MINUTES OF BRANKSOME PARK, CANFORD CLIFFS & DISTRICT RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 2015
AT 7.30PM IN COMMITTEE ROOM, ST. ALDHELM’S PARISH CENTRE
PRESENT: Terry Stewart (TS) President
John Sprackling (JS) Chairman
Carol Parkin (CP) Secretary
John Gunton (JG) Magazine Editor
Cllr Mrs May Haines (MH) Canford Cliffs Ward Councillor
Cllr Tony Woodcock Parkstone Ward Councillor
25 Members/Wardens
1. APOLOGIES AND ACCURACY OF MINUTE
JS welcomed those present
Apologies: Apologies received from Wayne Hancock, Mike Parkin, Keith
Alcroft, Roger Allen.& Brian Lockwood
Accuracy: JS said would sign the Minutes as a true and accurate record of the
meeting held on 11 FEBRUARY 2015..
ACTION
2. MATTERS ARISING
Poole Pottery/Old Orchard/Quay Thistle Hotel sites update: JS reported..
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
Terry Stewart reported that Poole Quays Forum had had a meeting with Richard Carr about 27 – 31 West Quay Road (Outline proposal for the demolition of the existing premises and the erection of a part 13, part 5 storey mixed use building comprising of a cafe (A3 use) / commercial unit (B1 use) / restaurant (A3 use) and 64 residential apartments(C3 use) with associated access and underground parking.
Poole Quays Forum still maintains total opposition to these proposals. TS will circulate the details of the objection and would encourage as many people as possible to object. Chairman’s note: The Vision for Poole Group’s letter of objection is circulated with these Minutes.
Planning Enforcement, TPOs/Tree replacements – update:
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} -.The Council
Planning Enforcement team are progressing this matter, albeit, slowly. 16 Western Avenue (Erection of Single Storey Garden Room) – The appeal is being validated – it is, currently, taking longer for the Planning Inspectorate to validate appeals.
Community Working Group (CWG): Next meeting is the Annual General Meeting on 18 March 2015. The Association is still looking for a volunteer to replace Terry Stewart. All are encouraged to attend the AGM.
TS gave a brief description of the responsibilities of the CWG – they deal with Planning management, policies, theories and new Government legislation.
Council Budget Monitoring report (2014/15) & 2015/16 Budget: JS said that the next Council Budget Monitoring Report (1 April to 31 March 2015) is unlikely to be presented to Cabinet until June 2015.
Public Rights of Way
Westminster Road end of Dalkeith Road – No new developments.
Buccleuch Road to Lakeside Road – ditto
Bessborough Road – ditto
Pinecliff Gardens (Sunken garden): No new developments. WH
Community Engagement: No new developments JS/TS
Navitus Bay Offshore Wind Farm: Roy Pointer apologised for his absence, due to the need to send in final representations to the Planner Inspectorate today, as the Examination closed at midnight.
RP had sent a note to JS in which he reported that there would now be a three month period for the panel to make a report to the Secretary of State (Ed Davey) and he has a further three months to make a decision. He alone makes the decision. There is still a record level of interest and opposition to the project which is unprecedented in the history of wind farms in UK.
Meanwhile, PCBA has produced some postcards for circulation with Pines and Chines encouraging people to write to the CEO of Electricite de France giving their own views on the devastation the project would cause to the local environment and tourism without saving any carbon dioxide simply because of the need for constant back up from fossil fuels. We hope all members will write in.
Postcards will be included in the next issue of the Association’s ‘Pines and Chines magazine’ which will be distributed in April. These postcards will also be available from UKIP’s local office at 185 Bournemouth Road, Parkstone.
Further information is, as always, available on the saveourdorsetseaside.co.uk web site. A further update will be given next month.
Road Safety concerns: Burton Road, Canford Cliffs Road & Accident at junction of Leicester Road, Bury Road and Wilderton Road – JG reported
that ‘the lorry’ is no longer on Burton Road.
Cllr MH said that there will soon be a Pelican Crossing on Canford Cliffs Road opposite Compton Acres.
JG reported that the Speed Monitoring Group is very active. During their hour on Canford Cliffs Road in January, twelve of the passing cars were recorded exceeding the speed limit. Since then there has been police presence on this road because of the data reported to them by the Speed Monitoring Group.
Sustaining Poole’s Seafront (Formerly Seafront Beaches Master Plan SPD)
Cllr MH said that as this does not come under any committees that she normally sits on, so was unable to comment on this.
JS said that he had attended last Wednesday’s Poole Beach Hut Association’s
AGM at which the two guest speakers were, Bruce Grant-Braham, the
Chairman of the Poole Tourism Partnership and Anthony Rogers, Recreation
Manager, Borough of Poole. Mr Grant-Braham referred to the Tourism Strategy
For Poole 2006-2015 which needs updating. The Council contributes 60% to
the Partnership expenditure and the balance is paid for by Members.
Mr Rogers said that the new Beach Huts at Flaghead, Branksome Chine & Branksome Dene Chine should be completed by July 2015. The Council is looking into the feasibility of more huts.
