Speaking Note to Slide Show Presentation 7/8 th July Slide 1. - - PDF document

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Speaking Note to Slide Show Presentation 7/8th July

Slide 1. Opening Good Evening/Morning. Thank you for taking time to be here. I am Roy Ramm, the Chairman of the Felsted Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. I am joined here in the hall today by other members of the group – but more of that and them in a few minutes. Firstly, I would like to thank Lawrence Garside, the Head of this delightful and officially OUTSTANDING school, for providing the facility to us. Education and our schools feature heavily in our Neighbourhood Plan, so it is appropriate we are here today. ________________________________________________________________________ Slide 2. Format The format: To update you about where we are in the Neighbourhood Plan process, about what’s next for us and then to outline the draft policies that we believe meet your vision for Felsted through the Plan Period to 2037. After that I’ll invite you to circulate around the hall to see the DRAFT policies grouped in sections and manned by a member of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. To try to keep timing and let everyone hear the full presentation, I’d be grateful if you would keep any questions you have till the end and even then, I may ask you to deal with those with colleagues. This is your plan, the community’s Plan: NOT the Steering Group’s Plan. There will be post it notes for you to write comments on and we will, as we have done throughout the process, look carefully at those comments and factor them into the final Plan. If you go away and think

• f something you would have liked to have said, please use the Felsted Neighbourhood Plan website at

www.felstednp.org.uk From Tuesday we will run an on-line Smart Survey to see what you think about the policies. And that’s still not the end of it. The final document will be sent to you by Uttlesford District Council and you will be invited to support it in a referendum. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 3. Basic Principles The Plan cannot prevent ALL development. The law does not allow that. What the Plan is required to do is: ‘To take a positive approach to sustainable development.’ Unless we do that, the plan will be rejected by the Uttlesford District Council and the independent examiner.

2 It cannot promote less development than is required by the Uttlesford District Council Local Plan – it can, if we choose, promote more. I’ll speak about our intentions as we move through the presentation, but let me reassure everyone at this early stage this Plan is primarily and overwhelmingly concerned with preserving what we value most. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 4. Overriding Policies A word about general constraints. We have to comply with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and The Uttlesford Local Plan. The current position with the new proposed Uttlesford Local Plan is very important. You may have heard that the Local Plan was published in DRAFT two weeks ago The Draft states that a total of 44 new homes will be built in the 19 type A villages – of which Felsted is

• ne – during the 15-year Local Plan period. We hope this is correct.

So, assuming that the Uttlesford District Council Local Plan is accepted in its current form or with limited amendment, Felsted will be in a good place in respect of defending itself against future unwanted development and the Neighbourhood Plan also builds a strong second line of defence. On the face of it good news! Until the new Uttlesford District Council Local plan has passed inspection, probably late 2018 – to early 2019, we have to deal today with the existing and extant 2005 Uttlesford District Council Local Plan and a situation where Uttelsford District Council has not met its 5-year housing supply and developers are exploiting that to push through development proposals before the new Local Plan becomes effective. And the threat is not just from development in the Parish it comes also from major developments in adjoining or nearby areas. Over 4,000 new homes are now planned to be on our doorstep in development at the West of Braintree, Great Leighs and Boxted Wood Stebbing. _____________________________________________________________________ Slide 5 The Plan Area To be clear the Plan Area is the Parish Boundary – not just the village. And the Plan Period is 2017 -2037. Two full decades. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 6 20 Years of Change 1997 -2017 In 1997 – just 20 years ago, young fresh-faced Tony Blair won a landslide election victory and this Nokia telephone was the state of the art. Closer to home – just over the Parish boundary at Oakwood Park - later to become Flitch Green – housing development had not even been started. The Felsted Sugar beet factory was still standing until 2001. And in those two decades the Parish has lost pubs, shops, a garage and much more besides. In the last 20 years, over 200 new homes have been built in Felsted - without any significant community gain or additional amenities to serve the needs of the growing population. _______________________________________________________________________

3 Slide 7 20 Years of Change 2017 - 2037 This Plan is not just about today. It’s not about the next 5 years. It is a plan for 20 years, to take us through to the reign of King Charles the lll and possibly into the reign of William V ! (the fifth) Massive economic changes will have taken place. A house that cost £200K in 1997 and which today has increased in value by 362% to £724K might cost £1.9 million by 2037. In the next 20 years, electric vehicles, drones and robots will play an increasing part in our lives. This is not science fiction. The automotive industry predicts that by 2030 there will be 10 million ‘self-drive’ cars on our roads. No more picking up the kids – you’ll just send the car and it will go on its own! So, in preparing the Plan we have had to have the future firmly in mind. According to what you have told us in the various consultation exercises we have done so far, we are – in the main - all pretty happy with life in our beautiful rural parish and don’t want to see anything much change. But that is not the reality of life. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 8 About Us To emphasise that let me say, there are now many more of us. Since the Memorial Hall was built in 1930 the population has more than doubled from around 1450 to

• ver 3,000.

