·         The Chairman welcomed all parish representatives to the Parish Council Forum.

Miss Gamston read the apologies.

To confirm the Notes of the Parish Council Forum held on 27 July 2015.

The Notes of the Parish Council Forum held on 27 July 2015 were confirmed by parish representatives and signed by the Chairman.

To discuss any matters arising from the Parish Council Forum held on 27 July 2015.

There were no matters arising from the notes of the last meeting.

To receive updates from parish representatives on organisations they represent which might be of interest to other members of the Forum.

No discussion took place under this item.

Nick Sandford, Government Affairs Officer – Local, The Woodland Trust.

30 minutes for presentation and questions

1)            WOODLAND TRUST – Nick Sandford, Government Affairs Officer – Local, The Woodland Trust

Mr Sandford  gave a presentation on the Woodland Trust entitled “Life’s Better with Trees”; a copy of which was available on the Rutland County Council website, attached to the agenda for this meeting.  Leaflets on the Woodland Trust and Free Trees for communities and schools were made available.

Key areas highlighted included:

•         The Woodland Trust was a conservation charity formed 40 years ago in Devon (one person/one site) and now owned over 1,000 sites across the United Kingdom covering 20,000 hectares with approximately 400,000 members and active supporters.

•         The Trust owned four woods in Rutland covering 86 hectares. 

•         The Trust’s vision was for a United Kingdom rich in native trees and woods, for people and wildlife.

•         The key aims of the Trust were to enable the creation of more native woods and places rich in trees; to protect native woods, trees and their wildlife for the future and to inspire everyone to enjoy and value woods and trees.

•         That the unique range of benefits of trees, woods and forests included: health and wellbeing, water benefits, economy and sustainable communities.

•         That access to green spaces was associated with better mental and physical health across socioeconomic groups.  The Coalition Government had targeted 1 million trees to be planted across the country.

•         That people living far away from green spaces were 27% more likely to be overweight or obese. 

•         That trees enhanced mood, improved self esteem and reduced blood pressure whilst environmental volunteering including tree planting was as effective as aerobics in improving fitness, all of which could improve individual health.  The cost to the economy from physical inactivity was £8.2 billion a year.

•         Trees helped to improve water quality by up to 85%.

•         Surface water flooding – trees in appropriate places could improve flooding by 60%.

•         That woodland related activities encouraged a sense of community by getting people involved in their community and contributed to a sense of well being.

•         The Trust’s “Access to Woodland Standard” stated that everyone should have access to a wood within easy reach of their home.

•         Only 9% of people in Rutland had a small wood within walking distance (500m) of their homes.

•         That the Trust offered Community Tree Packs – 18” high trees sent through the post with instructions on how to plant (free); packs of 30 trees were available for schools and packs of 100 or 400 trees were available for parish and community groups.

•         That the current project for the Trust was The First World War Centenary Woods project the aims of which included the planting of 3 million trees and involving 1 million children by 2018.

•         The Community Woodlands Pilot (November 2015 – October 2017) looked to provide start up grants of £500 to at least 40 communities, to provide project support grants of £10,000 for at least 10 communities, to employ  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Jake Atkinson, Chief Officer, LRALC

30 minutes for presentation and questions

1)            TRANSPARENCY CODE AND FUND AND OTHER UPDATES – Jake Atkinson, Chief Officer, Leicestershire and Rutland Association of Local Councils

Mr Atkinson gave a presentation on the Transparency Code for Parish Councils, the Transparency Fund and other updates; a copy of which was available on the Rutland County Council website, attached to the agenda for this meeting. 

Key areas highlighted included:

•         Examples of transparency included: right to inspect and copy minutes, Register of Members’ Interests, audit, right to attend meetings, Freedom of Information, Code of Conduct, Clerk’s Financial Interests (s.117) and Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

•         New legislation around transparency included: Publicity Code for Local Government (Mandatory March 2014) for example,  newsletters advertising; the openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 (Mandatory August 2014) included filming, social media and Clerk decision making; Transparency Code for Parish Councils with a turnover not exceeding £25,000; Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 which would change from the 1 April 1917 in that an audit would be required whatever size the council and the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 (£200k plus – not mandatory).

•         Transparency was important because parish councils were publicly funded public bodies; discretionary codes had failed; poor and/or criminal practice; changes to audit and new media and technology.

•         That the Transparency Code stated that data must be published on a website, publically accessible and free of charges and published within timescales.  Councils with a turnover not exceeding £25k would be removed from routine external audit from 2017/18.  There would be no change to internal audit.  From 1 April 2017 sector led body would appoint external auditor, although councils could opt out and appoint their own.

•          The Transparency Code put in place the need for the annual publications of: expenditure over £100; end of year account (Section 1), governance statement (Section 2) and internal audit report (Section 4); list of councillor responsibilities and details of public land and building assets.

•         The Transparency Code put in place the need for the regular publication of: draft minutes of all council and committee meetings within one month after meeting, and meeting agendas and associated papers no later than three clear days before meeting.

•         The Transparency Code put in place the need for publication on: a website which was publicly accessible and free of charge to view and could be the council’s own website, a community website that the council had pages on or the district/borough council’s website.

•         The 7 steps to Openness & Accountability:-

Step 1 – Learning/information gathering

Step 2 – Talk about it as a council

Step 3 – Get it on paper (list – plan – policy)

Step 4 – Organise/reorganise council’s information

Step 5 – Take control of website/email, etc

Step 6 – Implement and test

Step 7 – Monitor and review

•         The LRALC was communicating with individual councils regards the Transparency Fund.  So far the LRALC had received over 40 applications which NALC advised was the highest in the country.

