Author Archives: Paul Cummings

Fundraising Fashion Show

There will be a fundraising Fashion Show in the Community Centre on Thursday 13th September 2018 at 7.30pm. Tickets £5 in advance from Janet: 01780 721216 or Hilary 07468-419781 or £6 at the door.
Raffle and Refreshments  – Further details on the attached Flyer

Fashion show

EGM North Luffenham Parish Council 20 Sep 18

There will be an Extraordinary Meeting of the Parish Council to be held on Thu 20th Sep 18 at 8.00pm  The meeting will be held in North Luffenham Community Centre. The key elements of the meeting will be consideration of the Parish Council’s response to the RCC Local Plan Consultation Documents. Members of the Public are welcome to attend, however there will be no public forum at this meeting.

PBG CUMMINGS – Chair NLPC

Agenda:  NLPC EGM 20 Sep 18 – Agenda

Consultation Rutland Local Plan Sep 18

The Parish Council and its St George’s Barracks Working Group have prepared a briefing note about the Rutland Local Plan Consultation that is currently taking place. This will be delivered to all homes in the Village this weekend. The Briefing note is here:  PC Briefing – Sep 18  

The consultation documents are complex and require detailed analysis. A steering group set up by the Parish Council has reviewed the document, identified a number of key issues arising from it, and prepared a pro-forma to simplify the response process (attached: LOCAL PLAN CONSULTATION – SEP 18 RESPONSE V1 ).  If you wish to take advantage of this, please look at the comments on the attached pro-forma and indicate clearly each individual comment that you agree with, ensuring that you provide your name and address. (RCC have now agreed that responses can be submitted in any format.) Then place it in an envelope in the Red Box in The Fox or return to 11 Digby Drive or to any Parish Councillor. All returns are requested by Friday 21st Sep 18, after which they will be taken to Rutland County Council. Alternatively, RCC’s formal Consultation Response Form, this pro-forma or free-form comments can be submitted directly to RCC at: localplan@rutland.gov.uk. RCC require the consultation to be completed by 24th Sep. To count, all responses must contain the name and address of the individual concerned.
Drop In Session. To give you a chance to review a hard copy of the Local Plan document, to ask questions about it and should you wish, to have an opportunity to complete RCC Response Form or the attached survey form, we are holding a ‘Drop In’ session from 7pm – 9pm on Friday 14th Sep 18 in the School Hall.

Consultation Documentation attached:

S0379 Rutland Local Plan 2016 2036 04 ONLINE  and  S0379 Rutland Local Plan Additional Sites 03 ONLINE

RCC Formal response Forms:  Focussed Consultation Response Form   and  Additional Sites Response Form

PBG Cummings, Chair NLPC, Tel: 01780 720124  email:  pbgcummings@gmail.com

CONSULTATION – LOCAL PLAN

You will have received today a note from Mr Gilman at Democracy HQ ?? in Pilton.  In it he enclosed a survey form for you to complete and return to him considering one single aspect of the RCC consultation, namely how many homes we would wish to see built at St George’s Barracks. I and the Parish Council and our SGB Working Group are working very hard to produce a sound response to the consultation on behalf of the Parish of North Luffenham. This will be produced in good time for consultation with the parishioners before the submission date of 24th September. A letter and pro forma will be circulated this week covering our response to the proposals in the plan. In addition we will be hosting a ‘Drop In’ session on Fri 14th from 7 – 9pm in the Village Hall. I am however concerned that should you choose to complete Mr Gilman’s form you may find that under the consultation rules, you are unable to respond fully to the RCC Consultation paper. Under these circumstances, parishioners of NL are recommended to ignore the circular sent by Mr Gilman and to take the lead from their elected Parish Councillors who are determined to protect the interests of NL Parishioners.

PBG Cummings

Chair NLPC – Tel 01780 720124

St George’s Barracks Project Update – 8 Aug 18

Please find attached an update on the St George’s Barracks Project and the work currently being undertaken by the Parish Council and NLPC SGB Working Group to try to influence RCC’s decisions.

PBG Cummings – Chair NLPC

pbgcummings@gmail.com

St George’s Barracks Development – Update July 2018

Consultation.

The results of the consultation on St George’s Barracks development have now been published by Rutland County Council and can be found at:

Consultation Feedback


I am delighted to see that North Luffenham heads the list of number of responses received, indeed almost a third of all households in the village responded, making up 21.4% of all responses. In addition, the Parish Council supported by the St George’s Barracks Working Group submitted a very detailed response that has already been published but is attached for ease of reference.

