AGM minutes 10.09.19

Call to order

The 2019 AGM of Hoylake Vision Community Planning Forum was held at The Old Town Hall, Hoylake on 10.09.19.

Attendees

Attendees: Mark Howard (MH)(Chair), Alex Woods (AW), Nigel Blacow (NB); about 40 forum members and members of the public

Members not in attendance

Jon Morgan (JM), Michael Coates (MC); Julian Priest (JP)

Approval of minutes

Minutes of the previous meeting had been approved by the management group.

Meeting Report

• Introduction
  The Chair (MH) welcomed everyone to the meeting and set out a basic agenda:
  • Welcome from the Chair and review of the year and priorities for 2019-2020 Mark Howard
  • Election of Management Group
  • Membership update Nigel Blacow
  • Update on Elderly Care provision assessment Alex Woods
  • Broadening Engagement Michael Coates
  • Update on Planning Applications Jon Morgan
  • Identifying & Mapping Assets of Community Value Nigel Blacow
  • Open floor (30 minutes)
• Review of the year 2018-2019:
  1. The forum had been redesignated for five years from August 2018
  2. The forum published a simple guide “What is the Hoylake NDP?”
  3. Nine management group meetings had been held at which the following were discussed and actioned:
     • Response to WMBC re. car parking charges
     • Brief for Liverpool University on Beach and promenade research project
     • Responses to key planning applications:
       • Hoylake Beacon scheme
       • Alderley Road Presbyterian Church scheme
     • Submitted evidence of need for electric car charging points to WMBC
     • Identified priorities for consultation re. funding application from Locality
     • Appointment of planning adviser Philip Barton for next NDP iteration
  4. Four public meetings had been held:
     • Meeting to consult on creation of a list of Assets of Community Value
     • Hoylake Live! event
     • Christmas Cracker event
     • Open public meeting in The Ship Inn
•  Priorities for 2019-2020
  1. Funding from Locality to be secured
  2. Submit Assets of Community Value list
  3. Apply for extension of NDP boundary to include the foreshore
  4. Continue to monitor key planning applications and developments:
     • Blue Anchor site / Co-op relocation
     • Golf Resort
     • Proactive support of applications that the NDP supports
  5. Continue consultation for NDP updating
  6. Renew NDP for 2020-2025
     • Due to delays in WMBC publishing the Local Plan we prefer to renew the NDP without and substantive changes
• Election of Management group
  All members of the management group were duly re-elected. New member Jon Morgan was formally elected to the management group.
• Membership update:
  Nigel Blacow explained that:
  
  1. Members must live, work or own a business within the NDP boundary
  2. Members can influence the way Hoylake develops, via the NDP and associated consultations, expressing their opinions and ideas on the website or completing surveys/questionnaires
  3. It’s a unique opportunity for residents and businesses to manage how/if Hoylake changes and when, under the legal authority of the NDP
  4. More members = greater legitimacy and influence with WMBC and ward councillors
  5. As a community forum we can work together to make Hoylake a better place to live and work
  6. Membership at last AGM: 53
  7. Membership today: 84
  8. Need new management group member applications, especially from women
  9. Focus areas are:
     • Activity on the promenade and foreshore
     • Built heritage
     • Carr Lane area
     • Children and young people
     • Disability and access
     • Elderly care
     • Evening and night time economy
     • Natural environment
     • Shopfront design guide
     • Town square
     • YOUR PRIORITIES!

• Elderly Care provision
  Alex Woods explained that:
  1. Anecdotal evidence does not match actual data
  2. A greater focus on local provision for local people is needed
  3. Evidence of need, eg Respite Care?
  4. Coastal towns are attractive to care home developers because of affordable large houses and plots, but their  contribution to local economy is minimal
  5. Striking the right balance, there is previous evidence of planning consent being given in the absence of a strong local evidence base
  6. Vision need help and support in gathering that evidence base to support NDP objectives, priorities and policies: can you help?
• Update on planning applications
  In Jon Morgan’s unexpected absence, MH gave a limited update on extant planning applications:
  • Blue Anchor / Co-op site: Implications for potential Town Square redevelopment project if unit difficult to occupy. Rumours of existing unit becoming a distribution centre to be further investigated; would likely be challenged by the forum.
• Assets of Community value
  Following an earlier public meeting, Hoylake Vision management group had been asked to produce a list of ACVs by the forum.NB explained the work that had subsequently been done and offered a review of what AV listing is and how it works. An ACV allows a community to:
  1. Nominate places and spaces in your community that are important to local people as Assets of Community Value and if they come up for sale, your community has the opportunity to bid for them.
  2. Nominate libraries, community centres, pubs, shops or green spaces that are of value to your community, by registering them as Assets of Community Value with your local authority.
  3. You can then use the Community Right to Bid if this asset ever comes up for sale – the community can have up to six months to raise the funds to bid for it. At the end of the period, the owner may sell it to whoever and at whatever price they choose.
  4. Assets of Community Value (ACVs) can only be nominated if they are of interest socially (such as for sport, culture or recreational uses) or increase the wellbeing of the community now and into the future.
  5. A community group (such as a society, parish council, neighbourhood forum, not for profit organisation or a group of at least 21 individuals) that is locally connected to the area can nominate an asset to the local authority. A list will be published on this website shortly.
• Open floor discussion
  • It was suggested that there exists a “conflict of interest” with members of the management group, including the Chair, being involved with other community groups and projects in Hoylake, such as the Beacon scheme, and that the forum and NDP was ineffective and not needed. Jackie Hall and Lorraine McKinley considered their Melrose Hall network to be the only community group needed to address community concerns, with over 40 organisations under their umbrella. The Chair delivered a firm rejection of these criticisms, explaining that membership of the forum does not confer any decision making powers in planning applications, and that the role of the management group is to oversee the smooth running of the forum, to build and develop membership, and to monitor and renew the NDP in consultation with the community as appropriate. A public referendum in 2016 had seen 86 per cent of those voting in favour of the NDP. Further, it is entirely right that members of the management group and the wider forum can be members of other community groups, be involved with other projects, and to do business in the town. Anything else would be entirely unconstitutional. The matter had been raised at an earlier meeting and dealt with then and the statement from that meeting was re-read. The full text of this statement can be read here. This was the final word on the matter and no further comment will be made by the management group of Hoylake Vision.
  • It was suggested that the forum did not look in enough detail at planning applicatons and that it had ‘not been helpful’ over one  previous planning application at Grosvenor Road. In fact the forum had tried to support objectors by putting in a representation against that scheme on the basis of partially relevant NDP objectives and priorities, although it had been explained at the time that there were no policies that could have been cited. The forum can only object to a planning application on the basis of non compliance with Objectives, Priorities and Policies in the NDP.
  • It was suggested that the Beacon scheme will cause parking issues for local residents. It was explained that WMBC had approved the planning application and that any parking issues would need to be dealt with by WMBC if they arose. There are 278 car parking spaces within two minutes walk of the scheme, which will be used mostly in evenings and at weekends.
  • The chair urged the meeting should move ahead on a more positive note and commended the work of the volunteer management group over the last year, appealing for more members, especially from women who ay wish to serve on the management group.
  • In response, two members of the audience offered to join the management group.

Announcements

None.

Date of next meeting 8 October 2019