Rolleston Parish Council News 2014

Rolleston-on-Dove Parish Council
News 2014

NEWSFLASH

In December 2014 Heidi Light ceased to be Parish Clerk. Her replacement is:

Mrs Jane Bucknall
32, The Lawns
Rolleston on Dove
DE13 9DB
Email: rollestonpc@outlook.com

NEWSLETTERS

Since the Autumn 2014 issue these have been made available in PDF format. To read PDF files you may need to install Adobe Reader. It is free software that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files and can be downloaded from Adobe UK.

NEWSLETTER - SUMMER 2014

ROLLESTONIAN OF THE YEAR – MRS SYLVIA MARTIN: The 2013 “Rollestonian of the Year Award” was awarded to Mrs Sylvia Martin at the Annual Parish meeting held in April. Mrs Martin received numerous nominations for the award and won on a majority vote. Amongst the reasons for her nomination were for the time and energy she spends in connection with St Marys Church, The Almshouses, Garden Sunday, Transport Day, Horticultural Day and the other events she supports in the village. Mrs Martin works hard in many ways and her contributions have undoubtedly contributed to the thousands of pounds that have been raised for good causes, both for the benefit of the village and individuals.

The following people were also nominated for the award.

Verity Connor who also works tirelessly for good causes both within and outside of the village.

John Underhill who is prepared to give freely of his time creating things for the benefit of the village. His work will be appreciated by Rollestonians and visitors to our village for many years to come.

The chalked Crusader! For waging a great war against the dog owners who are too lazy to pick up their dogs poo.

DOG FOULING: Please report known offenders to ESBC Community & Civil Enforcement Team 01283 508526 or 508856.

UPDATE ON COLLEGE FIELDS: The Secretary of State has directed that he shall determine this appeal instead of an Inspector on the grounds that the appeal involves proposals which raise important or novel issues of development control, and/or legal difficulties. This means that instead of writing a decision, the Inspector will prepare a report and recommendation, which will be forwarded to the Secretary of State. It is understood that a decision will be made mid-July.

NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT PLAN – CURRENT STATUS: As you will know a public meeting was held in October 2011 at which a steering group was formed, this steering group consulted extensively throughout the village. From these consultations a draft Plan was produced that represented the majority views of the community on various matters one of which was the number of new dwellings considered appropriate to be built within the area covered by the Plan. For clarity the area covered by the Plan, as agreed with ESBC, is all of the land within the parish boundary.

The Localism Act and all of the advice provided by DCLG on Neighbourhood Plans state quite clearly that local communities should decide their own futures with regards to where and how much development takes place within them. Our problem is that ESBC do not want to allow us to do this instead, apart from windfall sites which by their very nature cannot be pre-determined, they want to tell us what is going to be built and where it will go.

Eventually a formal Plan was produced and after it had been informally and formally consulted on it was subjected to an examination by an approved independent examiner. The independent examiner determined on Friday 18th October 2013 that subject to some minor changes the Plan should progress to a referendum. His view was that our Plan had to comply with the existing Local Plan, which it did, and not the emerging Local Plan.

Our Plan contains a total allocation of 85 new dwellings whereas ESBC say we have to accept 140, 100 of these to be on the college playing field, 25 to be windfalls, 29 of which have already been granted planning permission, and 15 which already had planning permission at the start of the Plan period but were not completed at that time. If we did not accept the allocation proposed by ESBC they insisted that we provide evidence of “need” to substantiate our figure of 85.

At our last meeting with ESBC they were asked directly how we should undertake this task, their response was that they did not know. A proposed method of justifying the need for new houses was given to ESBC based on Rolleston’s increase in population along with the reducing size of households in the village between 2001 and 2011 projected forward at the same rate as determined in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment commissioned by ESBC for the evidence base of their Local Plan, but they say they do not understand it. Instead they believe we should accept their allocation even though they cannot produce any evidence to substantiate it.

The current position is that ESBC do not believe it would be appropriate to progress our Plan any further until the Secretary of State determines the college field appeal which will probably be in July and then if he upholds the refusal they say we have to find additional sites to meet their claimed housing “need”, of 140 dwellings, as prescribed in their Submission Local Plan. The problem with this statement is that there is no justified housing “need” for Rolleston just an allocation that ESBC have unilaterally decided without any evidence to corroborate it.

PLANNING APPLICATIONS: Whilst multiple planning applications for the village can be received for consideration on a monthly basis, the following applications have recently been under consultation and are those which are considered significant:-

P/2013/01458 Erection of 11 dwellings and formation of access, Apple Acres, 14 Knowles Hill

P/2013/01406 Outline application with all matters reserved except access, for a mixed use development including up to 500 dwellings Glenville Farm, Tutbury Road. (Around 100 of the proposed dwellings will be sited over the boundary and into Rolleston).

The following planning application has recently been approved:-

P/2013/00636 Erection of three detached dwellings, Land at Craythorne Road, Rolleston on Dove

EAST STAFFORDSHIRE SUBMISSION LOCAL PLAN APRIL 2014: ESBC have now submitted their Local Plan to the Secretary of State. The Local Plan presents a development strategy and planning policy framework that will meet the development needs of the borough's residents over the period 2012-31. Further information can be found at http://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/Planning/.

Examination in Public: Information on the examination including the appointment of an Inspector, hearing dates and hearing venue will be published on ESBC website http://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/ examination page as soon as it is available.

