Minutes:
(i) Waterlooville Town Centre Regeneration
The Forum received a verbal update from Alan Downton, Havant Borough Council who advised that officers were completing an outline draft plan and timeline to progress regeneration in Waterlooville which incorporated short term measures to improve the appearance and fabric of the town centre and building on the local plan, to engage with residents, local businesses, stakeholders and partners to develop a deliverable masterplan, with consultation process, and a commitment that this be completed by June 2023.
(ii) Outstanding s104 and s106 agreements (re: Handover of open space to Newlands Parish Council)
Steve Lincoln reported that this matter was ongoing with an outstanding drainage issue regarding Newlands Walk requiring resolution before the land could be transferred. The contact previously dealing with this matter from Taylor Wimpey has since retired so this matter could now be taken forward with a new contact, although as there were still legal agreements outstanding this could still take a little time to resolve. However, in the meantime Winchester City Council would maintain the open space until the transfer could take place. It was noted that a face to face discussion would need to be arranged if this matter was further delayed to agree a way forward on cross boundary shared land in respect of financial contributions from Grainger for open space. Steve Lincoln agreed to discuss the adoption of land and a suitable approach with colleagues and report back to the Forum in due course.
(iii) Fly tipping – Outstanding fly tipping issues in the area awaiting responses by relevant officers.
(iv) Maintenance and Repairs in Newlands Walk – Outstanding issues reported. Steve Lincoln asked that Councillor Berry send on the list of snagging issues onto him to enable concerns to be progressed within the team directly.
(v) Update from Taylor Wimpey – Councillor Crichton provided a verbal update, on behalf of Taylor Wimpey, setting out that the s104 agreement with Southern Water remained incomplete, Taylor Wimpey were in a position to sign this but were unable to make contact with Southern Water to resolve this matter. It was noted that no remedial work could progress until this had been signed and primarily, this was now holding up the work towards the adoption of the spine road. The installation of new LED lighting by Hampshire Highways upon road adoption also remained outstanding and needed to be progressed.
Councillor Crichton reported that a contractor was in place to complete the access from the end of Sickle Way onto Hambledon Road as the second access onto the development and was due to be completed by the end of this year. However, Hampshire Highways had instructed that at this point Sickle Way must be closed which was an issue as until the rest of the roads on the development were adopted, there were no controls on parking or any restrictions in place resulting in the likelihood of significant traffic travelling through the development while Sickle Way was closed. It was noted that the Parish Council had therefore requested that the road closure be deferred until the road adoptions had taken place.
The Chairperson advised that she would discuss the points raised in respect of Hampshire Highways with Councillor Stallard in order for an update to be provided.
(vi) Adoption of Open Space agreement at Wellington Park by Havant Borough Council – Councillor Crichton reported that this part of the open space agreement had not yet been adopted and was an ongoing matter. Havant Borough Council representatives were asked to follow this up with their Head of Estates who had previously dealt with this matter, for an update to be provided.
(vii) Planning application for Phase 3b - Councillor Crichton reported that the application for Phase 3b was approved on 10 October 2022 under delegated powers without notification being provided. In addition, Councillor Read advised that he had spoken to the Cabinet Member for Place and Local Plan with a view to reviewing the process of officers delegated powers and made reference to the importance of using the Joint West of Waterlooville MDA Planning Committee for joint planning applications going forward.
In response, Julie Pinnock, Service Lead: Built Environment set out the process in relation to the council’s constitution which set out the scheme of delegation to officers, with the joint committee being in partnership with Havant Borough Council. However, this application did not trigger a referral to the joint committee hence why a decision was taken under officers delegated powers and in liaison with the Chair of the Planning Committee. In addition, it was noted that all planning applications are publicly consulted, planning officers at Havant were aware of the application as joint planning authority where both authorities worked together and the Parish Council would also be invited to comment as part of this process.
It was recognised that the joint committee process was a concern for the Parish Council. Julie Pinnock advised that she had offered to arrange a meeting to discuss the constitution with parish representatives but a date was still to be set to continue dialogue on this matter.
(viii) Policing of the development – Councillor Crichton advised that the previous matter regarding the Police and Crime Commissioner had been referred to senior officers with the proposal that policing of the development would be covered by Waterlooville going forward. The response on this matter was that this would remain split between Waterlooville and Bishops Waltham for the time being. It was suggested that the Parish Council arrange a meeting with senor officers from both areas to discuss resourcing for the policing of the area further.