Minutes of the Longparish Housing Group Meeting

12 December 2006

Attendance:  Mike Johnson (Chair), Jeremy Barber, Mary Jo Darrah, Catherine Sweet, Fiona Gould, Cheryl Dowler, Trevor Bettell.

Apologies:  none

1. Approval of Minutes

To ensure greater transparency, it had been agreed to take formal minutes and to post them onto the website and include in the Shop File after approval. The minutes of the meeting of 3 December were approved.

ACTION: Fiona to put approved minutes onto website. Catherine to print off copy and insert into Shop File.

2. Report and Follow up to Parish Council Meeting of 11 December

The Housing Group had produced a written report to the PC meeting of 11 December which covered in detail developments since the previous month's meeting. This had been circulated to all PC members. The Chair of the Housing Group Mike Johnson had also spoken to the meeting to outline the main points.  A discussion had ensued with a member of the public in attendance regarding the Housing Needs Survey, and with councillors regarding the outcomes of the meeting with Test Valley Borough Council officers.  The main points made by the Housing Group included:

•  On scale of development- The consultation to date showed community concern about the potential scale of the proposed development. As a result of this village input, the Housing Group would no longer support a “second phase” of development. They would recommend the size therefore be limited to 12 affordable units, with no more than six open market houses. It was hoped that the number of open market houses would be below this- whatever was needed to fund the community benefits and secure the landowner's agreement to proceed.
•  On sites- that TVBC advice had been received about their concerns with the three initial sites under discussion, and that of these three the Zurich field was the one with least difficulties. TVBC had agreed to review all 21 of the sites passed to it as “green dots” from the Exhibition. They had rejected 15 of these as unsuitable, and had not yet formed a view regarding six around North Acre, which they would be discussing with landowners.
•  On how “community support” would be measured and by whom- that TVBC had advised the Housing Group that this decision would be made by TVBC, given its role as statutory planning authority, and it would take into consideration all representations made by villagers. ESN06 required this to be done by them.
•  On housing need- that TVBC had advised the Housing Group that the basis of the Housing Needs Survey was set on a national basis, with questions and processes agreed by DEFRA. The Housing Group advised the PC that the number of households on the Housing Register would also be taken into account when assessing need, as again this was produced on a statutory basis.
•  On whether control could be ensured so that any development did not result in “planning creep” (ie additional development) or in non-local people benefiting from the affordable housing, or that the affordable housing would be subject to a “right to buy” or “right to acquire”- the Housing Group answered as follows:
  •  TVBC have stated that any development granted permission would not set a precedent.
  •  that TVBC Planning Officers recommended that the village did not attempt to build to meet the full level of identified need. That limiting the number of affordable houses in this way was the best way to ensure that only people with a village connection benefited;  and that statutory protections now existed to ensure that the affordable housing built in this development would be protected against a right to buy or acquire.

The Housing Group agreed that the Parish Council meeting had been for the most part a constructive exchange of views. Input from the public in attendance and from councillors at the meeting will help shape the future work of the Housing Group, particularly in terms of drafting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the Website.

ACTION:  The Housing Group's Report to the Parish Council would be published in full on the website and Catherine will print off a copy and insert into the Shop File.

3. Communication and Consultation- Hill & Valley Jan 07 Issue

Mary Jo Darrah, editor of Hill & Valley's Longparish pages advised that the copy deadline was 14 December. The Housing Group considered a first draft of a one page article summarising the main developments that had taken place since the October issue article. These developments are detailed in the Report to the Parish Council. A number of comments and amendments were made to the draft.  It was recognised that the Hill & Valley editorial team would be accepting input from other sources who would be communicating their own views on the housing development. The members of the Housing Group expressed their hope that all such contributions would include the name and contact details of the person submitting such input, to ensure that villagers knew from whom material was coming. This was an important part of the transparency that villagers attending the exhibition had asked for.

ACTION: The Housing Group agreed that the Hill & Valley article should emphasise that we still want villagers' input, and that all such input will be communicated fully to TVBC. Mary Jo agreed to circulate a version that took into account people's comments, and all members agreed to respond in good time to ensure the Hill & Valley deadline was met. The next issue is due for distribution in early January, after which a copy of the article would be put onto the website and a hard copy put into the file.

