DRAFT MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 26th July 2010

Present: Cllr M Smith (Chairman)

Councillors: Mrs B Powell, Mr G Preston, Mrs P Blackmore and Mr G Broom.

In Attendance: Brian Dufty & Peter Crawford (Wainhomes), Mark Chugg (Savills) 7.30 to 8.30pm, Cllr G Brown & Charlie McCullough (EDDC) 8.30 to 9.30pm and J Masters (FPC Clerk).

68. Apologies for absence: - Cllr P Privett and Cllr M Jolly

69. Declarations of Interest from Members and Officers: -
No declarations were made.

70. Presentation by Wainhomes: - Brian Dufty, Peter Crawford & Mark Chugg

The Chairman welcomed the representatives of Wainhomes Ltd to the meeting and outlined the Parish Councils view on any further development within Feniton which is that no further development should take place within the Parish as per the Parish Plan which is in accordance to the wishes of 70% of Feniton, over the past 10 years parts of the village have suffered repeated flooding and no proposed development should add to these problems.

Mr Crawford said that the railway station is the key to the proposed development which they see being 4 - 5 years in development with a lead time of 12-18 months. At the moment surface water run off from the proposed site has added to the flooding problems of the village, the developers propose to capture this water and let it into soakaways, any surplus would be held in a lagoon and released slowly.

Mr Dufty said the scheme is based on various reports i.e. ACD carried out an Ecology study, they are talking to South West Water (SWW) and the Environment Agency (EA) and other bodies, road improvements would be carried out and there would be no more than 150 houses on the site. The Chairman asked about ‘low cost starter homes’, the reply was about 40 - 50% would be low cost starter homes and will be reserved for local people. The level of affordable housing for rural parishes is under review.

The developers are advised that the continuing delays mean that Cranbrook may not go ahead for some time; therefore building is likely to take place in the villages of East Devon. Asked if they had any plans to build bungalows the answer was no; bungalows are not an efficient use of land under the rules of PPS3 and meeting the required densities but the rules are changing under the new government. Wainhomes would not rule out building bungalows if the planners accept lower densities. There maybe some 2½ story properties which would be apartments, these would be located near the centre of the development so as not to overlook any existing property. When asked how long they had been looking at the area the reply was 18 months, the developers would like to hold a public exhibition in the autumn to present proposals to the village and take comments and views of the locals, the Chairman asked how they think the scheme would enhance the village because other developments in the past 15 years had done nothing for the village. The developers will offer low cost properties within the village, villagers will have first choice on houses in the development, any new drainage they put in will have to have an extra 30% capability, there will be additional public open space, local trades, businesses and employment will benefit from the development thereby putting money into the local economy. Under Section 106 financial contributions will be required. Such contributions are for Education, transport/highways and community facilities. The Chairman said that the Youth Centre was badly in need of a road entrance to meet future fire regulations, if it was developed and added too, it could provide a local doctors surgery, it was agreed that this could be considered. It was also suggested that the village would benefit from more allotments, tennis courts and a footpath to Old Feniton to create a link between the two parts of the village it was agreed that these could also be considered.

The Chairman thanked Messrs Crawford, Dufty and Chugg for coming to the meeting and imparting the information to the Parish Council, they then left the meeting at 20.30hrs.

71. Cllr G Brown (EDDC) & Charlie McCullough (Senior Planning Officer EDDC) joined the meeting at 20.30hrs
The Chairman welcomed Cllr Brown and Mr McCullough to the meeting and outlined the Wainhomes proposed development as presented in the previous hour.

Cllr Brown said that he is on the Growth Committee, no work will start on Cranbrook this year, £12.8m is needed for J29 improvements on the M5, the £16m needed this year to start the initial build at Cranbrook has been put back till next year, Cllr Brown went on to say that EDDC needed to find the initial £40k for the first stage of the Feniton flood scheme, if this is successful then the £40k would be refunded by the EA, the idea of this is to make sure the proposal put forward is a sensible one, Cllr Brown is confident of finding the money within the next two weeks, if successful the further £160k will then follow and once that proposal is accepted then the final £1.060m will be released. Mr McCullough added that the EA, SWW and Highways were working together to see the new drainage scheme through, he went on to say that currently EDDC would not support a building development on the scale that is being proposed by Wainhomes and any future development within Feniton should not make the current problems worse, at the moment the development is contrary to policy. The developers will have to demonstrate that any new development would not make the problems worse.

72. Date of next full Parish Council meeting, 7.30pm Monday 13th September 2010

There being no further business the meeting closed at 21.35hrs

Last Updated 18th January 2012