The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park. Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chairman has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

The Chairman outlined the emergency evacuation procedure.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

(c)          Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the room while that item is considered.

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

No interests were declared.

The Chairman introduced the report which invited Members to consider and comment on the revised draft version of the Vehicle Parking Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which had been amended in light of Members’ comments at the Local Plan Panel meeting on 25 July 2019, and included comments from some Parish Councils, and to agree the way forward for formal public consultation.

Members were invited to make comments on the revised draft version, and a summary of the points made are set out below:

Page 10 – Layout and Design

A Member considered that as well as charging points being set-out under Section 4, Parking for Electric Vehicles, they should also be included within the Layout and Design section.  Mr Lulham explained that mention of charging points could be cross referenced to the design section.  Members agreed with this amendment.

Page 16 – Car Barns, Car Ports and Garages

A Member suggested the wording in paragraph 60 be strengthened to read: ‘Consideration must also be given……’.  Members agreed.

Page 24 – paragraph 98

A Member requested that paragraph 98 be amended to provide charging for all electric vehicles.  Mr Lulham suggested that this be moved to paragraph 99 and the end of that sentence include ‘….and the necessary power supply’.  He added that Table 2 could be amended so that it included a Passive Charging Point for each extra space for dwellings with on-plot parking.  Mr Lulham added that extra detail could be included to make it clearer that there would be one active charging point per dwelling, but this would be a multi-point so that more than one vehicle could be charged at a time.  Members agreed with this.

Page 13

A Member thanked DHA Consultancy for the work that had been done, and welcomed the table to the back of the report.  He referred to paragraph 43 and wanted developers to put more thought into the type of materials that could be installed in parking areas.  There was some discussion on the wording and Members agreed that the word ‘tarmac’ be removed, with the use of high quality materials encouraged and that they be permeable.

Page 16

A Member referred to paragraph 58 and considered all car barns, car ports and garages should be of a good design.  Mr Lulham explained that Table 6 in the report was cross-referenced with paragraph 58, and he suggested the wording could be changed to reduce any ambiguity.  Members agreed with this.

The Member highlighted the problems caused by commuter parking and considered this needed to be thought about when developments were designed, and the developer provide a car park for this.  Mr Lulham suggested that a section be added regarding commuter parking in new developments.  Members agreed with this.

Appendix A

A Member considered the use of ‘maximum’ parking standards for residential development in Town Centre and some Edge of Town Centre locations, as detailed on page 34 to be unreasonable.  Mr Lulham outlined the reasons for the figures and explained that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 200.

The Chairman invited Members to make suggestions for items for the Future Work Plan.  A Member made the following suggestions:

·         To look at a Borough-wide study of endangered species, with a register to indicate where their habitats were;

·         To adopt a policy to ensure native species were specified and planting seasons were defined;

·         To have a policy or statement to protect existing hedgerows, in the same way that individual trees were protected;

·         To carry out desktop studies in order to protect the Borough’s heritage assets;

·         Developments that failed to deliver employment should be required to have additional parking for commuters;

·         There should be a policy and conditions to ensure building standards were complied with; and

·         Affordable homes in rural areas needed to be enhanced.

The Development Manager explained that there were already affordable housing policies in the Local Plan, and Parish Councils were involved with this work which included a housing needs study.  These schemes took time, but the Parish Councils were at the forefront of the process.

A Member considered it would be beneficial to have a Member Training session on the Local Plan, and the Chairman suggested questions were submitted to officers prior to the training session.  Other training topics were landscape design, and heritage.

Resolved:

(1)      That the suggestions above be noted.