To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-
The deadline for the submission of public questions is Wednesday 5 February 2020.
The deadline for the submission of a statement is 12.00 noon, Tuesday 11 February 2020.
The deadline for the submission of a petition is 12.00 noon, Tuesday 11 February 2020.
Minutes:
The Leader reported that two questions had been received and 3 statements.
Further to this the Leader advised that unfortunately one of the questionners was unable to attend the meeting and that she would be provided with a written response to her question.
Question from Conor O’Luby
The Cabinet has made numerous public statements regarding the destructive nature of Phase 2 of the A338-Wessex Fields Link proposals. Given the fact that the Council has the power to strike Phase 2 out of the planning application, will the Cabinet commit to doing so?
Response by the Leader of the Council
Thank you for your question about Phase Two of the Wessex Fields infrastructure. This was first requested at the consultation event last month by another member of the Holdenhurst community and I have received a number of emails making the same request.
I have huge sympathy for the position of people living in Holdenhurst who feel that without positive action this project could come forward in the future, as the planning consent was submitted and approved in a single application. I recognise that you have accepted our assurance but that your concerns rest with a future council taking a different political direction.
It is possible for the Local Planning Authority to revoke part of the planning consent but it is a lengthy and costly process and would be subject to public consultation. There remain many individuals and groups who believe that the building of the flyover should go ahead and so it is inevitable that objections would be made.
I have been advised that objections to the scheme would then instigate referral to the Secretary of State, and I do not consider there is sufficient benefit to the community to take these steps incurring additional work and costs for officers at a time when we need to create a new local plan, speed up the planning process and deal more robustly with cases of planning enforcement. I can offer my assurance and other portfolio holders that we have no intention of building out the second phase of the Wessex Fields infrastructure.
Statement from Conor O’Luby
The Winter Gardens development: large numbers of trees destroyed; entirely car dominated; not a single affordable, let alone council, home; culturally destructive as evidenced by Historic England's objection; sky-high carbon emissions due to associated cement production. Is this what the Council had in mind for Bournemouth when it declared a Climate Change Emergency?
Statement from Annette Brooke, Member of the Steering Group of Dorset Equality Group
1. DEG welcomes BCP taking a unified approach to CIL across the three previous separate councils.
2. We broadly support Option 2 which provides opportunities for bids to be submitted to the ‘central pot’ from community groups in wards with deprivation and needs but perhaps without the level of development experienced in more advantaged wards.
3. However, we do feel it is important that all the processes of allocating CIL accord with fundamental principles of fairness, openness, transparency, accessibility, good community engagement, and strong evidence of community ownership of any proposed project.
4. Selected projects should be financially sustainable, meet the highest environmental standards and equality principles should be applied.
Statement from Susan Chapman
Unfortunately the Community (item 15) is not yet motivated, educated and incentivised to decarbonise in time to guarantee harvests, productive soils, safe shelter or freedom from climate wars, migrations or civilisation's collapse. The overwhelming concerns of our YouthStrike4Climate activists meeting this Friday, Valentine’s Day, as they beg for a safe future.
Blue carbon problems are adding to nightmare global overheating threats as Future Earth warn that environmental crises could tip the planet into "global systemic collapse". Clearly a safeguarding failure. Evidently the many £billions funding normalised extinction behaviour lifestyles and fossil energy use needs robustly challenging by BCP council.