A Neighbourhood Plan for Marple

[admin]

@Michael Taylor, who chaired the recent neighbourhood plan meetings, has posted an interesting blog on the subject:

http://themarpleleaf.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/the-second-marple-spring-high-hopes-for.html

[admin]

The exhibition has certainly been busy:



And a good turnout for the public meeting yesterday too:

[wheels]

Well I too have been to the exhibition and I can't fault the enthusiasm and commitment from the lady I was speaking to, but I  concerned about the lack of accountability of the process and of those involved. 

That said people taking ownership and responsibility for their community seems to me to be a good thing so long as the final decision making lays with the local authority.

[Hoffnung]

I too didn't go to the meeting .

The reason that there was no negativity at that meeting was because they all support the plan and the reason they support it is because as Simone points out the audience was made up of either councillors, political candidates or MCS members.

I am sure that thousands will visit the exhibition and sign whatever is pushed in front of them to sign.

I agree with most that has been said about it on this site but for me there are two salient points.

1/ Any plan is better than no plan.

2/ This plan is not enshrined in legislation and as such the Council will ignore it at will.     

[Condate]

I didn't make any comment on numbers or turn-out, which is what I think you mean by "response". I said it was a good response to the presentation. In other words, the people who were there responded positively to the presentation, not negatively. The numbers were pretty good for an AC Meeting and they seem to be getting plenty of people in to the exhibition too.

Expecting a large proportion of the electorate to turn up is totally unrealistic. It's a bit like volunteering, we get around 12 to 16 volunteers on a good task day in the park but that's not many out of a pool of 20,000 is it?

I didn't go to the meeting last night, as it wasn't practical to do so at that time. I did go to the exhibition in the library on Tueday evening. That's probably typical. I lot more people are interested than went last night. From what I saw and heard at the exhibition, the neighbourhood plan is better than nothing, but it doesn't let us decide how much housing we get. The plan would just let us say where it went. If the council decided to put all housing for the whole borough in Marple, the neighbourhood plan could not prevent it. As I say, better than nothing, but real control would be much better; not that that will ever happen, as councils and government are very fond of their ability to ignore local opinion.
 

[simonesaffron]

Fair comment.

[admin]

Looking at Arthur's pictures, I've not counted them but there appears to be about 30 people there. Six of them are our local councillors, one of them is MCS chair, another one of them is her husband and two others are MCS committee members. All of these you would expect to be there.  That leaves 20 and some of them(IF NOT ALL OF THEM) will be members of MCS. At the last election there were 19,965 members of the electorate. Where are any of them?

I'd call that an awful response, in fact it is an abysmal response to the whole idea which appears to have no support whatsoever from within the Marple community.

I didn't make any comment on numbers or turn-out, which is what I think you mean by "response". I said it was a good response to the presentation. In other words, the people who were there responded positively to the presentation, not negatively. The numbers were pretty good for an AC Meeting and they seem to be getting plenty of people in to the exhibition too.

Expecting a large proportion of the electorate to turn up is totally unrealistic. It's a bit like volunteering, we get around 12 to 16 volunteers on a good task day in the park but that's not many out of a pool of 20,000 is it?

[simonesaffron]

There was a good response to the Civic Society's presentation last night, no significant negativity at all. here are some photos by Arthur.

Looking at Arthur's pictures, I've not counted them but there appears to be about 30 people there. Six of them are our local councillors, one of them is MCS chair, another one of them is her husband and two others are MCS committee members. All of these you would expect to be there.  That leaves 20 and some of them(IF NOT ALL OF THEM) will be members of MCS. At the last election there were 19,965 members of the electorate. Where are any of them?

I'd call that an awful response, in fact it is an abysmal response  to the whole idea which appears to have no support whatsoever from within the Marple community.

[admin]

There was a good response to the Civic Society's presentation last night, no significant negativity at all. here are some photos by Arthur.

There's a stakeholder meeting tonight at 7pm and the exhibition is on until Saturday.

Go and have a look and make your own mind up!

[amazon]

I think that they don't want to see anymore development in Marple. Why else would they reject a brownfield development site. Marple Civic Society are trying to impose their vision through this neighbourhood plan and the councillors appear to be broadly in favour based on previous quotes.

This isn't some sleepy Cotswold village that needs protecting. There is a housing crisis at the moment, young people are unable to get on the housing ladder. Some sensible development is necessary in my opinion.

Any0ne know whats hapened to the compstall mill site heard a good  while back it was ready for aproval.

[hatter76]

No Hatter it will not become 'policy' this is a misleading assertion made by MCS. If this neighbourhood plan is accepted then it will have to be given 'consideration' when taking planning applications into account.

Being given consideration is an entirely different situation than becoming policy.    We don't know what its impact on low rise development will be, because at this precise moment we haven't seen any plan.

Thanks for your clarification Simonesaffron.

[simonesaffron]

According to post 1 the point of this neighbourhood plan is that the Council will have to take note of it if any planning application is made. This is why they are going to the trouble of setting up a community panel and consultation process. If it is approved it will become official policy.

Serious question, what will the scope of this plan be? Will it restrict low level developments like new garages and conservatories?

No Hatter it will not become 'policy' this is a misleading assertion made by MCS. If this neighbourhood plan is accepted then it will have to be given 'consideration' when taking planning applications into account.

Being given consideration is an entirely different situation than becoming policy.    We don't know what its impact on low rise development will be, because at this precise moment we haven't seen any plan.

[hatter76]

Credibility of the Civic Society?

Come on Dave! What credibility?

I do agree with your last point. It's just as well the council ignores them.

According to post 1 the point of this neighbourhood plan is that the Council will have to take note of it if any planning application is made. This is why they are going to the trouble of setting up a community panel and consultation process. If it is approved it will become official policy.

Serious question, what will the scope of this plan be? Will it restrict low level developments like new garages and conservatories?

[Harry]

It is this sort of mindless knee-jerk opposition which so damages the credibility of the Civic Society.  It's just as well the council ignores them!

Credibility of the Civic Society?

Come on Dave! What credibility?

I do agree with your last point. It's just as well the council ignores them.

[Dave]

[MCS] have recommended rejecting planning permission for a development on the old Dale School site as it is for housing and not educational purposes?? What on earth are they thinking could be built there instead? The battle for keeping the Dale school open was lost a long time ago, any development there now is only ever going to be houses. 

Some of us will recall the houses that have recently been built along the canal bank near the Ring O Bells. MCS objected to these. The Councillors just ignored their objections as they politely brushed them aside.

It is this sort of mindless knee-jerk opposition which so damages the credibility of the Civic Society.  It's just as well the council ignores them!