MINUTES OF BRANKSOME PARK, CANFORD CLIFFS & DISTRICT RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 13 JAN 2016

AT 7.30PM IN CHOIR VESTRY, ST. ALDHELM’S CHURCH

PRESENT:       John Sprackling (JS)                 Chairman

 

Keith Alcroft (KA)                      Planning Officer

 

10 Members/Wardens

 

1. APOLOGIES AND ACCURACY OF MINUTES	ACTION
JS welcomed those present.
Apologies: Cllrs May Haines & Mohan Iyengar, John Gunton, Carol & Mike Parkin,
Stan Alfert, Martin Heath & Tracy Holmes.
Accuracy: JS said that he would sign the Minutes as a true and accurate record of	JS
the meeting held on 09 DECEMBER 2015
2. MATTERS ARISING
Poole Pottery/Old Orchard/Quay Thistle Hotel sites update: JS reported..	JS

 

1. Quayside (former Dolphin Quays) development – No new developments
2. Former Poole Pottery & Swan Inn site – ditto
3. Quay Thistle Hotel site – ditto
4. Old Orchard House – ditto
5. Land at West Quay Road – ditto

 

Planning Enforcement, TPOs/Tree replacements – update:

JS

Victoria Education Centre (Landscaping to the new entrance) – No new developments

Martello Corner, Martello Road (also known as 83 Canford Cliffs Road) – (Change of use of residential garage to dentists surgery} – Appeal lodged 14/07/15. Site visit took place on 11 January 2016.

 

Community Working Group (CWG): The Minutes of the CWG meeting held on 25	WH
November 2015 will be distributed with the Minutes of this meeting. The next
meeting will be the AGM on 23 March 2016
Council Budget Monitoring report (2015/16) – JS said that the Council Budget	WM
Monitoring report (1 April 2015 to 31 December 2015), Medium Term Financial Plan
report and the report on the Council Tax for recommendation to Council is due to be
presented at the next Cabinet meeting on 09 February 2016.
William Mutlow expressed concern that the there was never any mention of the
Council’s contribution to the Local Government Pension Scheme which currently runs
at 13.6% of the Council’s payroll bill, whereas within the EU, the figure is 10%.
Roy Pointer expressed the view that there must come a time when Local
Government Pension Scheme will become unsustainable and employees will have to
join a defined contribution scheme which now applies to most employees in the
Private Sector.
Public Rights of Way	RD
Buccleuch Road to Lakeside Road – No new developments.
Karol Gorny reported that he is in touch with Rights of Way officer about establishing
another Right of Way within the area covered by the Association. He is currently
Pinecliff Gardens (Sunken garden): No new developments.	ACTION
Community Engagement: JS said he and other Residents’ Association	WH
	JS
representatives will be attending a Meeting with representatives from Residents’
Association and Commerce and Industry on 15 January 2016 about next years
Budget.
The Minutes of last month’s ‘pilot’ Community Themed meeting will be distributed
with the Minutes of this meeting.
Sustaining Poole’s Seafront Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)
(Formerly Seafront Beaches Master Plan SPD): The Sustaining Poole’s Seafront
SPD was adopted by the Full Council its meeting on 15 December 2015..
The final adopted version of the SPD has yet to be posted on the BoP website.
JS said that the Cabinet Forward Plan shows that a report on the proposals for the
Beach Road car park is due to be presented at the Cabinet meeting on 12 April
2016..
Tony Beale said that he had visited the archive section of the Waterfront Museum but	JS/TB
had struggled to find any useful information about the dedication of the land for the
Beach Road car park. JS said that he would provide names and contact details of
persons who may be able to assist with his enquiries.
Roy Pointer said that he would contact the Meyrick Estates which were very helpful
when he was dealing with the Navitas Bay issue.
RP was concerned about the lack of signage directing visitors to the Beach Road car
park – the Association had raised this with the Council on many occasions in the
past.
Tony Beale added that this has been closed for public use since before Christmas
and is, currently, closed.
JS reported that he had met Mr Montgomery of Tanner & Tilley earlier in the week
and was told that new plans have been drawn up for a much reduced version of the
Sports Stadium at Sandbanks and these are likely to be submitted shortly.
JS added that one of contacts wrote to him last week “I spent quite a long time
studying the two versions of the SPD and it looked rather to me like the 2013 version
would have meant Mr Mitchell had no chance of getting permission, whereas the
2015 version gives him every chance of getting permission.”
Succession planning: JS said that the Association’s Advertising Manager had been	JS
in touch earlier in the week to say that it was necessary for her to step down as,
owing to domestic circumstances, she would, no longer, able to fulfil this role. Roger
Allen, the former Association’s Advertising Manager, has kindly agreed to take her
place, at least, for the next two editions. JS advised those present that some of the
Executive were due to meet, informally, with Roger Allen the next day for a coffee at
Compton Acres and JS would be raising the subject of his successor then.
Chairman’s note. At the informal Executive meeting, it was suggested that in order to
reduce the burden of the next Chairman, meetings should, in future, be held on a two
monthly basis.
Keith Alcroft, the Association’s Planning Officer, announced his wish to stand down at
the Association’s AGM on 23 April 2016. So, the Association will be looking for
nominations for the following officers at the forthcoming AGM

 

Chairman

Vice-Chairman – Roger Allen has indicated that he might be willing to take on this role

