Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Laura McCulloch (Hampshire County Council), Heather Walmsley (Hampshire County Council), Vanessa Slawson (Hampshire Scouts), Councillor P W Whittle and Mike Taylor (Fareham Centre).

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Standing Conference held on 11 June 2015.

It was AGREED that the Minutes of the Standing Conference held on the 11 June 2015 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

To note the addition of new Members.

The following changes to membership of the Standing Conference were reported.

Wendy Greenish will replace Michael Carter representing The Wickham Society.  The Chairman placed on record his thanks to Michael Carter for his attendance and support to the Standing Conference.

The following new members were welcomed to the meeting:

Samantha Wightman who represents Fareham Borough Council Committee Services; Mary Power representing Bovis Homes; Christopher Smith representing BST and Claudia Cubbage representing Henry Cort Community College.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.  The Chairman announced that a request to film the meeting had been made.

The Chairman apologised for the change of meeting dates and outlined that it is not always possible to have the detail we’d like to discuss the next stage of the project and one of the challenges in the last few months has been to judge when to have a useful meeting.

Questions should be submitted to the Chairman by close of business 8 February.

The Chairman reported that questions had been submitted by Wallington Village Community Association, Funtley Village Society and Councillor J V Bryant.

TRANSPORT/TRAFFIC

From Wallington Village Community Association:

Q1.      It has recently been announced that the M27 (J3 – JII) will be upgraded to a “Smart Motorway” commencing in 2017/18. There is confusion however as to when this work is planned to complete; clarification is requested.

A1.      Highways England currently anticipates that the Smart Motorway scheme for this section, due to commence in 2017/18, will be completed by spring 2020.

Q2.      It is also understood that the same section of the M27 will be re-surfaced with “Quiet Tarmac” in a similar timeframe.  Given that significant parts of North Fareham, Wallington, Funtley & Knowle are already blighted by Motorway noise, this is welcome news, that will also be of benefit to future residents of Welborne. Confirmation of this re-surfacing and the timeframes involved, are similarly requested.

A2.      Highways England has indicated that the existing surface on this section of the Motorway is due for replacement and that this is likely to be done using “quiet surfacing”. Although the work has been scheduled for 2016/17, the timing is dependent upon availability of funding and therefore there is the possibility that that the scheme may slip back.

Q3.      Initial outputs from the HCC Transport model indicated that a mere 2% of Welborne traffic will head North on the A32 and the Standing Conference will be aware, that the above data generated serious doubts as to the validity of the whole output of the Model. When will the Traffic Impact assessment for Welborne be completed? and specifically, what additional Hourly/Daily traffic is Welborne predicted to generate:

a)            Northbound on the A32 (Wickham – Droxford/Corhampton) and the A334 (Wickham – Botley)

b)           Southbound on the A32 (Welborne – Kiln & North Hill Roads /Delme,  Quay Street & BR Station Roundabout(s) – all of which you will be aware, are already massively congested at peak hours.

A3.      The response remains the same as that which was provided to the Welborne Standing Conference on 11^th June 2015.  A Transport Assessment will be produced by the site promoters as part of an initial or Outline Planning Application for Welborne.  The Transport Assessment will need to take into account the Inspector’s Main Modifications to the Welborne Plan (MM11 & MM14) regarding traffic travelling north from Welborne to Wickham.

From Funtley Village Society:

Q4.      With the ongoing announcements of increases in housing numbers, in not only Fareham but all the PUSH area, how confident are FBC that the traffic modelling evidence SRTM submitted for inspection at the Welborne public enquiry is still admissible or even valid?

A4.      At the time of the examination of the Welborne Plan, the transport modelling undertaken using the Sub Regional Transport Model (SRTM) used the most up-to-date development scenarios, including scenarios for the overall growth of the sub-region, with which to assess the impacts of additional vehicular movements on the surrounding transport network.  This evidence was considered sound by the Inspector examining the Welborne Plan.

In accordance with policy WEL23 of the Welborne Plan, a full Transport Assessment for the development of Welborne is required to be submitted as part of any development proposals for the site.  The Transport Assessment (TA) must assess the phasing of the development against the implementation of various off site highway improvements, including works to the M27, A32 as well as other primary and/or secondary links or junctions that may be affected.  In addition, the Transport Assessment must take into account any additional sites across the sub region which have been permitted or allocated.