Advisory Group.

Following the meeting held with our MP Sir Alan Duncan MP, on 22nd June, an Advisory Group has been formed whose purpose is to “be the voice of the community during the planning and development stage of the Project. To bring together MOD, Rutland County Council, the Developer and interested parties from the wider community of Rutland to identify issues and concerns during the Planning and Development process and to identify the appropriate and cost effective solutions.” The first meeting of the Group was held earlier this week and I was encouraged by the willingness of the County Council to engage with us as key stakeholders. I attach a copy of the Action Points arising from this first meeting. It is intended that the Advisory Group will meet every 4 weeks and may form working groups to report on individual key issues such as the environment. It has been agreed that the scale of the development and its phasing, together with infrastructure and style are the burning issues of the moment.

Officers Mess Development

A further group has been formed to consider the Officers’ Mess development, which we are determined should not be considered as a stand-alone development. This group will meet for the first time in the near future.

Co-operation with Edith Weston Parish Council

We have formed a strong working relationship with EWPC and the Chairs of the respective PCs meet regularly. We are now extending this link to include Manton, Ketton, Empingham, and South Luffenham Parish Councils. This continual liaison ensures that we are in a position to understand local concerns and to speak with one voice.

Th excellent cooperation with Visit to Whitehill and Bordon

On 17th July, at the invitation of the Leader of Whitehill and Bordon Town Council, Norman Milne (Chair Edith Weston Parish Council) and I visited Bordon to establish how that development had progressed and some of the lesson learnt along the way. Bordon is important because it is a similar sized development on a similar sized former Army Camp. Important too is the fact that the Consultants engaged by the County Council to prepare the St George’s Masterplan are the same organization responsible for the Masterplanning of the Bordon Development. I attach a copy of the report that I wrote following that visit. The points raised in the Executive Summary of that report are:

• The scope of the 2 x projects is remarkably similar, though Bordon can draw upon significantly more infrastructure and heritage buildings than may be available in St George’s Barracks (SGB).

• The scale of the Bordon site has reduced significantly over time; the MoD threat to do their own thing was deployed by the District Council but never materialized. MoD did not significantly influence the final number of properties to be built. Final house numbers were driven in part by a report written by Natural England.

• Effective and meaningful engagement between District Council and Town Council was considered essential. To achieve that a pro-active stance needed to be taken by the Town Council in making alternative positive proposals. Localism was an important influencing tool, which required continual and detailed engagement with the existing community.

• Continuity and strong leadership within the Parish Councils were considered essential. The Councils should put additional effort and resources into understanding the requirements for Transport, Health, Jobs, Education, Leisure and Training.

• Localism is considered an essential tool with input from all key groups. The Advisory Board might propose setting up oversight boards to consider the delivery of the promise in all key areas.

• The Council should not underestimate the resources and time needed to manage a project of this size and to ensure accountability from the county Council. Once underway the project will proceed very quickly with little opportunity for review. It is essential therefore that the Masterplan is correct and has the support of all players.

• Once appointed the Parish Councils need to develop close links and oversight of the work being undertaken by developers and be able to identify problems and community reaction quickly.

• Developer’s Insight. This paragraph is worth reading in detail. Many of the issues/concerns raised to date with our development have materialized in Bordon. The availability of appropriately trained house-building staff may drive the overall rate of development. The majority of new buyers had to commute further to work – house sales were driven by house costs in more affluent towns/cities.

• The provision of on site town sized facilities to meet the needs of the new town is a great attraction to buyers. The development needs to include a wide range of national brand shops and a range of catering outlets. A pub, an ‘Express’ store and a Pizza Hut will not meet the aspiration of buyers. A wide range of sports facilities, leisure facilities, and environmental/recreational opportunities are vital.

• The on-going running costs for many of the proposed facilities, including grass cutting and leisure area management are likely to be devolved. This will result in a substantial overhead for Parish Councils.

Working Group

The Parish Council’s Working Group on the development of St George’s Barracks continues to meet regularly to advise the Parish Council and provide specialist insight and research. The Group is currently made up of:

Cllr Paul Cummings – Chair
Tim Collins – Environmental issues
Jason Allen – Business / Tourism
Mike Wyatt – Publicity / Press
Hugo & Jo Spiegl – Business, Education and Local Insight
Trevor Gibson – Local Authority Governance
Tony Smith – Communications
Cllr Pete Burrows – IT
Cllr Tim Smith – Planning

We lack expertise in planning law and planning process, if you know of anyone that would wish to join the group do please give me a call. The Group is not a protest group and seeks to influence the County Council to ensure that the proposed development is appropriate, well planned and executed and above all is “Right for Rutland’.

