Wednesday 23rd March 2022 at 6.00 pm at Lonsdale Community Centre
Forum Members Apologies
- Sue Alvis Sabastian Glazer (Vulcan Learning Centre)
- George Baynes Andy Lee
- Dave Coates – Chair Fiona Lee
- Pat Davies Lily Moughton
- Caroline Gore-Booth Theresa Vaughn
- Martin Newman
- Liz Shepherd
In Attendance
- Paul Taylor – (Carnegie Heritage Centre)
- Darren Squires – (Creative Projects)
- Phil Mawer – Resident
Welcome & Apologies
Dave welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies were received from Sabastian Glazer from Vulcan Learning and Andy Lee, Fiona Lee, Lily Moughton and Theresa Vaughn all forum members.
Chairs Report & Background Information
Dave reported that this is the first meeting of the forum since the pandemic and briefly outlined the history of the plan and the preceding stages we have attained.
Prior to the pandemic the plan was submitted to a six-week pre-submission public consultation from September 2019 and we wrote to a standard list of organisations that may have an interest in the plan requesting comments and feedback. There were some minor amendments to the policies recommended by the Riverside Area Committee and suggestions made by Keith Griffiths from Planning Services, however no other public comments or feedback were received.
When picking up after the protracted delay, it was then necessary for the Riverside Area Committee to re-designate the forum because of the fact that it had been in existence for longer than the prescribed five years. Re-designation has now been achieved.
Local Updates
Dave reported that a consultation event was held at Lonsdale community centre in in early December 2021 regarding the proposed greening of the Walliker Street & Perry Street car parks.
Although funding has recently been secured to landscape the two car parks (Area A) the Forum considered that they will still represent a security risk and therefore support for residential development of both sites will remain in place within the plan under General Policy 4 ‘New Housing Sites’.
Additionally, the two local sites referred to as sites ‘C’ & ‘D’ by NPS (Hull City Council’s Property Management Services) are both subject to sale. Site C being the land on which the former Charleston Club occupied is earmarked for residential properties and site D the land opposite the former Premiere Bar for mixed office and domestic properties. Apparently, the sale of both parcels of land to a local property developer is in progress and no plans have yet been submitted.
Plan Review
Dave circulated printed copies of the draft Newington Neighbourhood Plan for consideration by the Forum, requesting that members read the plan to determine if any small revisions or corrections need to be made. There followed a general discussion in which several corrections were pointed out which were mainly spelling, formatting and grammatical errors.
Dave asked forum members to forward to him any additional corrections they may subsequently discover.
Additionally, during the general discussion several local issues were raised the most compelling of these being the recent boarding up of the railway bridge between Walliker Street and Selby Street. The bridge was closed during the pandemic and several Forum members queried whether sufficient consultation had been undertaken prior to its closure noting that it was a well-used and important access route. Dave suggested that we could contact the Newington Ward Councillors to investigate the circumstances of the bridges closure and invite them to the next Forum meeting to discuss the issue and this suggestion was supported by the Forum members present.
Mention too was made regarding the high volume of traffic on Albert Avenue and the possibility of installing traffic calming ramps, although it is very unlikely we could address this issue at such a late point in the production of the plan.
Finally, a discussion took place regarding the pavilions in West Park and their potential re-use as community facilities. Dave pointed out that the issue of potential reuse of the pavilions is already included within the plan polices for West Park and will also be included within the proposed Legacy Projects.
Design Guidance
Dave explained that he had not copied the complete design guidance element of the plan which had been produced by our consultants for circulation but was happy to print copies for anyone requesting them. Also, the full plan including the design guidance may be downloaded from the Forum’s website at: https://thenewingtonplan.co.uk/
Monitoring & Delivery
The monitoring and delivery section of the plan was discussed briefly, it is proposed that a Memorandum of Understanding will be produced between Hull City Council and the Forum prior to the adoption of the plan should it be made following the referendum, it was agreed to add the Carnegie Heritage Centre as one of the stakeholder groups involved in delivery of projects contained within the plan.
Timeframe – Examination & Referendum
Dave gave an overview of the next steps ahead which briefly are an Examination to ensure the plan has regard to and is in general conformity to national policies, and that the Hull City plans prescribed conditions are adequately met. This process normally takes between one to three months. If the plan is deemed to conform with the necessary conditions then the final step to implementing the plan is the local referendum. The referendums generally speaking coincide with local elections as they are organised by the local authority however following a general discussion some Forum members requested clarification about the referendum [process and Dave suggested inviting Keith Griffith’s the Hull City Council Planning Officer working with us to attend the next Forum meeting to talk us through the process and this suggestion was agreed by the Forum members present.
Neighbourhood Cultural Strategy
This item on the agenda was postponed until the next Forum meeting.
Completion of the Plan
Once the latest revisions (including the legacy projects) are incorporated into the plan there will need to be a final Forum meeting at which the revisions are brought back to the Forum to agree and officially sign off. Following this firstly the Examination and finally the Referendum will be progressed by Hull City Council. However, there will be a publicity campaign and several promotional events and meetings taking place prior to the referendum to raise awareness about the plan and canvass popular support. These events will be open to anyone wishing to attend and will include presentations, details about proposed legacy projects and a buffet!
Date of next meeting
Wednesday 14 September – Lonsdale Community Centre – 6.00pm
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