Minutes of the Meeting of Darnall Area Panel held on 30th March 2006


DARNALL AREA PANEL

Meeting held on the 30th March, 2006, Living Waters Centre, Main Road, Darnall

PRESENT:		Councillors Mary Lea (Chair) and Harry Harpham

		Officers in attendance:-
		David Curtis	-	Lead Manager
		Debbie Merrill	-	Development Services
		Kate Clark	-	Darnall Green Spaces
		David Budd	-	Transport Planning Team
		Stella Mekonnen	-	Area Co-ordinator
		Sarah Thomson	-	Committee Secretariat

		6 members of the public and representatives from local community groups attended the meeting.

…………………..

1.	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE FROM PANEL MEMBERS
	An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mick Rooney.

2.	MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
	The minutes of the meetings of the Panel held on the 23rd February, 2006 were approved as a correct record.

3.	SHEFFIELD DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
	Debbie Merrill gave a presentation on the latest developments in terms of the Sheffield Development Framework (SDF), which comprised of the Core Strategy and Emerging Options documents, together with information and advice on how the public could access and read the documents and become involved in the overall process.
	Ms Merrill reported that the SDF would comprise of a portfolio of a number of different documents, developed over a period of time, and would, in two years’ time, replace the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) as Sheffield's statutory development plan, and provide a plan for Sheffield for the period up to 2021. The SDF would be a plan for the long-term development of the City, and deal with land use, the design, density and distribution of development, the environment and resources and the development aspects of transport.
	As part of the family of documents, Planning Officers were preparing a Core Strategy with a vision and spatial policies for how they wanted Sheffield to develop, a City Policies document with detailed regulatory policies in it for controlling development and achieving good and sustainable design, a City Sites document with proposals for specific sites and a Proposals Map for the whole City, showing policy areas covering the City, the green belt boundary and other features. Other documents produced as part of the SDF included a Statement of Community Involvement, an Annual Monitoring Report and the Local Development Scheme, setting out the SDF timetable.
	Ms Merrill reported in detail on the Core Strategy, which was the first document in the SDF family and the one to which every other planning document would need to conform to. The Core Strategy contained the SDF's aims and objectives, spatial vision and high-level policies, and reference was made to these three aspects in detail, and specifically how they would impact on the Panel's area.
	Ms Merrill then referred to the Emerging Options, which comprised a number of early ideas and possible options for the City Policies and City Sites documents and the Proposals Map, which would be reported back to the Area Panel in January, 2007, as preferred options, having been approved by the City Council. Reference was made to the proposals with regard to the City Policies in the Panel's area.
	The City Sites document had details of around 300 development sites in the City and eventually, officers would have to decide whether to safeguard some of these sites for particular land uses, such as new housing, business parks, new schools or park and ride sites. Ms Merrill stressed that the Emerging Options for the City Policies and City Sites documents and the Proposals Map were being reported to the public for their consideration and for Planning Officers to test whether they were appropriate. They were not Council policy, therefore could not be taken into account by the Council, when deciding to grant or refuse planning permission.
	Ms Merrill provided advice on how local residents and community groups could access the various documents, indicating that they were all published on the Council's website, with details of the appropriate links set out in the newsletter attached to the agenda for this meeting. The documents were all also available in library branches across the City and the three City Council First Point locations at Howden House, Chapeltown and Hillsborough. She concluded by reporting on the next stages as part of the SDF process, indicating that any interested parties should register with the Council as a contact and that this would guarantee them being consulted on the future stages of all the SDF documents. An SDF City Conference had been held on Wednesday, 15th March, 2006, at Ponds Forge and interested parties would be able to comment on the documents by using a downloadable comment form on the Council's website or by writing to the Council. The deadline for comments was 10th April, 2006. In November/December, 2006, officers would again be reporting to the Area Panel with the submission version of the Core Strategy which was the version which would get submitted to the Government, and would be examined by an independent inspector before being adopted by the City Council. In January, 2007, officers would be attending the Area Panel to consult on the Preferred Options for the City Policies, City Sites and Proposals Map.
	Councillor Harry Harpham enquired as to whether the preferred options included proposals to extend the amount of Green Belt in the City. In response Ms Merrill stated that the emerging policies had examined the Green Belt boundary across the City. Overall it was proposed to add to the amount of Green Belt land, including some areas in the City where residents have been campaigning for additional sites to be protected in their area.
	The Chair thanked Debbie Merrill for her contribution to the meeting.

4.	PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
	The following questions were raised by members of the public and responses were provided as follows:-
	A local resident enquired as to what progress had been made with the Staniforth Road Scheme and in response David Curtis stated that Street Force had prepared the site. Mr Curtis reported that funding for the scheme had been pre-committed therefore and the whole scheme would be completed en-bloc.
	In response to residents concerns regarding the mud which had been dispersed on Finchwell Road from the heavy goods vehicles attending the building site, Mr Curtis stated that he would request that a Highways Inspector examine the site as there should be a wheel wash on site to remove mud from the heavy goods vehicles before they return to the highway. The Chair suggested that the matter be forwarded to the Planning office in order for officers to offer to meet with residents who may wish to form a liaison group and meet with Barratt Homes on a regular basis to discuss and resolve any problems identified.
	A local resident expressed concerns with regard to St Josephs Road and the imminent planning application for approximately 55 flats, which she anticipated, would increase traffic flow on St Josephs Road. She also commented on the proposal for one entrance/exit from the development, which was also an area of concern. The questioner stated that Handsworth St Josephs Catholic Infant and Junior School had despatched a road traffic survey to parents in order to gauge their views on traffic flow in the area. Councillor Harry Harpham suggested that the questioner write to the City Centre, South and East Planning and Highways Area Board expressing their concerns.
	A representative from Darnall Community Health reported that the NHS were experiencing financial difficulties and he believed that they were required to make substantial budget cuts of approximately £250,000. He also commented that there were proposals to merge the three GP Surgeries in Darnall to one practice. The representative from Darnall Community Health suggested that members of the public should be consulted on the proposed changes and enquired as to whether the Area Panel could invite a representative from the South East Primary Care Trust (SEPCT) to a future meeting. In response the Chair requested that the Area Co-ordinator write to Helen Fentiman, Chief Executive, SEPCT inviting a representative to attend the Panel meeting scheduled to take place on the 25th May, 2006, to provide members of the public with details of the future proposals.

5.	DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
	It was noted that the next meeting of the Panel would be held on Thursday, 25th May, 2006, at 6.00 p.m., at a venue to be confirmed.

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