Agenda item

To receive any public questions.

Colin Arnott, Thorley, welcomed the fact that, despite paragraph 2.23 of the Leader’s report on the Bishop’s Stortford South Masterplan Framework concluding that it “provides a sound basis upon which to move forward to prepare the detailed application”, she is reported as saying “there is still a long way to go with these plans and the Steering Group will continue”.  If so, he asked the Leader if the Council to advise of the next Steering Group meeting date and whether the agenda will include consideration of the strategic traffic impact on the town and the phasing of development starting with 142 houses on Whittington Way recommended to the Council today, but not included in the Masterplan.  Also, he asked whether the Steering Group will be expanded to include Bishops Stortford Town Council, HCC and non-statutory stakeholders such as the Civic Federation and OTTRA (the only such stakeholders to give evidence to the District Plan hearings on Bishop’s Stortford South) as required by District Plan policies BISH5 and DES1.

In reply, the Leader reiterated that Council was being asked to consider a framework only and that there was still a long way to go in terms of adding the detail.  The steering group would continue to meet, although the date for the next meeting had yet to be scheduled.  Master planning was a policy within the District Plan and it was intended that such groups would be established for all of the strategic sites as they came forward.

The steering group had included representative councillors from town, district and county council as well as Thorley Parish Council, officers and the developers.  Other statutory and non-statutory stakeholders could also be invited to particular meetings to consider relevant topics.  There had been extensive discussions around traffic movement on site and off site, the siting of the school and the importance of having sustainable transport options in at the beginning. 

The Leader commented that Bishop’s Stortford South or BISH5 in the plan was a site for around 750 homes, some of which in the region of 142, were in the parish of Bishop’s Stortford, with the remainder in the parish of Thorley.  However, in terms of District Plan and development management policies it was one site, so there appeared to be a misunderstanding in the question about lines on a map.

In terms of traffic congestion, the Leader stated East Herts’ commitment to implementing the Hertfordshire County Council LPT4, which put pedestrians at the forefront.  It would be important to put in place options right from the beginning, so cycle ways had to work, pedestrians had to feel safe and getting to school must be easy.  She concluded by commenting that the County Council would have objected to the Plan if it felt traffic levels would be unacceptable, just as the Inspector did not find this an issue.

Mr Arnott confirmed that he had received an invitation to the next steering group meeting on2 August 2018. 

In reply to a supplementary question on the timing of the framework, the Leader reiterated the work still to be done and reminded Members that the Inspector had made it clear that the Council should take note of the developers’ aspirations on timescales and should not be an impediment to any planning applications.