Longparish Parish Plan

Planning for a thriving community

 

Group Meeting

  at the Croft on February 17 th 2005 at 8.00pm

Present:

Fiona Gould	Mike Johnson
Cheryl Dowler	Catherine Sweet
David Wright	Alix Bremridge
Mary Jo Darrah	Gloria Goodliffe

 

 

Feedback from groups

 

Road Safety in Longparish

 

Fiona and Catherine reported back about a meeting held on February 14 th at Saddlers Cottage with Alix Bemridge, Mary Jo and the Road Engineers from the County and TVBC.   The meeting was useful and constructive. (See separate e-mail sent by Fiona on 16 th Feb for the minutes of the meeting.)

 

Open Spaces

 

David reported the results of his investigations into costing for the spinal path. Holmes and Sons had given a quote for a 1.5m wide all weather path at £67.50 per metre. The cost was quite high because the materials could not be delivered by road close to the work site. The path is approximately 1.3 km long. Some problems with surfacing-cow pats dissolve asphalt- this problem could be overcome by possibly using a different type of surfacing where the path goes through the cow field. There is a possibility of funding from DEFRA; Jo Dixon is also pursuing funding from other sources.

 

Community Group

 

Fiona has ordered leaflets on Setting up a Community Association. This is probably the route we will need to take in order to give access to grants. The aim is to at all times fit in with the existing organisational structures within the village, i.e. Parish Council, School Governors and other organisations already in place.

 

Housing

 

Mike reported the meeting held with Steve Lees on 7 th Feb at The Croft.( The full minutes of the meeting are in an   email sent by Mike on   16 th Feb) Overall the meeting was positive and helpful. There is a major worry about affordable housing at the moment with the Central Government wanting to give people who rent property the right to buy. No land owner in Longparish is willing to take that road as the asset of affordable housing stock would soon disappear. The route we, as a village, favour at the moment is a mixed development. This is something quite new but Steeve Lees indicated that this type of development could fit in with TVBC policies.

 

Draft plan

Fiona showed us the template she had worked on for the draft plan. It was well received and the main groups agreed that they could work to the template to give the overall consistency to the final layout. The exception to this was the housing group as it was felt that their information needed to be presented to in a slightly different form to perhaps keep the confidentiality of the land owners and prevent people misunderstanding the idea of “development”.

The deadline of March 31 st still stands if we are to get funding from the Countryside Agency. However the Parish Council has granted some money and there is a strong possibility that TVBC will cover any shortfall in funding if we miss the deadline. The requirements from TVBC are slightly different. At the moment it was agreed to see how we go and try to meet the March date.

We are aiming at a publication of 500 copies and an on line version of the plan. There was some discussion about maps and photographs. Mike has access to aerial photos of the village from the Army Air Corps, they are in a digital format. Peter Wood, a cartographer living in Barton Stacey, was suggested as a possible help by Cheryl.

 

 

Actions before next meeting

 

1. ASAP to circulate draft copies of their part of the plan. Catherine, Mike, David and Fiona

 

2. Open Day in the Village Hall on 5 th March 10 to 2. To present the draft copy of the

Parish Plan and associated ideas to the community for comment and consultation. ( everyone )

 

3. To identify important photographs, preferably in digital format, for inclusion in the final plan.   (everyone)

 

Date of next steering group meeting

 

Thursday 10 th March at Yew Tree House (David's) at 8.00pm