We’re older and living longer than the average of the general population of Uttlesford. In Felsted – we have 45% more people in the 55/64 age group than UDC as a whole. In the 65-74 bracket that percentage is 33% more and in the 75+ age group its 28% more. We are an ageing and growing population. This why we need to do all we can to protect and improve

• ur amenities.

_______________________________________________________________________ Slide 9 The Process This is the NP process. Today, we are sharing DRAFT policies based on what you’ve already said you want. We will listen to

• you. We will modify where necessary and prepare for a pre-submission consultation with Uttlesford

District Council. We have to meet Basic Conditions and say how we have consulted. If Uttlesford District Council is broadly supportive of the DRAFT it will be put forward for Independent Examination. If we pass that test, the plan will come to you in a referendum. Now we want to move as quickly as we can towards that referendum because the Neighborhood Plan

• ffers significant protection from unwanted development.

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4 Slide 10 What Does the Plan Achieve Once the Neighbourhood Plan is brought into legal force, it forms part of the statutory Development Plan for that area. Decisions on whether to grant planning permissions in the Neighbourhood Plan area have to be made in accordance with the Neighbourhood Plan. Having our plan is an important part of the story: but not all the story. We also need to take positive action to make sure what we want to happen: happens. But more of that in a while. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 11 The Issues You Raised The six main issues you have said you care about most have been consistent throughout the consultations.

• Maintaining village amenities, like the doctors and the shop.
• New housing developments
• Ensuring that Felsted doesn’t lose its integrity as a unique settlement – or as planners call it

‘coalescence’.

• Looking after the heritage of the village.
• Traffic congestion in the village and at Watch House Green
• Protecting our rural environment

You also want to see the schools protected and the environment valued and looked after. You have said you want to see housing that allows people to downsize their homes as they get older so they can remain in the community. And you want local jobs in the Parish. You are also worried about a number of issues we can’t directly produce policies about – like Stansted expansion - but we can influence policy makers by making clear what we want. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 12 The Challenges The challenges that you have given us in trying to produce this plan are considerable. We can’t pull up the draw bridges and do nothing. Some development will come – hopefully it will only be the 44 homes over 15 years mentioned in the draft Local Plan. Some things will have to change. We have to find a way to reduce congestion – in the last 16 years the number of vehicles on UK roads has increased by 4.5 million. What will be the impact in Felsted of traffic generated by the so called ‘New Garden Villages’ at Great Chesterford, Great Easton and Boxted Wood at Stebbing in the Uttlesford District Council Local Plan?

5 And there are two further VERY important challenges. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 13 The Challenges cont. The existing surgery will not be there in 5 years’ time. It’s very important for us all to get our heads around this. This was not the SG saying to the doctors, ‘Hey we have a plan here, would you like to move?’ This is the doctors, proactively saying to us, ‘Our current surgery building will become unsuitable for our clinical needs in next 3-5 years. We will need new premises if we are to remain as primary health care providers based in Felsted.’ This projection has also been substantiated in separate dialogue the SG has held with the Clinical Commissioning Group for the area and with National Health England. We are going to lose our existing surgery in the next 3-5 years. The village shop and Post Office, constrained as it is in a heavily Listed Building, will struggle to compete with larger more accessible modern premises – like the Co-Op at Flitch Green. And unless we find a new home for it we also risk losing our village shop and Post Office. And again – think about what people will want from a village shop in the next 20 years. Is a drone port so far-fetched? PLEASE don’t rush out now and start a panic. That is not our intention in bringing you this information. It’s about asking you to help us to paint a picture of the future you want. It’s about ensuring we know what features you want in that landscape. Do we want a surgery and a village shop? So far, you’ve been very clear that you do. So how do we achieve that? How do we deliver what you want? _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 14. The Vision We do so by developing a Vision for 2017 -2037 based on what you’ve told us. We will have saved our health care provision and our village shop and post office by finding a site for a Community Hub where they can be collocated. Collocation means that we are also able to provide a Community Pharmacy. We will have a new Community Hall – with modern amenities and large enough for our community. The centre of the village will look much nicer and feel more pedestrian friendly. The Greens and hamlets will remain protected and Felsted will continue to be a very special place to live in a rural setting. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 15 The Vision cont.