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Mrs H. Light, Clerk of the Council, 8 Beacon Drive, Rolleston on Dove DE13 9EL, 01283 812538 (office hours), rollestoncpc@btinternet.com

NEWSLETTER - SPRING 2014

ROLLESTONIAN OF THE YEAR – NOMINATIONS PLEASE
The Parish Council will make an award “Rollestonian of the year” each year to a villager who in their opinion has served the community above and beyond that which could be considered normal or to a villager who has achieved exceptional heights in their particular field. (Sport, arts etc.). The award to be presented at the Annual Parish Meeting by the Chairman of the Parish Council, or in his absence the Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council. Nominations are to be sent to the Clerk of the Parish Council by 28th March 2014 and should include a brief note supporting the nomination. A nomination box will also be sited in Starbucks News for the duration of March.

At the April Parish Council meeting on 14th April 2014 all Councillors will be given a voting paper listing all nominations. During part 2 of the meeting brief details of all nominations will be read out by the Clerk after which Councillors will vote for their top 3 nominations giving 3 points for their first choice, 2 points for their second choice and one point for their third choice. The nomination with the highest number of points will be given the award. In the event of a tie new voting papers will be issued and Councillors will vote again between the tied nominees giving one point to their first choice nominee. The nominee with the highest number of points will be given the award. In the event of another tie the Chairman of the meeting shall have a casting vote.

For the purpose of this award any person living in Rolleston on Dove is considered to be a “Rollestonian”. Serving Parish Councillors are not eligible for this award.

DOG FOULING: Dog fouling is a major concern to many people. 95% of the British population are worried about the amount of dog fouling, not just because of the mess it causes but because it can also be linked to health risks including 'toxocara canis'. Roundworm eggs are found in dog mess, which can easily be picked up by young children. This causes stomach upsets, sore throats, asthma and in rare cases blindness. We recognise that most dog owners are responsible and clean up after their pets, but small minorities continue to cause problems. Please report known offenders to ESBC Community & Civil Enforcement Team 01283 508526 or 508856.

P/2013/01458 Erection of 11 dwellings and formation of access, Apple Acres, 14 Knowles Hill
P/2013/01406 Outline application with all matters reserved except access, for a mixed use development including up to 500 dwellings Glenville Farm, Tutbury Road. (Around 100 of the proposed dwellings will be sited over the boundary and into Rolleston).
P/2013/00636 Erection of three detached dwellings, Land at Craythorne Road, Rolleston on Dove

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT LAND OFF KNOWLES HILL/ANSLOW LANE: At the Parish Council meeting held on Monday 10th December, County Councillor Bob Fraser advised that he had received communication from Staffordshire County Council who had advised him that they were 99% certain that they would not be submitting a planning application for the land off Knowles Hill/Anslow Lane. Councillor Fraser did however suggest that SCC feel that there was still a requirement for a single site school.

COLLEGE APPEAL: Burton & South Derbyshire College have appealed against the Borough Councils decision to refuse planning permission for the development of the College playing fields. The Public Inquiry into the appeal will be held on 4th March and is likely to last 4 days. For regular updates on this, please refer to the village website www.rolleston.org.uk
PARISH COUNCIL MEETINGS: are held on the 2nd Monday of every month, commencing 7.30pm, Old Grammar School Rooms. A copy of the agenda and associated documents can be downloaded a few days prior from the village website www.rolleston.org.uk. A copy of the agenda is also displayed in the Village noticeboards.

PARISH COUNCILLOR VACANCY: The Parish Council deals with a diverse range of issues and is currently one member short of a full compliment. If you are interested in becoming a Parish Councillor then please express an interest in writing to the clerk of the council.

APRIL PARISH COUNCIL & ANNUAL PARISH MEETING: The April Parish Council meeting will take place on Monday 14th April and The Annual Parish Meeting will take place on Monday 28th April commencing 7.30pm. The Annual Parish Council meeting will take place on Monday 12th May, commencing 7.30pm.

VILLAGE CLEAN UP: This year’s Village clean-up Day will take place on Saturday 10th May, commencing at 9.30am. The meeting place will be the Spread Eagle Car Park and everyone is welcome to come along and help. It is recommended that you come in wellingtons and where possible bring your own tools and gloves.

SUMMER FOOTPATH WALKS: Annually members of the Parish Council walk all of the Public Footpaths in Rolleston so that it can be recorded that the footpaths are walked and so that any improvements can be proposed to SCC. The Footpath Walks will take place this year on Sunday 8th June and Sunday 22nd June, departing from Spread Eagle Island at 10am. This is a family friendly work with “I spy” quiz on the way round.

PLANNING NEWS

MEADOW VIEW: P/2013/01144 Reserved matters application for the erection of 21 dwellings, including details of appearance, landscaping, layout and scales, Land off, Meadow View.

This application was permitted by the planning committee on Monday 16th December. Due to an oversight by the Borough Council, the Parish Council were not informed of or sent an invitation to make representation at the Planning committee meeting. An apology has since been received from the Borough Council, who has advised that they have changed their procedures as a result of the oversight and concluded that it was unlikely that the PC making representation at the meeting would have changed the outcome of the decision.

NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT PLAN – REFERENDUM: Following the recommendation from the Independent Examiner that subject to some minor modifications that the NHD plan proceeds to referendum, a formal request for the modifications to be made and referendum arranged was sent to ESBC in October 2013. Since then ongoing discussions have been taking place with ESBC who are not happy with one of the policies within the plan, Policy H1. It is understood that the Cabinet will make a decision at a future meeting as to if the plan is to be accepted by the Local Authority and proceed to referendum. The Local Authority then has a legal obligation to make public its decision notice. If it is agreed that the plan should proceed to referendum, it is understood that they will be arranged in conjunction with the European Elections due to take place in May.