Meeting - July 2014

This was a single-issue meeting focusing on future planning for a better Falmouth and Penryn, specifically the possible production of a Neighbourhood Plan. The discussion was led by Mike Jenks based on a previous presentation that he had produced with Chris Smith.

A copy of Mike's talk (without the pictures) is attached as a separate posting.

Recent changes in planning legislation were designed to make development easier but, coupled with financial constraints in Town Halls which were making planning authorities reluctant to stand up to developers because of the costs of appeals, the pendulum had perhaps swung too far. In some parts of the country developers are going to design review to get an assessment of their proposals as a weapon to get the schemes through.

An obvious solution was to have a Neighbourhood Plan. This would allow local input which would define development criteria, ensuring that any development was sustainable, provided an acceptable level of affordable housing and the necessary additional infrastructure such as schools, shops and other amenities (things which did not appear to be of concern under the new planning legislation) rather than simply sprawl. Much of the underlying work had been done in the Community Plan which needed updating but was still seen as a reliable piece of work.

There would be an added benefit in having a Neighbourhood Plan: it would underpin the Article 4 direction as the Town Council's objective was to ensure that Falmouth remained a diverse town with a mix of industry and learning, not just a university town.

The difficulty was that developing a Neighbourhood Plan would be costly (ca £20k in direct costs) and time-consuming. Falmouth Town Council did not have the money readily available and was reluctant to pay for work covering other towns and parishes.

One quick solution would be to adopt a definition of sustainable development (a phrase used in current planning legislation). This would act as a mirror against which proposals could be judged, helping to weed out or delay the less acceptable ones while a Neighbourhood Plan was developed.

Falmouth Town Council would consider an interim definition of sustainable development and would be looking at its budgets to see if it could part-fund the necessary work on a Neighbourhood Plan.

Attending the meeting which was held on the 9th were:
Andy Coote (chairman) - Falmouth Business Club
Candy Atherton - Falmouth Town Council and Cornwall Council
Caroline Robinson - Federation of Small Businesses
David Yelland - Falmouth Bay Residents Association
Gary Tranter - Falmouth Harbour Commissioners
Jonathan Griffin - National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Lorely Lloyd - Transition Falmouth and the Fal Energy Partnership
Mark Williams - Falmouth Town Council
Mike Jenks - Civic Society
Sally Stiles - Age Concern Befrienders
Shaun Davie - Falmouth Hotels Association
M J Long - Independent