Minutes of Parish Councils Roundtable with Simon Hoare MP ...



Minutes of Parish Councils Roundtable with Simon Hoare MP – Friday 9th December 2016RoadsNot suitable for the large volumes of traffic that use roads every day – A350 big concernSimon Hoare (SH): met with Road Minister, and has further meeting planned with Dorset colleagues, to make the case for greater investment in A350 and the North/South route. Dorset is often the forgotten piece and overlooked in terms of strategic investment. Creates difficulties for residents and businesses - knock on effect of this, if jobs can’t be created and businesses can’t grow, young people move away = no mixed economySH: South West MPs meet twice monthly – top of discussion list = A350/C13. Whilst Dorset’s rurality is desired by visitors, roads must be suitable and currently, old roads need continual work. C class roads that are really B class – 2 large vehicles cannot pass and the roads are not up to the jobA303 bypass – traffic volume has increased hugely. Resurfacing/soundproofing panels perhaps an option to help alleviate noise problem immediatelySH will raise with Highways England Highways and devolution – Highways Act 1980, do Parish Councils (PCs) have authority in law to take on some of the jobs. Capped costs of services in rural areas. Most infrastructure is D&C classed and fall apart regularly. Number of roads currently classified C-class which may become B-class due to development and future usage. Unwillingness on part of Highways to look at where traffic really is going from and to, in the future, not just now and do something about this SH – liability is an interesting point and important one. It was advised that PCs should contact DCC Highways Officer who should advise accordingly – SH will write to DCC Highways Officer for a list of dos and don’ts for PCsHospitals/Westminster Memorial HospitalIssues raised over why North Dorset is being stripped of services such as hospitals Huge concerns over Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) proposals for Westminster Memorial Hospital in Shaftesbury and effects on palliative careSH: two meetings to date with CCG over these proposals – some inherent weaknesses, one being palliative care. CCG has priorities wrong re community hospitals. Linked to issues with transport, or lack of, narrow roads/lack of public transport/not everyone has access to a car, makes travel to hospital increasingly difficult. No direct transport links or buses that run in the evenings mean travel times are not realistic and difficulty getting to and from an appointment in one day. Need to put pressure on CCG to retain local hospitals. SH: for general, non-specified, health issues, it makes more sense to keep at Poole rather than Bournemouth. Service providers need to integrate thinking on this issueSH to hold meeting after Christmas to put forward joint submission of Town and Parish Councils to the CCG. BroadbandSH: top of agenda and working continually to put North Dorset on the mapBT unable to tell parishes when they can expect broadband coverage, but will not allow PCs to sort it out themselvesMobile phone coverage – better to have greater width of coverage before faster speed in areas that already have 4gSH: raised directly with Chancellor - money announced for ultra-fast in no way detracts from the service obligation of superfast broadband to all premises by 2020. Broadband is now an essential service - farming/business/banks. Top of Government’s agenda. Planning isn’t necessarily the problem – companies will not work together. Should be all major suppliers (not just Vodafone) Milton Abbas – lack of mobile signal = problem now for Eon Smart MetersSH – will write to Eon and find out corporate policy. Automatically a presumption that digital technology is everywhere Planning Bryanston asking for support with Blandford local plan – allocated three strategic sites, very dangerous road junction - asked for yellow lines at Dorchester Hill to alleviate problems, but now more cars coming in as another 80 houses built. Had a public consultation – issues for residents/children walking to school. Went to Planning Committee in summer 2016, but mis-led by public servant. Inspector said no development should commence before mitigation has been agreed by all parties. Bat report from Natural England/bats have been flagged up in Local Plan. Documents left with SH for informationSH: sometimes cumulative impact of multi-applications is not assessed. People become anti-planning when it affects their everyday livesSH will raise directly with Highways re traffic/cards/roads and will write to CEO of North Dorset District Council (NDDC) for observations and assurances that planning inspectors report and recommendations taken into account/caveats put in are abided byProposed development at Tesco, Blandford (400 houses) – impact on A350 will be colossal – potentially up to 600 