item added to the agenda at the request of the Area Committee of the County Association of Local Councils)
It was suggested that it would be helpful for the District Council to have a reasoned discussion with the parishes (or at least with the larger ones) upon their comments on the draft.
Minutes:
The Chairman informed the Forum that Mr. M. Dunphy, Strategic Planning Manager, was to give a presentation to the District Council on the Core Strategy, essentially aimed at the new District Councillors following the election in May. He asked if this would be of interest to the Parish Councils and whether they would wish for a similar event to be arranged and the ensuing consensus around the table was very favourable. It was agreed that arrangements be made in order for Mr. Dunphy to give a presentation to the Forum on the Core Strategy, ideally to the next meeting.
In response to the statement on the Agenda for the meeting in respect of discussions between the District Council and the individual parish councils on any comments made on the draft Core Strategy document, Councillor Taylor asked the Forum if the Parish Council's would be able to form a small Steering Group to consider representations made. He considered that consulting with each Parish Council separately would lead to a fragmented approach which may ultimately lead to the views of the smaller parish councils being stifled by the larger ones, especially in terms of where parish councils shared common ground / similar interests.
Mrs. S. Baxter, in attendance at the meeting both as a member of Wythall Parish Council and as the Chairman of the Area Committee for the County Association of Local Councils [CALC], stated that the Core Strategy was already due to be discussed at the next CALC meeting, inasmuch as seeking areas where the Parish Councils have a consensus, and where they can work together given the different sizes, coverage and issues involved. She considered that it may be possible for a small Steering Group be established to work on the common areas. It was noted, however, that the Core Strategy does not impact upon all parishes to the same degree and some of the larger Parish Councils may have their own views in respect of larger development sites within their respective areas, which may require a certain element of neighbourhood planning to take the Core Strategy forward.
The Chairman, however, reminded Members that the most important consideration was to ensure that a Core Strategy is put in place in order to act as a defence against developers / uncoordinated development. Furthermore, he added that the Localism Bill will not act as a defence against development, but will determine how development is to be handled within an area; the premise is development, not protection or against development.
Mrs. R. Bamford then addressed the Forum to inform Members of the current position of the Core Strategy process. She reported that, since the end of the consultation in April 2011, the 3,000+ responses received were currently being processed with a view to presenting a report to Cabinet, and then Council, in early 2012. Following this, a new version of the Core Strategy would be produced, based on the decisions of Cabinet and Council as to which policies should be amended (in accordance with any officer recommendation or not) and which ones left as they are. Mrs. Bamford stated that the 'new' version of the Core Strategy would then be subject to public consultation and a similar procedure would be followed, and she added that the whole process would, as expected, take a considerable amount of time.
Finally, Mrs. Bamford commented that if any Parish Council wished to discuss the views of the Council on their submissions then, as long as any requests could be incorporated into the timescales involved, any further comments may be accommodated upon request.
Mrs. Bamford then responded to several additional comments and questions from Members of the Forum.