•         Councils could expect  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Dave Trubshaw, Conservation Officer, Rutland County Council

30 minutes for presentation and questions

1)            CONSERVATION AREAS – David Trubshaw, Conservation Officer, Rutland County Council

Mr Trubshaw gave a presentation on Conservation Areas; a copy of which was available on the Rutland County Council website, attached to the agenda for this meeting. 

Key areas highlighted included:

•         Mr Trubshaw advised that Rutland County Council was required to designate as a conversation area:  “Any area of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance”. (Statutory definition).  National Planning Policy Framework stated that the local authority should ensure that a conservation area justified its status because of its special architectural or historic interest. (Government policy)

•         There were 34 conservation areas in Rutland, dating back to 1970 with the newest being 2004.

•         Boundaries were decided through consultation between the County Council, Parish Council and residents to identify areas of special architectural or historic interest.

•         Some boundaries had been extended to include land important to the setting of the conservation area but the final decision rested with the County Council, as the local planning authority.

•         The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 Section 72 required that “special attention shall be paid in the exercise of planning functions to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of a conservation area”. 

•         That the Rutland Local Plan policies related to decision making.

•         That the Rutland Local Plan Site Allocations and Policies Development Plan was specific to conservation areas and areas adjoining.

•         That Rutland County Council was undertaking a review of conservation areas the aim of which was to define the special character and thereby aid planning decisions.  The reviews also provided the opportunity to review boundaries and measures needed to safeguard it, for example, Article 4 direction.

•         That planning controls within a conservation area were more stringent over new development, demolition and alterations.  Planning applications were also subject to extra publicity and with a new development consideration had to be given as to whether it preserved (“doing no harm”) or enhanced the area.  There was a presumption against demolition of building that made a positive contribution to character or appearance and that planning permission was required to demolish boundary walls or buildings of more than 115 cubic metres.  For alterations planning permission was required to clad buildings; to enlarge a house by an addition or alteration to the roof; to extend beyond the side wall of the original house; to extend by more than one storey beyond the rear wall of the original house, to install a satellite dish visible from a highway; and to display illuminated advertisements.  However, houses enjoyed “permitted development rights” and solar panels did not require consent.

•         That 6 weeks notice needed to be given of any proposal to cut down, lop, top or uproot a tree (exceptions were if it was dead, diseased or dying, less than 75mm in diameter 105 metres above the ground, or work was by statutory undertakers).

•  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Brett Culpin, Community Infrastructure and Planning, Rutland County Council

20 minutes for presentation and questions

1)            RUTLAND LOCAL PLAN REVIEW ISSUES AND OPTIONS CONSULTATION – Brett Culpin, Community Infrastructure and Planning Obligations Officer, Rutland County Council

Mr Culpin gave a presentation on the review of the Local Plan and the key Issues and Options report; a copy of which was attached to the agenda for this meeting. 

Key areas highlighted included:

•         The existing documents comprising the Local Plan covered the period to 2026.

•         The main reasons for reviewing the Local Plan included: to extend the plan period to 2036 and provide a minimum 15-year time period as recommended by the government; to combine a number of existing documents into a single Local Plan and reflect any new issues that had arisen; to provide for any additional new housing, employment or other development that would be required over the extended plan period and to reflect the preparation of a number of neighbourhood plans in Rutland which the Council wanted to encourage communities to produce.

•         That the “Issues and Options” document would set out key issues and possible options and was the first stage in preparing the Local Plan review and would not include policies or proposals. 

•         That there would be a 9-week consultation period – 10 November 2015 to 12 January 2016.  Information would be available on the Council’s website and at public libraries in Rutland, consultation letters and/or emails would be sent to all Town and Parish Councils/Meetings and a community roadshow would be held at various areas in the county.

•         That under a government directed “call for sites” initiative there was also an early opportunity for developers, landowners, town and parish councils and others to put forward development sites for consideration.  This was a separate consultation with a closing date – 5 November 2015.  Sites put forward would be assessed as part of the Local Plan Review.  Further information was available on Rutland County Council’s website.

•         Key issues included: what role the Local Plan should take in coordinating Neighbourhood Plans; did the Settlement Hierarchy need to change; how much new housing and other development was needed; should the current distribution of development between the towns and villages be retained; should the current distribution of development between Oakham and Uppingham be retained; what were the most suitable directions for growth at Oakham and Uppingham; what additional infrastructure would be needed; were sites for employment, retail or other uses needed; were changes to minerals and waste planning policies needed; arising from an updated local waste needs assessment.

•         Following the consultation period the Council would consider all the comments received before preparing the next “Preferred Options” version of the Local Plan.  This would set out the proposed policies and sites to be allocated for development in the plan.  It was estimated that this would be published in August/September 2016.

The following points were noted:

•         That where land use allocation had not been taken up this could be rolled forward but the Council would need to understand why a site  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To receive the Parish Briefing Paper (20 October 2015) on issues currently affecting Rutland (to be circulated at the Forum).

Parish Clerks and Representatives are asked to display the document on parish notice boards.

The Parish Briefing Paper for 20 October 2015 was circulated at the meeting.

To consider any other items of business which parish representatives may wish to raise.

A reminder was given that potential agenda items for the Parish Council Forum should be sent to Corporate Support, Rutland County Council, Catmose, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 6HP, or emailed to corporatesupport@rutland.gov.uk

Thursday 28 January 2016

Monday 18 April 2016

Potential agenda items for the Parish Council Forum should be sent to Corporate Support, Rutland County Council, Catmose, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 6HP, or emailed to corporatesupport@rutland.gov.uk

Thursday 28 January 2016

Monday 18 April 2016