One interesting point was that when the Council first started short term lets there were 99 beach huts available – this is now down to 55. It appears that they have finally come to realise that Long Term Let is more profitable for them as they do not have the associated expenditure of Short Term Let.
The installation of CCTV along the promenade should be completed by the end of this month.
Bob Lister on Poole Beach Huts Association reported that they had suggested to the Council that they installed solar powered lighting along the promenade.
JS said that he gets the impression that Sustaining Poole’s Seafront SPD is no longer a priority. Cllr MH says that ‘it is going through the system’.
Bob Lister feels that the installation of ‘overnight pods’ may create a problem, the same as Party Houses.
Cllr. MH has written to the Council expressing BL’s fears and that this will go through the system.
‘Party houses’ – As Steve & Jen Cameron are spending a year in Spain, JS asked Colin Brade if he would be prepared to take over their role – it was agreed to discuss this after the meeting.
Colin Brade who is the Association’s representative at Parkbury, said that a flat had recently sold at the asking price despite the potential buyers wanting a discount because of the ‘party house’ problem,
Chairman’s note: I am told that the lady who bought a flat fought hard for a lower price and eventually got a £2,000 discount.
Cllr MH says that the Council is gearing up for complaints once the season begins at Easter, but that the main operator of these houses is beginning to move into Bournemouth.
Cllr TW says that the Council are going to try to change the law so that there is the capability of re-classifying these houses, so that they are a different type of residence showing that they are available for short term party use. This will take some time, but it is hoped that it will eventually alleviate the problem.
SC
Succession planning: JS said that he now served as Chairman for 12 years and feels that it is time to ‘hang up his boots’ and for the Association to look for ‘new blood’ The earliest magazine he holds is Autumn 1984 (No 21) and it seems the previous longest serving Chairman was the late Ralph Dymond
(1992 to 1997). Terry Stewart has written an article on the subject of recruitment in the Association’s Spring 2015 ‘Pines & Chines’ magazine.
JS
Pine Drive – MH said that she is continuing to ‘chase’ the relevant officers. MH Uniting the Conurbation (Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch) – JS announced that the supporters’ meeting will take place on Monday, 13th April 2015 at 7.30pm at the Wessex Room of Wessex Hotel, West Cliff Road,
Bournemouth BH2 5EU.
JS
Martin Heath expressed concern about the formation of the Dorset Leaders Growth Board (DLGB), which will cover the whole of urban and rural Dorset.
The DLGB has already taken its first steps but, so far, there appears to have been no consultation and Martin wondered just how many Poole and Bournemouth councillors know what’s going on.
Chairman’s Note: A North Dorset District Councillor writes
“The danger is that the Dorset Growth Board will now ‘bounce’ the whole of urban and rural Dorset into accepting an over-arching Combined Authority while preserving our existing creaky institutions.
JS
The question is whether the Growth Board cronies can persuade all nine existing councils to swallow their line by falsely saying “There Is No Alternative.” Regarding the question of DLEP (Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership) and the funding of local development projects, the Cities Growth Commission reported last October: ”“The Local Growth Deals announced in July 2014 were initially intended to enable single pot financing of strategic economic priorities agreed by LEPs and local authorities. By the time they had been through the Whitehall machine, they amounted to little more than central government approval of finance and delivery of specific local projects that happened to align with ministerial priorities. Such centralisation veiled as localism needs to stop.”
The ‘bottom line’ is of course that our rural and urban growth areas have hugely differing needs. And while you see the need for a single unitary authority for rural Dorset, UTC (Uniting the Conurbation) is making an unanswerable case for a single unitary authority for the conurbation!”
Refreshing the Core Strategy and review of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) – The Canford Cliffs and Penn Hill Area Committee meeting on 11 February 2015 was very poorly attended.
One of the Agenda items was a presentation on the review of (a) Poole’s Core Strategy and (b) the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
The Core Strategy is currently being refreshed which, principally, involves deciding on how to increase house building to 700 per year – either by increasing housing density, expanding into the Green Belt – or building upwards. The consultation closes on 31 March 2015 and a final draft of the plan will be published for comment (known as the ‘Pre-Submission’) in Autumn 2015.
As JS mentioned at the last meeting, the CIL review is also underway. The Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule proposes a CIL rate per sqm of £1,300 for Sandbanks and £370 for Branksome Park & Lilliput – the current rate is £150.
‘Pines & Chines’ Spring 2015 magazine – The draft magazine is being circulated for proof reading and it is hoped that this will be available for distribution in early April 2015. JS feels that the distribution of the magazines ought to be handled as speedily as possible because of the up-coming AGM. However, asking people to collect the bundles from his house hadn’t worked as well as thought, and that this time he will contact those concerned by e mail.
JG
Withdrawal of various bus services – At a Portfolio Holder Decision meetingheld on 23 February 2015, the following changes affecting the buses in this area were agreed…
Route 50 Mondays to Saturdays (Winter)
*Following detailed negotiations, Go South Coast have said that they will continue to operate this service without the Borough of Poole funding.
Route 50 Sundays (Winter)
*Following detailed negotiations, Go South Coast have said that they will continue to operate this service without the Borough of Poole funding.
