PITSTONE PARISH COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Parish Council Planning Committee held on 22 October 2015 
in the Meeting Room at the Memorial Hall, starting at 7.00pm and 
concluding at 7.30pm

21PC/15	ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES
		
PLANNING COMMITTEE PRESENT:  Cllr Mrs Crutchfield (Chair), Cllr Starling, Cllr Blunt & Cllr Nicholls.

OTHERS PRESENT:  Clerk: Laurie Eagling.  Members of the public:  Applicant re Albion Road.  Cllr R Saintey, Cllr Mrs Stack, Cllr Weber and Cllr Mrs Arney.

	APOLOGIES: Cllr Mrs Groom

22PC/15	QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
No questions were tabled from the public gallery.

23PC/15	DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED AT THE MEETING

•	Colin Starling, Margaret Crutchfield and Jo Groom declared an interest as they sit on the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) Steering Group.  Dispensation is granted for these councillors to debate and vote on standard planning matters where they hold no other interest.
•	Ben Blunt declared his position of Chair of Governors for Brookmead School.
•	Colin Starling declared that he resided on Vicarage Road in Pitstone.  Joanne Groom has a standing declaration as relative to J Groom & Son.  No items on the agenda pertained to either of these declarations.  

24PC/15	APPROVE MINUTES
It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 
4 September 2015 were a true and correct record of the meeting and the Chair was duly authorised to sign on behalf of the council.

25PC/15	PLANNING MATTERS

1)	Applications: 

a)	8 Albion Road, 15/03295/APP, single storey side and rear extension.  No objections were received as a result of the parish council’s publicity scheme.  After consideration of the application, it was RESOLVED to advise AVDC that the parish council had no objection to the application.

2)	Decisions: 

a)	131 Windsor Road, 15/02964/ACL, loft conversion with roof lights: certificate issued (PPC tendered no objections).

3)	Other: 

a)	Gladman 1(2) re Land off Station Road, Ivinghoe, Appeal reference 15/00008/8WEEK, application reference 14/02002/AOP.  Appeal hearing commenced 20/10/15 for 6 working days.  Gladman immediated dropped the appeal re planning application ref above for 70 dwellings including some in Pitstone behind Rushendon Furlong, and pursued planning application reference 15/01491/AOP re outline permission for 60 residential dwellings with all other matters reserved (with no development in Pitstone).   Pitstone Parish Council and Pitstone Neighbourhood Plan attended the hearing to offer support.  Hearing due to conclude on 28/10/15 and the decision not anticipated for 2 months.

26PC/15	VALE OF AYLESBURY LOCAL PLAN (VALP) CONSULTATION

	AVDC are consulting until 4 December 2015 on the following documents:

1)	Aylesbury Vale Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA)
Within this report AVDC has assessed call-for-sites areas and other suitable parcels of land for development before 2033.  
a.	The data centre site off Westfield Road has been defined as only suitable for business use, and this concurs with the recommendations within the Pitstone NDP.
b.	The two parcels of land by The Crescent, the arable field to the rear of Rushendon Furlong/Glebe Close and an area off Cheddington Road have been identified as unsuitable for residential development, which concurs with the recommendations within the Pitstone NDP.
c.	The area of land currently utilised as an extension of the Recreation Ground has been identified as unsuitable for residential development, which concurs with the recommendations within the Pitstone NDP.
d.	Vicarage Road site, Rushendon Furlong site, the Pitstone Development Area site have been identified as suitable for residential development, which concurs with the recommendations within the Pitstone NDP.
e.	One area of land by the Marsworth Road roundabout has been defined as unsuitable for residential development only because it would fall below the minimum threshold for HELAA of 5 units.  This parcel would fall inside the proposed NDP settlement boundary.
f.	Two areas of land outside the proposed NDP Settlement Boundary have been classified as suitable for residential development by AVDC, namely the horse field off Marsworth Road and an area of private land off Chequers Lane.  

It was RESOLVED that no comments/response need to be submitted to AVDC in relation to this consultation as it was in line with expectations.

2)	Draft Settlement Hierarchy Assessment for the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan

Within this document AVDC categorise all settlements based on size, connectivity, employment and facilities/services.  
 
a.	5 strategic settlements are defined (Aylesbury, Buckingham, Haddenham, Wendover and Winslow each with a population over 4,000).
b.	‘Larger villages’ have between 700-3,000 population and 5-10 key criteria.   Pitstone, Cheddington, Marsworth and Ivinghoe have all been classed within this category.  Pitstone was previously identified within this category (having the next highest population figure) under the last VAP analysis as well, and was anticipated to retain this designation for the VALP.  Ivinghoe was previously identified as a ‘smaller village’.
c.	‘Smaller villages’ have <700 population and only 4 of the 11 key criteria.
d.	Housing requirement allocations made in the VALP will be made in accordance with the settlement hierarchy (at present, VALP anticipate larger villages delivering 100 homes each).  It notes at point 5.18 that Neighbourhood Plans can choose to allocate more housing if the community decided this was appropriate but ‘should not promote less development than set out in the Local Plan’.  The proposed Pitstone NDP would currently deliver higher levels of housing than that required.

It was RESOLVED that no comments/response need to be submitted to AVDC in relation to this consultation as it was in line with expectations.

It was RESOLVED to enquire if Ivinghoe Parish Council required any support from Pitstone Parish Council.

3)	Defining the Special Qualities of Local Landscape Designations in Aylesbury Vale District

This report reviews the Areas of Attractive Landscape and Local Landscape Areas within the Vale.   Within section 4.3 the Ivinghoe/Pitstone Areas of Attractive Landscape are defined as worthy of designation but indicates that they main not retain their local landscape designations.  Point 4.4 indicates that the views of stakeholders and local communities will be helpful to identify and confirm support for areas of local landscape designation.

It was RESOLVED to submit comments to AVDC in support of retain the Ivinghoe/Pitstone Area of Attractive Landscape designation.
It was RESOLVED to publicise the consultation on the Parish Council website, Facebook page and Twitter feed to encourage residents to submit comments in support of retention of the designation.

It was RESOLVED to enquire if the consultation could be publicised within the forthcoming NDP marketing leaflet door drop.

4)	Central Buckinghamshire Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA)

It was RESOLVED to carry consideration of this document over to the next meeting as it forms an integral part of the Issues and Options Consultation.

5)	Issues and Options Consultation

The papers for this consultation were not available until Friday.  It was therefore RESOLVED to carry consideration of this document over to the next meeting.  The consultation asks a series of specific questions to which council should respond including the volume of housing required for each settlement, how to provision for gypsy/traveller sites etc.  All councillors should come prepared to discuss the questions contained in the consultation.

27PC/15	CLOSURE OF MEETING

	There being no further business to be transacted, the Chairman closed the meeting at 7.30pm.

Signed:			Date:	________________
	 Chairman