From Councillor Mr J Bryant (Ward Member – Fareham North):

Q5.      When the decision was made by Council that Welborne would be separated from, but closely linked with, Fareham; the bulk of the M27 Junction 10 re-working to support these new houses is South of the M27, with the exception of Option 3. They, Welborne, get new home, cycle paths and birdsong, while their "Neighbours" in North Fareham get noise, pollution and traffic congestion?

A5.      Option 3 is the Council’s preferred option for Junction 10 of the M27, as identified in paragraph 7.21 of the Welborne Plan.  The final design must satisfy the requirements of the highway authorities; Hampshire County Council and Highways England and Policy WEL24 of the Welborne Plan which requires design to address the following criteria:

a)         Provide appropriate priority measures for BRT and local buses;

b)         Provide safe and attractive routes for pedestrians and cyclists between Fareham and Welborne;

c)         Minimise the severance between north Fareham and Welborne;

d)         Retain settlement buffers in accordance with Policy WEL5; and

e)         Minimise the environmental impacts within the site and on neighbouring communities, including any noise and visual impacts.

SUDS DESIGN/FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT

From Wallington Village Community Association:

Q6.      Given the very difficult “Geology” of the Site and mindful that HCC are now the Local Lead Flood Authority (LLFA) for Welborne, when is it anticipated that the SUDS Design & Flood Risk Assessment will be released for EA/Public Consultation?.

A6.      In accordance with Policy WEL39 of the Welborne Plan, both a site specific flood risk assessment and a comprehensive SuDS Strategy for Welborne must be submitted with initial, or outline planning applications for Welborne.  Both documents would be made available as part of the consultation on the planning application, for which the Environment Agency are a statutory consultee.

The Environment Agency was involved extensively in the preparation of the Welborne Plan section on flooding and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) and is aware of the site geology. They are however fully supportive of the principles and requirements of Policy WEL39 as shown through their agreement to the Position Statement on Flooding and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) published in October 2014.

Paragraph 9.31 of the Welborne Plan recognises Hampshire County Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), in respect to any impact that there may be on ordinary watercourses as part of the Welborne development.

To receive a presentation from Fareham Borough Council.

A presentation was received from Claire Burnett, Head of Planning Strategy and Regeneration at Fareham Borough Council giving an update on the Adopted Welborne Design Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).

The presentation outlined what the purpose of the Welborne Design SPD was; what process the Design SPD has gone through and what changes were made to the adopted Welborne Design SPD following consultation.

The Chairman thanked Claire Burnett for her presentation.

To receive a verbal update by Fareham Borough Council and others.

The Chairman referred to his earlier comments that following the adoption of the Welborne Plan, the focus had moved to preparation of outline and detailed planning applications by the site promoters.  These were very substantial and costly tasks and many of the questions raised by Standing Conference Members could only be addressed after they had been submitted.  It had been hoped to have a detailed report on progress by the time of the meeting but that had not been possible.

A brief verbal update was received from Richard Jolley, Director of Planning and Regulation, Fareham Borough Council.  As no planning application had been received, the Council now needed to consider how best to achieve its objectives for the delivery of Welborne and to consider all its options, including the option of procurement of a development partner to take forward the scheme in conjunction with progressing the assembly of land, including the possible use of compulsory purchase.  A report, just published, on Welborne Delivery, had been prepared for Fareham Council’s Executive meeting on the 22 February 2016 and in the interests of keeping Standing Conference Members informed, copies were being made available.  The Council report is available on the Fareham Borough Council website at  http://moderngov.fareham.gov.uk/documents/g3176/Public%20reports%20pack%2022nd-Feb-2016%2018.00%20Executive.pdf?T=10 

In separate statements Mark Thistlethwayte, one of the principal landowners and promoters, and Christopher Smith, Chairman of BST Warehouses, also a site promoter and representative of the landowners at Dean Farm, made a number of points about delivery of Welborne with a very different perspective to that of the Council.  They would be strongly opposed to the use of compulsory purchase and it remained the objective of the principal landowners to submit a planning application.

[Post meeting note by Chairman – if a statement about the position of the principal landowners and promoters is published or made available, the Chairman will notify details to Standing Conference Members].

The Chairman pointed out that the alternative perspectives on this issue could not be discussed at this meeting because to do so would risk prejudicing the Council’s Executive meeting on the 22 February, as several participants in the meeting were also members of the Executive.

A copy of the report for the Executive was made available after the meeting.

To consider topics to be discussed at future meetings.

Members were asked to consider topics for future meetings. 

The date of the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 8 June 2016.

It was NOTED that the next meeting of the Standing Conference was scheduled for Wednesday 8 June 2016.