Steering Group Meeting – Goodrich Village Hall June 27th 2018 – Meeting Notes

Members of SG Present: Lawrie Lowe /Ken Gort /Phil Dryden / Robin Hulse/ Ian Corker

Apologies : Janet Sheldon could not attend but informed the meeting by e-mail that she would support the two agenda items requiring a vote.

Two members of the public were in attendance

1 Previous MinutesThe minutes of the previous meeting was approved.

2 Responses to the regulation 14 Representations

1. These had been previously circulated and were considered line by line along with the resultant changes that had been made to the report in response to them.

2. Ten representations had been made by the public. Five of these concerned one housing issue and the matter of the land near St Giles Church. On none of these issues were any amendments made to the policies in the plan – but see 3.1 below.

3. Responses were received from all significant Statutory consultees, the NHS being the exception. None required anything bar minor wording changes changes to the NDP document and it is noted that no problems with the preferred sites for development were identified by Welsh Water, Historic England, the Wye Valley AONB or Highways England.

4. The representations from Herefordshire Council were considered in detail, leaving that on GWB 15 to the end. Several detailed changes of a ‘technical nature’ had been recommended and made, to bring the language of the plan into conformity with Herefordshire’s own planning documents. Some sections had been subject to minor amendment to stress the needs of cyclists and ‘the encouragement of sustainable transport’.

5. A series of issues had been raised on the location of the proposed housing sites which are all in the location of the A40 trunk road. All these had been cleared in subsequent discussions with the exception of the issue of traffic noise. Meetings had been held on site with the responsible Environmental Officer and a record of this meeting is attached to these minutes

6. The detailed discussion of all these issues and particularly the issue of noise was given in a separate Appendix. The conclusion was that the NDP should not be altered and that there was evidence that noise issue was being overcome at many other local sites which were similarly situated.

7. All present were invited to vote on the Response Document and actions taken, none present having any beneficial interests to declare.

8. All 5 Steering Group members present voted in favour and Janet Sheldon’s vote in favour was also noted.

3 The NDP Document

1. The previously circulated copy was put forward for approval for presentation to the Goodrich and Welsh Bicknor Parish Council at their July meeting. To ease the identification of amendments since the Reg 14 document produced in January, changes were noted in red type, with the exception of GWB 15 which had been rewritten to clearly address issues raised. One change of wording from the circulated copy was noted, concerning Local Green Spaces (GWB13) where the planning consultant’s recommended wording (see Response document) has been used to give clarity to the report

2. The overall plan was reviewed with emphasis on the housing section. There was agreement that the proposals, which give the potential for meeting a higher level of housing than the minimum target were appropriate. This was based on site availabilities, the use of brownfield sites and the type of housing that the Steering Group was being asked by the Community to deliver. The sites included in the plan were those that came highest in the site evaluation process. They were also, under further review in the Reg 14 process considered to be the only sites that had the potential deliver the lower-cost-housing that the community requested in the consultation process. The higher figure also allowed for the possibility of non-delivery of some planning permissions that had already been granted.

3. All present were invited to vote to approve the presented version of the Plan for passing to the Parish Council for approval, none present having any beneficial interests to declare.

4. All 5 Steering Group members present voted in favour and Janet Sheldon’s vote in favour was also noted.

Name SignatureName Signature

LL 28/06/2018

Meeting with the Environmental Health Officer to consider issues around the Nutshell Caravan Park and the adjacent ’Island’ site. Monday 11th June,

PresentMr W Bloxsome Goodrich NDP Planning ConsultantMr Aris Trezins Environmental Health Officer, Herefordshire Council Mr K Gort, Mr R Hulse, Ms J Shelton and Mr L Lowe Goodrich NDP Steering Group

1. The issue of concern was the level of noise at these sites and whether this should prevent the sites being considered for development in the Goodrich NDP. The visit was recommended in the Herefordshire Planning response to the NJDP Reg 14 Statutory Consultation.

2. The Nutshell site was visited first. Aris Trezins expressed concern about the noise levels and whether there would be a practical way of mitigating them.The large site allowed scope for placement of houses so that their ‘backs’ were to the road, the houses themselves being a barrier to the traffic on addition to any other work done.While agreeing that triple glazing, noise insulation and having main living rooms on the side not facing the road could make a considerable difference, he stated that current practice, if not policy , was to allow windows to open – which would reduce the effectiveness sound reduction measures of this sort.

3. The Island site was then visited and it was agreed that the road noise level was significantly less on this site but Aris Trevins stated that he would be unable to make any definitive statement on noise levels without carrying out a proper survey.

4. Aris Trezins also expressed similar concerns about the third Goodrich site at Bivia Meadow, located a similar distance from the A40, opposite the sites. It is noted that this site already has planning permission.

5. Scale maps of the sites and those sites which had been granted planning permission in Whitchurch were then considered, showing their relation to the A40. ( on two of the Whitchurch sites development has been completed).It was noted that all the Whitchurch sites were closer to the A40 than the Goodrich sites and had similar noise issues.

6. Aris Trezins stated that in many cases the noise issue would be considered by the Planners in conjunction with other issues as well as the options available for mitigating the noise itself. These issues could include the issues of land availability and the sort of housing that was proposed. Planners can and do override EH concerns when the need for the type of houses proposed e.g. affordable, is balanced against the ability of available sites equipped to deliver such housing.

Attached Maps of the sites and an extract from the Delegated Decision report for the 2014 approving the Fire station housing case in Whitchurch LL 13/06/2018

The Two Goodrich Sites

DELEGATED DECISION REPORT APPLICATION NUMBER P142183/FLand adjacent to Whitchurch Fire Station, Whitchurch, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 6DA

ExtractThe dwellinghouses proposed are genuinely modest in scale being two bedroomed single storey bungalows with a gross floorspace of 97.52 square metres (excluding attached single garage / car port).The design of the bungalows is considered to be entirely acceptable and of a high standard.

Personally I find the design of the existing two storey houses on-site to be rather unfortunate. However, these smaller units are more appropriate being single storey and have the added benefits of:-

a) Creating a more unified “courtyard”; andb) Providing an acoustic barrier to the existing development (road traffic

noise was not addressed in relation to the previous permission on the site).

In fact the road traffic noise issue has been very well addressed in this scheme with a 2 metre high acoustic fence proposed along the north-western boundary with The Old Police House.

The bungalows have no main habitable room windows facing the noise source and their gardens are their front (in the acoustic shadow of the buildings).

The bungalows only have high level non-main habitable room windows facing The Old Police House ……