Route 20 Mondays to Saturdays and Route 52 Mondays to Saturdays
(Winter)
The consultation highlighted the high level of duplication of these services between Lilliput and Poole with services operating 3 minutes apart. Following detailed negotiations, Go South Coast have said that they will continue to
No further action operate this service without the Borough of Poole funding (£16,200) if the route of the Yellow Buses 20 service is varied to remove as much as possible of the duplication.
The Yellow Buses Route 20 currently operates between Sandecotes Road and Ashley Cross via Compton Avenue, Lilliput Road, Sandbanks Road, Elgin Road, Pottery Road, Sandbanks Road and Britannia Road (Salterns Road on outward journey).
The original proposal put to the Route & Branch group was to cut out the section of route between Compton Avenue and Pottery Road and instead run from Sandecotes Road to Pottery Road via Alton Road and Conifer Avenue.
The group asked that Yellow Buses be contacted to request the following variation to this proposal: from Sandecotes Road then via Alton Road, Broadwater Avenue, Pottery Road, Elgin Road, Sandbanks Road then as current route. This variation would benefit any passengers wishing to access
Lilliput Doctors’ Surgery and provide a new all-year round service to Whitecliff. Yellow Buses have agreed to amend the route variation to include Broadwater Avenue but will not agree to taking the service off Pottery Road. This is due to the additional mileage involved, the relatively few passengers they have identified using route 20 to access Lilliput Surgery and the number of passengers on Pottery Road travelling to/from areas not served by the Wilts & Dorset 52 route.
The benefits of this are the £16,200 saving by not supporting the GSC winter 52 contract and the more direct service (with shorter journey time) for through passengers. The disadvantage of this option is the removal of the bus from Compton Avenue. However, this section of route does not have high bus usage.
Of 953 passenger journeys surveyed on route 20, only 24 (2.5%) involved passengers boarding or alighting on Compton Avenue. These passengers would need to access route 20 at the stop on Sandecotes Road or alternatively access route 52 on Lilliput Road. Passengers currently using route 20 on Lilliput Road, the section of Sandbanks Road between Lilliput and Elgin Road, and on Elgin Road, would no longer have the 20 service but would have route 52. Passengers from these roads wishing to travel to Bournemouth and Castlepoint would need a change of bus (either at the Civic Centre onto frequent services or onto the less frequent 50 at Canford Cliffs). 63 (6.6%) passenger journeys have been identified as being affected by this.
3 NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT –
JS reported that no representations had been lodged by the Association during the past month.
Other current planning issues
142 Canford Cliffs Road (Demolition of existing dwelling, the erection of 3 detached dwellings, the development and creation of additional access, and associated landscaping) – Letter of objection lodged on behalf of Association on 17 December 2014
146 Canford Cliffs Road (Demolish existing chalet bungalow erect a 4-storey, with roof garden and basement parking (6 storeys in total) comprising 10 self contained flats) – Application refused on 30 July 2014 but is now subject to ‘Written representations’ appeal lodged on 27 August 2014. Still awaiting Inspector’s Decision letter.
2 Burton Road (Certificate of Lawfulness of existing use of building as a separate unit of residential accommodation) – Original application withdrawn but new application was registered on 12 January 2015.
16 Western Avenue (Erect Single Storey Garden Room (Partly Retrospective) – Application refused by Planning Committee on 20 January 2015.
KA
16 Nairn Road (Demolition of existing three storey house and replacement with new three storey house) – Letter of objection lodged by the Association on 01
December 2014 but application granted on 15 January 2015.
Norfolk Lodge Hotel, 1 Flaghead Road (Demolition of existing buildings and the construction of 18 apartments with basement car parking, landscaping, access and associated services) – Application registered on 26 September 2014. CCLS is taking professional advice with a view to formulating objections..
Compton Acres, Canford Cliffs Road (Erection of building comprising 20 Apartments with basement parking; re-arrangement for the existing Compton Acres parking area, and demolition of the existing office building set within the current car park) – This site has been acquired by Ortus Homes a subsidiary of
McCarthy & Stone.
5. ACCOUNTS TO DATE – JS reported that the total Association funds as at 28 February 2015 amounted to £34,417.25. The accounts to 31 December 2014 have been signed off by Schofields. JS thanked Schofields and Paul Fearnley.
JS
6 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
‘Hustings’ for May’s General/Local Elections – This event will take place at All Saints Church Hall, Western Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday 29 April 2015 – all prospective MPs have agreed to attend, although the Vicar of All Saints is still waiting to hear from Robert Syms.
JS said that he planned to invite the prospective Canford Cliffs Ward Councillors to our meeting on 08 April 2015. In order to ensure equal allocation of time between the participants, the prospective candidates will be allowed to speak for two minutes in order to outline their hopes/aims and we will not allow follow-up questions, although candidates will have an opportunity to meet members at the end of the meeting.
Date of next Meeting: The next meeting will be on Wednesday 08th April 2015 at Committee Room (formerly Lounge), Rear of Branksome St Aldhelms Parish Centre (Access via Lindsay Road)
The meeting closed at 8.30pm.