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SHENLEY NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

STEERING GROUP MEETING at METHODIST CHURCH

 On Tuesday 20th February 2018 at 7pm

MINUTES

Attendees:     Gemma Archer, Richard Archer, Maureen Ashman, Nicky Beaton (Chair), Steve Bury, Rosemary Gilligan, Michael Hore and Gavin O’Sullivan.

(Amanda Leboff was present to take the minutes)

  1. Apologies for absence:  Helen Hussain and Robert Perlmutter
  2. Approval of previous minutes: Minutes of Meetings on 23rd January 2018 were approved.
  3. Recent Meetings – Briefing by NB & RG:  NB updated the meeting with regards to a meeting held with James Craig, a local developer, who highlighted areas of potential development.  NB also informed the meeting that County Councillor Morris Bright had attended the February Parish Council meeting and informed them that the housing figures would be known in March 2018. He also informed them that there had been lots of call for sites – more than had been anticipated-however details will not be known until September 2018.
  4. Neighbourhood Plan grants/Finance – Update: RG informed the meeting that she had been chasing the Locality team with regards to the Character and Heritage Assessment for Shenley.  She was informed however that it is unlikely this will now be done as the Government have not been approving these reports.  If we do get the funding for the report it will not be done until October 2018 and the Neighbourhood Plan cannot move forward until this is done.

However, an option is to ask Angela Koch to do the Character and Heritage Assessment along with the other works.  It was AGREED that RG would get a quote from Angela to do this.

NB suggested that the recent grant (£6,890) be used to work with Angela.

  1. Angela Koch’s Quote to work on Draft Plan – Discussion + Vote: It was unanimously AGREED that Angela will be employed to use the existing Hertsmere documents to formulate the Shenley Character and Heritage Assessment which will support the Neighbourhood Plan and in-turn produce the first draft of the Shenley neighbourhood plan.
  2. Housing Questionnaire Results – Discussion: RA began by running through the results of the Housing Questionnaire. The first item mentioned was the potential for issues with parking.  According to the survey there are 1.79 cars/vans per household in Shenley.  The results suggest that residents feel there is currently enough parking (it was suggested there may have been some confusion for people in responding to this particular question). It was agreed that for any future development there should be a condition for enough parking and garages that are large enough for cars.  GA said that provision should also be made for visitor parking.

The questionnaire also highlighted that 88 of respondents have “HIDDEN HOUSEHOLDS” (additional adults living in the residence). This implies that grown up children cannot afford to buy in Shenley.

25% of households in Shenley have at least 1 adult that cycle regularly

18% of all those who responded to the survey said they would be looking to move.  Of this 68% would like to stay in Shenley, 23% would be looking for a bungalow, 65% would be looking for a 2-3 bedroom house with this being upsizing for the majority.

The questionnaire highlighted that of those that have left home the majority have been due to cohabitating/marriage/divorce, attending university and affordability.

Those that are intending to leave home in the next 5 years are due mainly to university and affordability.

The next section discussed related to Accessibility and Mobility.  Of those who responded, 20% have limited or a lot of mobility, more than half of these were looking for accommodation on the ground floor. There was clearly evidence that that there is a need a need for retirement type homes.

Under the title DEVELOPMENT TYPE there was an overall feeling that people do not like the idea of development in the greenbelt and are more in favour of redeveloping brown belt sites.

Overall feedback from the questionnaire was:-

  • 1/3 of all Shenley residents completed the questionnaire
  • 55% of all respondents live in Porters Park
  • 39% of all respondents live in the old village
  • 5% of all respondents live in Shenleybury.
  • Over ½ the responses were made by residents over the age of 50
  • 98% of respondents believe that the green nature of Shenley needs to be retained

RG highlighted that the Neighbourhood Plan needs to represent what the Shenley residents want.  She went on to suggest the possibility that Shenley Parish Council work with Community Right to Build scheme, but a specific site for development would be needed. Gemma suggested this could be asked in the next questionnaire.

It was AGREED the focus should be on what the Neighbourhood Plan needs.  NB asked if extra information is needed at another point could this be obtained – RA said it could.

GA informed the meeting she has traffic data if required and AGREED to get traffic accident data.

  1. Aecom Housing needs Assessment – Update by RG: RG informed the meeting that the first draft should be ready the 2nd week of March.
  2. Neighbourhood Plan – Draft progress: NB and RG are starting to collate the draft. Whilst NB is away RG and Angela will continue to work on it.
  3. Any Other Business: It was NOTED that there has been no feedback from the local business community. It was NOTED that a Local Business Questionnaire is being prepared. NB suggested that we visit each business personally to get the maximum feedback.
  4. 10. Date of next meeting: TUESDAY 17th APRIL

Actions:

GA:        To contact Hertfordshire’s Traffic Data Analyst and will request the traffic accident data

RG:         To get a quote from Angela