more cars, by-pass should be the first thing consideredSH: when land is reserved for investment, that land is safeguarded. Will write to Dorset County Council (DCC) to check land has been reservedBuilding project just South of Gillingham, 1,800, traffic currently is ridiculous (B3192), also a flood area. Traffic needs to go up to the M4SH raised the issue of the Gillingham development with leader and CEO of NDDC. In Jan, all land interests are going to NDDC for a meeting to discuss flooding etc. Role of LEP in funding spur road (linking to A303). Weymouth/Yeovil/Gillingham triangle. Impact of hinterland villages MUST be taken into accountHazelbury Bryan – planning permission gone in for mast and objection already coming inSH: very aware of this issue Local Government ReformSH: clear direction of travel from public consultation (option 2b) to move to two unitary councils to save on money and still deliver services. Potential for reigniting of Town and Parish councils within this structure – charged with doing more than parish councils have been up to this pointSkills gap that PCs don’t have in comparison to higher tiers/central govSH: rural councils and MPs need to be aware of these issues. This is an argument for a rural and more urban unitary council system. Debate that needs to be had among TCs and PCs with new unitary (model of LG) i.e. marriage of equals Unitary proposals, do PCs need extra support with planning issues. Should some decisions be brought to a more local level rather than unitary? SH: Planning Act in local plans. Slightly cumbersome, but they are robust. Strategic overview needed (unitary). Good to encourage the reinvigorated PCs. LG ombudsman will need to cover PCs. Decisions at ‘senior’ level of Government, need to be aware of competence of lower tiersElectronic survey – loaded from the beginning and options could not be weighed equallySH: all opinion polls have questions that take you to a logical conclusion. Broader point, all but a handful argued for the status quo, something has to changeVillages surviving in the future – i.e. Parish MeetingsSH to raise with CEO of DCC Boundary ProposalsSH: five year contract. Boundary commission’s brief was to reduce number of MPs. Response to public consultation expected next May/June with proposals. Dorset warrants 7 and a half out of 8 in the new proposals, and with Wiltshire losing half, accounts for the cross-county seat. Cross-county very difficult for a MP. Tory party put in counter-proposals, but all are contingent. Needs to be voted in in both Houses (Commons and Lords). Private Members Bill (PMB) - Pat Glass MP - equal seats, but still 650 MPs. Idea of reducing cost of politics. Post-Brexit Britain where trading rules, environmental rules (things that come back to Westminster), MPs will have more to do than it has in years. A lot of support for boundary proposals has been withdrawn FundingInformation from DC re highways authority not having a budget sufficient. If precept raised for this, parishioners in essence paying twiceCAB letter re contributions to keep it open. Withdrawal of funding unacceptable - should have funding from Central GovernmentSH: made direct representations to CEO of NDDC, Leader and Finance Director. More than aware to concerns. Debt-related problems require the expertise of CAB. Extra money announced in Autumn Statement, pothole fund. Capping on Parish precepts. Central Government giving less, demand in adult social care is going up. If LGR goes well, this will generate vast amount of savings. LG is doing things it never should have been Highways, concern for PCs as may be asked to fund more and therefore will have to tax more. Need to ensure that residents are protected from thisSH: not to be Party political. Coalition Government came in and the note said ‘there’s no more money’. Part of the problem is that LG funding has never taken into account rural deprivation, delivery of services in rural area (all this more expensive than dense, urban areas). Fairer funding for schools group in Parliament. We want top class services at the lowest possible rate of tax = conundrum. Needs to be a debate. We are seeing a reduction in national taxation (i.e. corporate tax), so local tax may have to go up, allowing local services to be protected and delivered. DCC decided to pare down their statutory requirements as a model of deliveryThrough DAPTC, PCs should make representations on this – support is needed from all levels (including MPs)OtherHenstridge airfield - Permission sought to fly aircraft. Flights already taking place now. Aerobatics very noisy and not taking place solely over the airfield, but villages which should be quiet zone. Two emergency landings in the last yearSH: share the emotional reaction. Will write to South Somerset DC for clarification of airspace for aerobatics conditions ................
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