4. Communication  

4.1 Additions to the Website and Shop File

In addition to the publications mentioned above, the Group considered how to ensure that the website contained a record of all input received from villagers and others on the housing development. A database was under construction of all correspondence received to date, plus the input from those attending the exhibition and completing the comment forms  that were distributed in October and November. A number of individuals had been contacted to secure their agreement to publish a number of the letters, only a few were left outstanding. Exhibition input had been “anonymised” to protect privacy, so that they could be published on the website. It was agreed that ordering the submissions received in date order would help regular users of the site to identify new input.

ACTION: Jeremy agreed to contact the one person outstanding who had submitted a letter to ensure they were happy with publication. Fiona would ensure that the database was put onto the website, and that hard copies were available in the Shop File.

4.2 Replies to Correspondence

The Chair agreed to send the reply that had been agreed to a letter received from Tony Holmes. The Housing Group agreed that it was not feasible to reply to every input or letter received on an individual basis. In a number of cases, events had overtaken the original points made in the input. That said, wherever possible, the Group would use the Frequently Asked Questions to answer points raised.

ACTION: Fiona agreed to respond to one request received from the Exhibition for a visit to discuss the development, and Jeremy agreed to do the other person requesting such a discussion.

4.3. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Given the importance that the FAQs were now being given, it was agreed that the Housing Group needed to agree a firm list of FAQs, and work quickly to provide agreed answers. Where possible, input from experts would be included, to ensure that villagers knew where the answers were coming from.  The Group agreed that the format of answers should follow a short (ie one sentence) answer in bold, followed by more detail for those who were particularly interested.

ACTION: Cheryl and Catherine would each draft a list of the questions that they believed needed to be included in the FAQs, and circulate these to the Group. A firm list would be agreed by the New Year, and work begun on drafting and approving answers. To assist in the answering, TVBC Housing Department would be asked to provide detailed breakdown of the 43 units in North Acre, in particular what % of the units had been altered to suit the elderly and/or disabled, and how many of the properties were 'under-occupied'. In addition, Pat Brookes at TVBC would be asked for the trend data relating to wages and house prices over the past ten years, to answer those particularly interested in the “affordability” issue.

5. Follow up to Meetings with Experts- TVBC Planning and Housing, 29 Nov

The Meeting discussed what remained to be done to follow up the meeting with Steve Lees and Graham Smith.

ACTION: The Housing Group agreed to respond to the minutes of the meeting of 29 November by providing a draft list of “principles” and “community benefits” about which consultation was underway and which should be taken into consideration by TVBC in any discussions with landowners. Mike Johnson agreed to contact Steve Lees at TVBC to pass the principles and benefits drafts to him, and to urge him to contact landowners without delay, given the need to have an indication of possible sites before convening the Village Open Forum.

6. Consultation and the Open Forum

The Housing Group discussed the issue of timing and composition of the Open Forum. At its previous meeting, the Housing Group had agreed to develop the Open Forum as an opportunity to provide more information to villagers, and to bring together a panel of experts for a meeting run in a “question time” format. The Group agreed that this would be moderated best by an independent, authoritative chair, drawn from outside of the village.  

Timing of the meeting was a challenge. Ideally, this should be conducted after TVBC officers had completed their initial discussions with landowners. At that point we would know as a village whether there were a) no potential sites being made available by landowners, b) one potential site being made available, or c) a choice of potential sites. While we acknowledged the desire for an early discussion of the issues around an affordable housing development, the Housing Group believed that this would be more constructive once the issue of potential site(s) was clearer. TVBC would be pressed to conduct its discussions as a matter of urgency so we could set a date for the Open Forum in February.

ACTION: In the meantime, the Housing Group would continue to approach possible moderators to find out if they would be interested in principle. Experts would also be sought to participate.  Jeremy had initiated contact with Elinor Goodman, ex-Channel 4 and BBC political correspondent, who had a long established interest and reputation in the issue of rural housing. In addition, contact was being made by Jeremy with Jeff Bishop of the Civic Trust, who had been recommended by TVBC as a skilled moderator in such fora. Other members of the Housing Group agreed to use their contacts to see who else might be a possible candidate for either the role of moderator or expert.

7. Date and Time of Next Meeting

The Housing Group agreed to meet on 15 January at 8pm at Catherine Sweet's home, Newton Cottage. Should any member of the public wish to attend as an observer, this would be accommodated. Please notify in advance.

ACTION: Jeremy Barber agreed to book the Village Hall on that night as a precaution should numbers of the public in attendance exceed available space.