In her Chair report for October, Maureen Caton updates on Grove Hill, and the Parish Council comments on the draft Local Plan.
A meeting with the Grove Hill Resident group proved productive. They were grateful for our work on this issue and the response to the recent report. Our response is now finally updated with minor additional comments from them which was circulated to yourselves and will be going to Cllr Gooding and will make its way to Cllr Cunningham. We are researching the cost of a potential commissioned traffic survey and will need to consider if commissioned what impact on the final decision this will have.
Cllr Cunningham – the ECC lead for Highways has agreed to meet with the Parish Council and has requested dates for November and December – when a date is agreed we will also be requesting he has a pre meet with the residents of Grove Hill.
Cllr Jones and myself met and discussed our comments in relation to the Reg 19 Local Plan – these have been made available to you also. One of our main complaints is the poor advice we were given in relation to housing development numbers and therefore the impact on our decision re Elms Farm developments and the lack of any consultation re proposed changes to High Lane (to become a none through road).
The Youth Club are to engage intalks with the Rungis Twinning Association to enable a visit of some young people to the French town to meet their counterparts potentially next Easter.
As Chair, I have forwarded a letter drafted by Councillor Khan on our behalf to our MP Kemi Badenoch , to request her assistance in promoting Pension Credit access to those in our community who will need support to heat their homes this winter.
The Neighbourhood Development Plan should be ready for consultation in the New Year and we are looking to commission specialist support to enable us to promote the consultation within the community. Hopefully next month I will be able to give you firmer dates and details of the consultation proposed.
A further meeting with the Gemmill family in relation to the potential Church Road development proposals has been held by the Planning Working Group – prompted by our request to discuss the commissioning of burial land. The Planning Working Group are to consider a very clear and defined list of community benefits that the Parish would like to see delivered along with any future proposals for the land. The family will be promoting their inclusion/ or lack of it in their response to the Local Plan – a further meeting and potential community consultation on any proposals would be planned dependent on outcomes from the above actions.
Finally, I attended the Standards training offered to all councillors – I have to say – you did not miss anything that common sense would not indicate.