Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum decision 'called in' (From Bucks Free Press)
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Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum decision 'called in'
8:59am Thursday 6th September 2012 in News By Simon Farr
The entrance to RAF Daws Hill
COUNCIL chiefs have been asked to re-consider their decision to omit two key sites from the proposed Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum area.
RAF Daws Hill and the Wycombe Sports Centre sites were taken off the original area the Neighbourhood Forum would serve by Wycombe District Council’s Cabinet last month after WDC sought legal advice.
The decision sparked outrage from the Daws Hill Residents Association, which has threatened legal action, because a major reason for it making the forum application was to influence the proposals for a new Wycombe Sports Centre and major housing development on the RAF base.
Wycombe District Council’s Improvement and Review Commission elected to go ahead with the call-in led by Cllr Alan Hill on Tuesday night.
Cllr Hill questioned the reasons for removing the two battlegrounds and said: “Cabinet has ignored the spirit of the Localism Act whereby the local community should be engaged in decisions that affect their community.”
Cllr Hugh McCarthy, Cabinet member for planning, told the meeting that the original decision had not been taken lightly and was based on legal advice.
He added the council was “in-between a rock and a hard place” as the issue was a matter of “timeliness”, with live planning applications in motion or in the pipeline for both sites which would have to be considered before the Neighbourhood Forum was ratified and active.
Cllr David Shakespeare, Cabinet member for the Big Society, added the new development on the RAF base would be a “brand new community” and, therefore, not part of the existing neighbourhood.
But, after a lively debate, I&R members decided the proposed development projects would heavily impact upon the Daws Hill community and the Neighbourhood Form should be able help shape the projects.
Cabinet will now be asked to consider an amended application with the sold off RAF camp and sport centre sites back on the forum map.
The I&R commission’s ruling was met with approval by Ken Tyson from the Daws Hill Residents Association – which he said has been busy lobbying Cabinet members ahead of Monday night’s crunch meeting.
Neighbourhood Forums were born out of the Localism Act, which introduced new planning tools for community groups.
The idea is to give residents – through parish councils or Neighbourhood Forums – the opportunity to shape their communities, including giving them a voice to say where shops and houses should be built.
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (12)
9:09am Thu 6 Sep 12
Darren Hayday says...
Only a strong and organised campaign will stop it - otherwise WDC will get their own way (as they mostly always do!) - it’s all about the money (even though they have about £10 mill kicking around in their banks)
9:17am Thu 6 Sep 12
Kania 2000 says...
9:30am Thu 6 Sep 12
gpn01 says...
The idea is to give residents – through parish councils or Neighbourhood Forums – the opportunity to shape their communities, including giving them a voice to say where shops and houses should or should not be built"
Really? The Localism Act (along with BPPF seems to be about cgiving the community a voice about where things SHOULD be built. In fact much of it is designed to make a YES decision faster. There's not much in the legislation to PREVENT things from being built.
10:08am Thu 6 Sep 12
townraider says...
A town council would represent the issues of local people -- something WDC and the Rural led Tory cabinet doesn't do!!
10:44am Thu 6 Sep 12
Darren Hayday says...
11:15am Thu 6 Sep 12
BOOKERite says...
.
At least Daws Hill is not green belt!
1:30pm Thu 6 Sep 12
miccles says...
8:47pm Thu 6 Sep 12
yog says...
9:13pm Thu 6 Sep 12
washondo says...
11:12pm Thu 6 Sep 12
gpn01 says...
illors? Who is it who is elected by local ratepayers to represent their interests at WDC...errr...Council
lors.
The structure, composition, aims and agendas of those who sit on a Council, whether it be Town, District or County means that they're not the same as a Neighbourhood Forum - which is made up of people who want to be involved in decisions that affect the area that they live in.
12:00am Sat 8 Sep 12
gpn01 says...
"An alternative would be to not adopt a Development Brief and instead rely on potential guidance for the site through a Neighbourhood Plan, as promoted by the Daws Hill Residents Association. The advantage of the brief is that guidance and clarity on issues is required now if that guidance is to inform and influence the submission of a planning application and its determination. Whilst the timing of submission is in the hands of the developer/ site owner (Taylor Wimpey) they have indicated it is programmed for this November, with the Council having a 13 week determination period. In contrast any Neighbourhood Plan would have to go through its statutory stages before an Independent Examination and then (if found sound) a vote in a Referendum. Only after that would an approved Plan be in place (or not). This lengthy process could not be completed in time to inform the expected application and it is not therefore seen as a suitable alternative option to approving a Development Brief now, which itself has gone through a consultation and engagement process."
I read this as "we can't use the neighbourhood plan because it would take too long".
4:04pm Sun 9 Sep 12
Mike Galloway says...
If there is a Parish (Town) Council in place for even part of the NP area then they "are in charge" and a Neighbourhood Forum is not relevant. Of course where one has a good, representative, forward thinking, active, parish council this should not be a problem. However not all parish councils are the same and I looking forward I can forsee problems of conflict between inactive parish councils and local communities. I don't belive the government have fully considered all of this.
There are now powers to create Parish (Town, Neighbourhood, Village, Community etc) Councils. With
keen and willing people involved this can be very positive. If you don't already have details about this feel free to contact me for more details.
The ability for decisions to be called in is something that is not used as often as it might be. In my area (Milton Keynes) the right to call-in is very wide, including by a parish council or by 20 residents (ie no need for a councillor to be involved). Of course this this does not guarantee a decision will be changed, but robust challenge can bring positive change.
From what I know it does sound like a Neighbourhood Plan would be unlikely to be able to alter what is already approved. However even then it would - I believe - be very reasonable to include the area in a plan - but with the realisation the NP could not "stop" what is already planned.
There is a lot of good advice around from a number of bodies who may be able to provide help to communities - again contact me for more details if you don't have them.
Mike Galloway
Twitter: @MikeGalloway