Planning Officer

Thecatalyst for my departure has been the comments from some quarters over my

 

handling of the 12A Western Ave application. It is to be hoped that those who have	ACTION
had the most to say about this will now come forward to take over the Chairmanship
and the role of Planning Officer.
UNITING THE BOURNEMOUTH, CHRISTCHURCH AND POOLE CONURBATION
(UTC) – JS said that he received a note that day from John Probert, the Secretary of
the UTC Steering Committee and he would include an extract from this in the
Minutes (see below)
JS said that at last month’s ‘pilot’ Community Themed meeting, he had suggested
that the Councils should engage the services of an independent consultant to review
the proposals and William Mutlow suggested that a suitable candidate might be Prof
Gerry Stoker of Southampton University who spoke at the UTC AGM in April 2015
Extract from note from John Probert, the Secretary of the UTC Steering Committee
“…It now seems that Dr. Steph Lyons is preparing the case for an unelected
combined authority (a.k.a. Combined Economic Development Authority) – albeit
headed by an elected mayor* – for all of geographical Dorset, which is one of just
three options for public consultation. * In a subsequent note John Probert says “An
elected mayor and a combined authority are “negotiable” when negotiating for
devolved powers.“
However, I don’t understand why a unitary authority for the urban area of S E Dorset
should not itself be responsible for Economic Development.
Why add a new and costly layer of bureaucracy when one of the aims is to save
costs and streamline the structure of our local government?
If it is said that rural Dorset is not big enough to handle economic development
matters on its own (implying of course that the urban authority will subsidise the rural
area) the better way forward is surely to create a Combined Economic Development
Authority for Dorset and Wiltshire. Why isn’t the Dorset Leaders’ Growth Board
exploring such a fourth option for the forthcoming public consultation?”
Refreshing the Core Strategy and review of Community Infrastructure Levy:	TS
(CIL) – Roy Pointer asked if the Branksome Park Conservation Area Appraisal and
Management Plan still carried any weight, particularly, in relation to the ¾ rule.
JS said that Terry Stewart is in touch with Steve Dring, Planning Policy &
Implementation Manager, to request that the ¾ rule is included in the revised Core
Strategy. Nick Perrins is due to re-commence employment with Poole’s Planning &
Regeneration Dept next month.
William Mutlow asked if it might be possible to know the amount of Affordable
Housing contributions currently held by the Council. He thought that this might be a
significant sum accumulated over a number of years. JS said that, at the previous
day’s Cabinet meeting, the Council had authorised a grant of £603,000 for the 100%
Affordable Housing Scheme at Holes Bay Road.
Improving Association’s communications – No new developments.	MP
Leaning garden wall at (?)25 The Avenue – Cllr MH May says that “the leaning wall	MH
in The Avenue should hopefully be addressed by now as officers were going out to
visit before Christmas.” Roy Pointer will check.
Branksome Park & plot size: As this involves an important point of principle, with	TH
the consent of the Executive, Tracy Holmes engaged the services of Boyle &
Summers Ltd, Architecture and Masterplanning Consultants of Southampton to act
on her behalf and the Association in opposing the 12A Western Ave application and
the Association has agreed to cover the firm’s bill totalling £2180.
Projection equipment for Canford Cliffs Village Hall – RP is liaising with Martin	ACTION

 

Since this is where the major talks are given they were less concerned about
portability since we have the fall back option for local talks using other screens.
Further advice is being sought on the best projector and PC for purchase by the
Association. This equipment would be needed to be able to give good projection
using the large screen in the village hall of course.
3 NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT –
JS reported that the application re Ormonde Nursing Home, 12 Pinewood Road	KA
(Alterations, extensions and conversion of the building to six flats with associated
parking and landscaping) was due to be determined at the Planning Committee
meeting the following day – officer’s recommendation is to Grant.
Chairman’s note: This was granted by the Committee with one Member voting
against.

 

Other current planning issues

4 Brackenhill (Demolish existing house and garage and construct 2 No. detached houses) – Application registered on 14 December 2015. Local concerns and Cllr MH is in touch with neighbours and reports that “it is in hand for the moment”.

Burnage Court, 6 Martello Park (Outline planning application for the demolition of the existing flatted building and the erection of a new apartment building containing 13 flats in total with associated access, cycle and bin stores) – Application validated on 28 September 2015. Letter of objection lodged on 20 October 2015.

Salterns Harbourside Hotel, 38 Salterns Way (Demolition of the existing buildings and the erection of 2 multi-storey mixed use developments containing 73 residential units, a 60 bedroom hotel as well as restaurants, offices and marina service facilities) – Controversial application.

 

5. ACCOUNTS TO DATE – JS reported that the total Association funds as at 31 December 2015 amounted to £31,362.51. Paul Fearnley plans to get the accounts off to Schofield’s shortly.

 

6	ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Proposal to introduce on-street charges on roads adjacent to beaches – Cllr MH		JS
asked JS to mention that a proposal to introduce on-street charges on roads adjacent
to beaches is going to the Transportation Advisory Group meeting next Thursday
(12/01/16). The committee are asked to recommend going out to consultation on this.
This will cover roads in Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs village.
Chairman’s note: This proposal was well aired land rejected less the two years ago
at the Call-in Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 27 February 2014 -Minutes
available via http://ha2.boroughofpoole.com/akspoole/users/public/admin/kab12.pl?
cmte=CIC&meet=15&arc=71
Embankment fall at Branksome Dene Chine – Ray Wylde asked about this and JS		No
said that he would include an extract from a note received from the Council on this		further
subject.		action

 

“The work has been agreed and formally licensed to be carried out in accordance with our design approval. The cost of the project is all at the property owners expense apart from some of my time as a supervising engineer. Interestingly the sandy gravel fill material is coming straight from major excavation works at Christchurch hospital. It is ideal for use on this site as it is naturally well graded for compaction and has good drainage properties.

 

At present the slope is initially being filled to provide a high level work platform to enable the stabilisation and reinstatement of the owners garden behind the piled wall