The Formby Blog

Will the Formby Neighbourhood Plan Pass its Final Inspection?

Finally, after six years in preparation, Formby and Little Altcar Parish Councils have submitted the Formby Neighbourhood Plan to Sefton Council.

Six years is a very long time but presumably, the plan is the very best the two Parish Councils can produce?

So it's disappointing to note that the Sefton Council reception seems to raise some doubts. I've highlighted them in bold.

The Sefton document starts by setting out the Parish Councils'  purposes. Almost immediately they add some notes of concern. You can read them in the following extract. 

3.1 The Formby Neighbourhood Plan sets out a shared vision for Formby and Little Altcar Parishes. The whole of both Parishes were designated as a neighbourhood area’ for the purposes of preparing a neighbourhood plan and approved by Cabinet Member on 12th September 2013. The plan contains policies on the following areas

 General Policies
 Housing
 Working and shopping
 Getting around
 Community, leisure and wellbeing
 Environment, sustainability and design
 Flooding

3.2 Consultation on the draft plan (known as Regulation 14 Consultation) was undertaken by the Parish Council between 31st October 2016 and 12th December 2016. The Parish Council took account of comments received during this period in the submitted plan.

3.3 There are some concerns about some of the submitted documents and whether they fulfil some of the basic conditions. 

In particular:

 The Neighbourhood Plan needs have regard to the National Planning Policy Framework and the Local Plan. The Neighbourhood Plan and the Basic Conditions Statement repeatedly refer to the 2012 NPPF that has since been superseded.

 The Neighbourhood Plan includes some policies that are contrary to strategic policies in the Local Plan, this includes a radical change to the affordable housing policy.

 The consultation framework is required to show people’s comments from the reg.14 consultation, what they said and how they have been considered. Whilst all comments are either summarised or included verbatim, it has not been shown how resident’s comments or the comments of other bodies have been considered, the statement simply says what they said.

3.4 The Neighbourhood Plan steering group did not accept the offer of advice from Sefton Council before submitting the plan.

3.5 It is up to the Examiner to decide whether the policies and content of the plan meet the basic conditions. The Council will make comments at the reg.16 stage.

(Source: Sefton Council: Report from Chief Officer Planning to Cabinet Officer Building and Planning Control for decision)

In my view, the most significant comment is item 3.4. It raises a number of questions.

• Did both Parish Councils agree to 'disagree' with the Sefton Council advice?
• Why did the Parish Councils reject the advice from the highly experienced Council officers?
• Is there a conflict of views on some or all of the issues involved between Sefton Council and the two Parishes?
  • What are those?
  • Is this difference of views related to legal interpretations over the relative powers of Parish Councils and District Councils?
  • Has it to do with the Green Belt redesignation and the new housing developments, which have received official inspectors approval, thus confirming the status of the Local Plan?

Then there's the matter of the 2012 NPPF policy (National Planning Policy Framework)? Why have the Parish Councils not acted, after all, there's a seven-year gap between that change and now?

It is a remarkable passage of time, why have the Parish Councils not make the necessary adaptations?

Finally, on the question of the representation and response to the public views generated during the consultations is likely to compromise the whole plan. It is supposed to be a shared, collective and agreed public policy - not simply the Parish Councils policy.

Sefton Council closes in 3.5, with two observations:

• A comment about the function of the Official Inspector, It's difficult not to draw the conclusion that the plan could be failed at this stage.
• Sefton Council has also highlighted they will make comments at the 'Reg 16' stage of the process, could there more potential issues for the viability of the Plan? 

If you want to read more about the Neighbourhood Plan process I advise you to visit the Formby Parish Council website. There's a dedicated section with access to the various reports but following the plan through the Formby Parish Council minutes of meetings is more difficult. At one stage I noticed a reference to the near completion of the plan sometime in 2017, apparently, it just required some relatively small updates.

It seems to have taken over two years to make those additions and of course, the late submission date means that the current membership of both Councils is due for re-election, retirement or replacement, in the May elections. 

It begs the questions, why so long, what of the notion of electoral accountability, what has it all cost, what happens it the whole plan fails, who will be to blame?

To read the full report on the Sefton Council website follow the link: http://modgov.sefton.gov.uk/moderngov/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=56436&Opt=0

 

 

Local Conservative Councillors Fund Tree Carving for Formby Village

Local Conservative Councillors have just announced their latest proposal for Formby Village.

