December 2021 Notes Scothern NDP Group
Notes of the meeting of Scothern Neighbourhood Development Plan Group on Wednesday 15th December 2021 at Methodist Church, High Street, Scothern
Present: Cllr Robert Creaser, Cllr John Fotheringham, Jane Johnson, Melanie Tointon, Luke Brown (planning consultant)
Apologies: Cllr Cathie Nicol
The public drop in event on Saturday 11th December 2021 was well attended. Cathie has collated the responses and produced a spreadsheet for the meeting. These comments will inform the Housing Policy for the updated Scothern NDP.
Main points arising from the consultation
Housing mix –The majority stated that Scothern now had sufficient executive type houses and any new development should be predominantly 2/3 bedroomed homes. This is for young adults who wished to remain in the village once they had moved out of the family home and also for older residents who may wish to downsize. Bungalows were the most popular category of property wished for in the survey.
25% of new properties should be affordable homes as stated in Policy S2. Although some residents commented that this was not desirable, the majority were supportive of the policy. It was noted that on the recent developments most of the smaller homes were affordable properties and there were limited number of 2/3 bed properties to purchase on the open market. Residents commented that where some recently built smaller properties had come back onto the market they had been snapped up as buy to lets.
Play areas – The recent developments have not led to any increase in provision of play equipment. Any further developments would likely require either additional play equipment or a new play area.
Parking – There is a need for increased parking provision per property as it was noted that the new sites already have problems with parking. The number of vehicles per property exceeding what was originally envisaged. Note that garages no longer count towards parking provision
Environmental Issue – There was specific mention of the biomass boiler at the garden centre which causes problems with air quality on the adjacent housing estate. This would need to be a consideration if a further 54 properties were erected on the site.
Green issues – Residents were supportive of the need to incorporate green technologies into the housing policy. Solar panels, electric car charging points and the like should be part of the updated policies. It was queried whether our plan could be more stringent on this than government policy but this was not thought to be a problem. Fundamental building practices such as the orientation of the properties would also make for sustainable, low energy buildings.
Settlement break A discussion was held on the merits of putting a formal settlement break within the plan to protect the village boundary and prevent the ultimate merging of the villages of Nettleham and Scothern in particular, as this is where development seems to be growing from both villages. Given the level of recent development and the new sites on the draft Central Lincolnshire Local Plan it wasn’t felt that this would constitute an unfair block on development.
Next steps – Luke to revise the housing section of the SNDP incorporating our discussions and the feedback from the consultation event.
Next meeting to be held on Wednesday 19th January 2022 at 7.30pm at Methodist Church