6 We will have met Housing Need. To be clear, what we mean by ’Housing Need’ is the affordable housing identified as being required by an independently conducted ‘Housing Needs Survey’ of the kind we had a year or so ago conducted by the Rural Community Council for Essex. (RCCE) We will have made sure that if any market housing has been permitted it has been because it delivers things we want. Our schools will flourish, remain well-regarded and be an integral part of the Parish. We will have looked after the natural environment and made sure we tell people about this great place in clever ways. Some of the things we want to achieve are not necessarily Planning Issues but we can include them as aspirational issues. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 16 The Policies You’ll be relieved to know that I’m not going to take you through all 34 DRAFT policies. They are around the hall for you to see. But I will outline some aspects and the intent of three main areas:  The HVC,  The Community Hub and  Housing I may touch on others but the information is around the room. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 17 The Village Felsted is substantially defined by an area in the centre of the village that comprises some of the most iconic and best-known buildings in the Parish. To ensure this small area is properly recognised and protected and to allow the development of appropriate policies the Plan designates this area as the Historic Village Centre (HVC). The area is shown

• n a map displayed on the boards in the hall.

There are 13 separate policy proposals designed to protect and enhance this area, dealing with everything from intrusive signage to the use of vacated properties. All are intended to ensure the village centre remains a pleasant human place to visit through the changing times of the coming two decades. Frequent short-term visits by customers and deliveries to the village shop were identified as a cause of congestion at the ‘T’ junction of Braintree Road, Station Road and Chelmsford Road. Parking and deliveries for The Swan, The Boote House and The British Legion are also contributors to congestion at different times. Felsted School traffic and primary school traffic further East at Watch House Green, also contributes significantly to congestion.

7 The Plan brings forward policies addressing the use of the premises that cause congestion and requiring them, including the schools, to include off road parking as part of any development proposals. The Plan proposes policies to support the relocation of the doctors’ surgery and dispensary and the village shop and Post Office to a new community hub. The intention is to encourage the use of their vacated premises for purposes that attract less short-term visitation, or fewer short term customers at non-peak times. Basically, less coming and going. At the same time, the Plan seeks to offer scope for a new public open space at the western end of Holy Cross Church. The Royal British Legion and adjacent premises occupy an important site within the village centre. The small car park performs an essential purpose close to the centre of the village and to some of the main historic attractions, including our Grade I Listed church. However, the car park is also identified as a detracting element in the Felsted Conservation Area Character Appraisal. The Character Appraisal lists minor ways in which the site could be improved and acknowledges that the site is an ideal location for a sensitively designed public convenience. But we want something more than minor improvements. The Plan offers policies that mean this could be an important public space. These are radical proposals, but ones which offer both a long-term solution to the issues identified now and an opportunity to manage development and our heritage in the decades to come. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 18 The Community Hub Creating a Community Hub at a new location within the Parish is identified in the Plan as the best option available to resolve the community’s concerns about healthcare, the amenity provided by the village shop and Post Office, congestion, parking and access in the centre of the village. Co-locating the doctors’ surgery and the village shop would allow a Community Pharmacy to be developed to replace the existing dispensary. A community pharmacy offers great advantages. It would

• ffer the opportunity for a much wider range of products and services, longer opening hours and

improved accessibility. It would also help to protect the surgery. The existing doctors’ practice has expressed a desire to remain as the provider of health care in the

• Parish. We welcome that.

However, the strength of concern for the future of health service provision is such that – should the current practice change their mind - the Plan also provides policies that would support the Parish in providing a community owned surgery and a community pharmacy. We plan to achieve this through a Community Right to Build Order (CRtoBO) that would facilitate the construction and ownership of the surgery building by the community. The building itself would then be leased to any practice willing and able to provide the primary health care required by the community. Any profit generated by the project would remain within the