Local Plan

A revised local planning document will shortly be launched by RCC. This will attempt to justify the requirement for a significant build on the airfield – please watch this space for further details.

PBG CUMMINGS
Chair NLPC
pbgcummings@gmail.com

SGB – Visit to Bordon – Jul 18

Minutes – 23 July 2018

ST GEORGE’S BARRACKS – REVIEW MEETING – 22 JUN 18

On 22 Jun 18, Sir Alan Duncan MP Chaired a meeting to review the St George’s Barracks Masterplan. Invited were representatives of Rutland County Council, their consultants, RegenCo, the Ministry of Defence (Defence Infrastructure Organisations), County Councillors and representatives of a number of Parish Councils.

Though not an official record of the meeting, which has yet to be published, please find attached a summary of the notes that I made at that meeting. My personal perceptions are included in the final paragraph of the document.

The most important outcome of the meeting was an agreement to form an Advisory Group to work with RCC to help inform the Barrack Development Plan.

SGB Review 22 Jun – Merged V3

PBG CUMMINGS – Chair NLPC

Tel: 01780 720124,   email: pbgcummings@gmail.com

VILLAGE DAY 2018 – THANK YOU

Many thanks indeed to all those that helped to make Village Day such a great success, though the weather did inevitably help. It is always good to see the village come together for such an event and it was very special to see so many of our younger citizens having fun. None of this would have happened without your support. On behalf of the Parish Council and indeed the village,  I would thank on your behalf all those who helped to make the day so special, including:

Preparatory Grass Cutting – Pete Burrows / Chater Choir – Tracey Steward and so many wonderful singers / Archery – Michael Anker and Tim Clifton / Target Golf – Charles Cade / Dog Show – Sarah’s Pet Care Services and Bill Whittaker / Frisby Golf – Graham & Pippa Madgwick / Church/Remembrance Poppies – Janet Whittaker & Fay Cummings /  Basketball – Mathew Butcher / Croquet – Tim & Hilary Smith / Football Skills – Ben Eshelby / Rounders – Judy Cade & Di  Wickowski /  Pizza in a Box – North Luffenham Scouts / Tug of War – Sue Roberts / Bar – Trish & Debbie / BBQ – Liz Caffarelli / Jane Roche / Afternoon Teas – Hilary Hudson, Charlene Hudson, Janet Heasell, Sue / Cakes Stall – Vanja House, Val Smith, Penny McKinley & Sue Read and anyone that I might have inadvertently forgotten (With sincere apologies).

A great day thank you,  one and all.  Paul Cummings

 

ST GEORGE’S BARRACKS – HAVE YOUR SAY NOW

The deadline for the submission of comments on the proposed development at St George’s Barracks has, at our request,  been extended to 14th Jun 18. If you say nothing, RCC will accept your tacit support to the proposed new town of 3,570 new homes, an industrial estate and a 200 hectare quarry on your doorstep.  It is really important that you have your say using the questionnaire provided or by email using the pro forma at: https://www.stgeorgesrutland.co.uk.

I attach a copy of a letter that I hope to get published in next week’s papers:

SGB May 18 – V2

Paul Cummings – Chair NLPC

email:  pbgcummings@gmail.com

IMPORTANT – St GEORGE’S BARRACKS PLAN – FEEDBACK FORM

If we are to be able to influence RCC’s view of the proposed development at St George’s Barracks it is essential that as many people as possible complete the Feedback Form. It doesn’t matter if you are for or against the proposals, your view is really important. We will have forms available at Village Day or complete on line:

Have Your Say

YOUR VIEWS WILL HELP THE COUNTY COUNCIL WITH THEIR PLANNING

ST GEORGE’S BARRACKS – THE REALITY REVEALED

13th May 2018

ST GEORGE’S BARRACKS
WHAT WORTH THE WORD OF OUR COUNTY COUNCIL ??