As Sefton Councillors they have access to S106 monies (These are paid to local Councils by developers) to fund local projects of their own choice. In this case, the Councillors have apparently commissioned a local tree carver to utilise the tree trunk that remains after the recent tree felling controversy.

This is a preliminary model made by the artist and published recently on his Twitter feed.

Coming soon to a village near you(or me at least 😄)
Rudimentary maquette for an on-site tree sculpture pic.twitter.com/97cCc0Rp1y

— Simon Archer (@wisewoodcarver) February 7, 2019

This was funded entirely by Harington Ward Councillors' S106 monies with no cost whatsoever to Formby residents. Thanks to @NTFormby and Formby Tool Hire for providing the fencing and scaffolding platform both free of charge. Excited to see the end result !!

— Denise Dutton (@CllrDDutton) February 11, 2019

I wonder what the residents and village traders will make of the idea. 

What do you think?

 

 

 

Source: Simon Archer Sculptor

Charity Christmas Craft Fair at Southport hospital this weekend

This weekend, (Sunday 9 December), a Christmas Craft Fair will be held at Southport hospital.

Stalls will be located in the gymnasium area of the Northwest Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, from 12-4pm.

Local craftspeople are welcome to sign up for a table at a cost of £10 each.  Come along to sell your crafty creations or Christmas themed gifts and decorations!  All are welcome.

Visitors on the day can chat to local charities, browse the stalls, and enjoy delicious refreshments and Christmas entertainment.

The fair will raise much-needed funds for the refurbishment of the spinal injuries centre’s garden. This garden is used for recreation and rehabilitation by patients, many of them being long-term residents. 

Parking is free for visitors, bring the ticket along to the fair and it will be validated. 

Bike & Go launches FreeWheel Tuesdays

Bike hire scheme Bike & Go is bringing Christmas early to its Formby customers – by giving them free bike hire every Tuesday between December 4 and January 15.

The offer, which covers every Tuesday except Christmas Day and is open to all subscribers, is worth almost £23 and provides an opportunity to escape the Christmas madness while enjoying some outdoor exercise in the run-up to the festive period and beyond.

The physical and mental health benefits of cycling have been well-documented, with one study published in the official journal of the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine revealing that, after pedalling a stationary bike for 15 minutes, participants’ levels of stress hormone cortisol significantly decreased.

And with so many beautiful places to ride in the area, Bike & Go believes FreeWheel Tuesdays could provide the perfect antidote to the stresses of the festive period.

Suzanne Grant, Bike & Go director said:

“December is such a busy month for most people that they tend to forget about the importance of looking after their mental and physical health.

“Cycling has proven health benefits and provides an excellent way to get away from it all while getting a workout too.

“Whether it’s cycling from the train station to home and back again, or fitting a ride into your lunch hour, we’re hoping that as many people as possible will take advantage of our FreeWheel Tuesdays and sign up to enjoy free cycling on those days.”

Bike & Go offers bike hire facilities from 23 participating train stations across the Merseyrail network, including Formby, Ormskirk, Southport, Liverpool Central, Moorfields, Aigburth, Hoylake and West Kirby, in addition to a further 49 participating train stations across much of the North West, North East and Yorkshire, East and South East of England, and Scotland. There are also a bike hire facilities at Seacombe Ferry Terminal and Leasowe Castle.

To hire a Bike & Go bike, users simply need to register their card details online, which they can do via smartphones, tablets, or at home, and pay the annual £10 subscription fee. They will then receive a user number via email which will allow immediate bike hire at just £3.80 per 24 hours whilst they wait for their Bike & Go membership card. Bikes can then be returned to any participating train station.

Triathlete Michael raises £690 for children with diabetes

Champion fundraiser Michael Barlow raised £690 for the Southport and Ormskirk hospitals’ paediatric diabetes charity.

Michael, 38, took part in the Chester Triathlon in September. A keen cyclist, he competed in the half-triathlon competition, training for 14 weeks.

The event was made up of a 500-metre swim, a 21km bike ride and a 5km run which he completed in two hours eight minutes.

Michael, from Skelmersdale, raises money for a different charity each year. He was inspired to fundraise for the diabetes fund by the child of a family friend who is a patient at Ormskirk hospital.

Dr May Ng, Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist, said:

“The team was delighted to receive Michael’s generous donation and I want to thank everyone who sponsored him.”

She said the money would go towards essential learning and teaching materials for patients, and for the team to hold regular evening education sessions for families and children with diabetes.