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• community. Any buildings constructed by the Parish could only be disposed of, improved or

developed in a way that benefits the community. A CRtoBO will be developed in parallel with the Plan and will be a separate question in the referendum. If passed, planning permission is automatically granted without the need for Uttlesford District Council consent. Additionally, the Plan ensures that the existing surgery site is not redeveloped without concern for the character and nature of the village setting and does not continue to contribute to congestion in the village. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 19 A Community Hub – Where? We have been quite specific in what the Hub should offer. (See the slide) We’ve said how much space the facilities will need. We’ve established specific requirements about access and what the Hub should look like and how it should sit in the landscape. But, we haven’t said where we want the hub to be. Because we don’t yet know. That requires professional planning assessment. We have instructed professional to tell us where it should be located. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 20 A Community Hub – How? We want Private Investment. We want Community investment and /or Lottery funding but if we don’t get it or need more funding, the Plan offers policies that will deliver what we need. The Plan supports small numbers of market sale homes solely to fund the Community Hub where;

• the housing provided contributes positively to the character and heritage of the

Parish,

• does not cause or increase the risk of coalescence between the settlements

within the parish and,

• Is appropriate to the size/scale and character of the settlement and be acceptable

in terms of other detailed considerations. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 21 Meeting Housing Need But let me reassure you, nothing in the Neighbourhood Plan is in any way intended to offer an open invitation to developers: it is the absolute opposite. It closes the door on unwanted development. And It says to developers that the only way we will consider unlocking that door is, if you are prepared to talk to the Parish Council to identify if we want something and are prepared to consider your development, you will have to dig much deeper than ever before and be prepared to deliver the amenities we need. And, if you won’t do that, then the door will – as far as Felsted Parish Council is concerned – remain tightly closed.

9 The Neighbourhood Plan gives us control. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 22 Meeting Housing Need cont. The Plan requires engagement. It is demanding. It says what we want. Apart from the Community Hub, we also want a new Community Hall and funds to redevelop our Primary School. As a general rule, it resists residential development outside the four Village Development Limits (VDLs - Felsted Village, Causeway End, Bannister Green and Watch House Green.) _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 23 As an example of DRAFT Housing Policies Slide Redacted to allow for revision _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 24 Developing Our Schools Felsted School has developed new facilities and the Plan recognises the likelihood of a continuing need for development throughout the Plan period. The primary school at Watch House Green also needs better facilities. Temporary demountable style classrooms need to be replaced and some additional buildings will be required during the Plan period. The Policy intentions are there (See slide)  Secure the future of a primary school within the Parish  Mitigate the impact of school traffic  Control parking and improve road safety  Encourage wider community use of school facilities. The Plan supports the growth and redevelopment of school facilities in general, but requires consideration to be given to their impact on the wider community and where possible to sharing amenities for wider community use. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 25 As an example of DRAFT Schools Policies Slide redacted to allow for revision _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 26 Parish Integrity and the Natural Environment Integrity is perhaps an odd word in this context. It simply means that we don’t want to lose our identity by merging with other Parishes through coalescence. It also means we want there to be support for economic activity within the Parish that allows people who want to work in the Parish to do so. As we continue through the presentation you will see that there are further measures to protect the countryside and wildlife. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 27 Supporting the Rural Economy

10 An objective of the Plan is to recognise the need to protect and encourage the rural economy and to

• ffer local employment by providing suitable opportunities for business and to encourage younger

people to remain in the Parish. These aspirations go to the heart of ensuring that the Parish remains a vibrant distinct community,

• ffering opportunity within its boundaries.

Our enthusiasm for encouraging business development is tempered by our concerns about the potential impacts on infrastructure: specifically the road network, which is particularly unsuited to high volumes

• f commercial or heavy goods vehicles.

The government’s commitment to better internet connectivity for rural communities creates a welcome and valued opportunity for more people to work from home. Whilst this is broadly welcomed and supported by the Plan, there is also a need to ensure that domestic premises used for home working should not become a nuisance to neighbours. So overall, the Plan offers careful and measured support to business development. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 28 Protection for Countryside and Wildlife There are three specific policies intended to protect the countryside. And to do so for the countryside’s

• wn sake.

Development will not be supported unless it is demonstrated it needs to be there or is appropriate to a rural area. This includes infilling. Development will only be supported if its appearance protects or enhances the particular character of the part of the countryside within which it is set or there are special reasons why the development in the form proposed needs to be there. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 29 Developers Fear and Hate Neighbourhood Plans Why? Because they offer a previously unprecedented level of sanction and control to local people. It is there for the taking, so we should grab it. _______________________________________________________________________ Slide 30 Your Felsted NP - Empower your Parish Council All we ask is that when you receive your copy for the referendum you look at it in the round. Think about the future. Some of us may not be here in 20 years’ time but change begins now. Thank you. END