On Friday 11th May, Rutland County Council released the first draft of the Master Plan (https://www.stgeorgesrutland.co.uk) for the redevelopment of St George’s Barracks. The event had plenty of gloss, but in reality very little substance. Certainly the group that I sat with felt that this was a lost opportunity to bring something really positive to the County. There is nothing in the plan that will attract tourism, our highest income earner, to the County. The scope of the imagination of the planners is really limited and appears to follow a commitment to cram as many houses as possible into the limited space available. The huge future quarry site which covers almost 50% of the site in the plan is termed as a “Country Park”, but you will have to live for a long time to see it.

You will recall that in December, when the proposed development was presented to us, the Chief Executive of the Council made a number of assurances to us, which included key planning assumptions:

• This would be a typical Rutland village with a wide variety of houses and excellent amenities, including the development of a hotel and leisure facilities on site.

• The infrastructure bid proposals were based on a development of 1,500 to 3,000 new homes (3,000 being the top estimate if the whole site was available for development).

• The planning density was to be no more than 20 Homes/Hectare.

I am afraid that every one of these critical commitments has been broken. A coach and horses has been driven through these assumptions and it is now clear that the brief given to the planners was to design a new town for more than 3,000 new homes, regardless of how much land was available after the designation of the vast quarry site. As a result, though not explicit in the documentation, the proposal will include swathes of terraced homes, town houses and apartment blocks, none of which can be found in any typical Rutland Village. The proposed total density of Housing has increased from “no more than 20 Houses / Hectare” to 30 houses per hectare and in some areas considerably more. What is proposed is a new dormitory town stuck in the heart of this Rural County, that has been designed for ‘anywhere’, with precious disregard for everything that makes Rutland special. Maybe an appropriate name for the new town should be “Rutland Forsaken”. This cannot be considered to be Right for Rutland.

It is therefore essential that everyone see the ‘exhibition’ in the School Hall on Wed 16th May from 6.30pm to 9pm and takes the opportunity to tell the County County Council and the ReGenco Planners what they think about their proposals. This really will affect you and your families for years to come.

PBG CUMMINGS
Chair North Luffenham Parish Council
Tel: 01780 720124
email: pbgcummings@gmail.com

Minutes – Annual Parish Meeting – 16 Apr 18

Please find below the Minutes and supporting papers for the Annual Parish Meeting which was held on 16th Apr 18.

Paul Cummings – Chair NLPC

Tel: 01780 720124 email: pbgcummings@gmail.com

Minutes – APM – 16 Apr 18

APM – INCOME – EXPENDITURE – 17-18 Sheet1

Chairman’s APM Presentation

crime figures for North Luff 2017-2018 yearly

RCC Presentation – St George’s Barracks

 

St George’s Barracks – Crichel Down Rules

I occasionally hear some interesting views about the application of “The Crichel Down Rules” which relate to the sale of land that was compulsorily purchased by the Government post 1935. On occasion it is clear that some  views do not reflect the legal reality of the situation. For ease of reference I attach an extract of the DCLG Document in which the rules are enshrined. Inevitably the document can be interpreted in different ways, however the  document does explain the background and principles that need to considered.

PBG Cummings

Chair NLPC – email: pbgcummings@gmail.com

 

The Crichel Down Rules

Extraordinary Parish Council (Trust) Meeting – Thu 10 May 18

There will be an Extraordinary Meeting of the Parish Council (Trust) to be held on Thu 10 May 18 at 7.30pm.  The meeting will be held in North Luffenham School Hub (Off the School Hall). Members of the Public are welcome to attend, however there will be no public forum at this meeting.

PBG CUMMINGS – Chair NLPC

NLPC-Trust Agenda EGM – 10 May 18 Oval Use Application

Extraordinary General Meeting – Parish Council – 10 May 18

There will be an Extraordinary Meeting of the Parish Council to be held on Thu 10 May 18 at 7.30pm  The meeting will be held in North Luffenham School Hub (Off the School Hall). The key elements of the meeting will be consideration of the format and expenditure for Village Day (20 May 18) and consideration of General Data Protection Regulation Policy Papers. Members of the Public are welcome to attend, however there will be no public forum at this meeting.

PBG CUMMINGS – Chair NLPC

 

NLPC EGM 10 May 18 – Agenda NLPC Privacy Notice – Staff – Cllrs – Volunteers NLPC Data Breach Policy – May 18 NLPC Data Policy NLPC Data Protection Policy – May 18 NLPC Privacy Notice – Public NLPC SAR Policy – May 18 Village Day – Admin RCC-community-street-lighting-recharge-annotated

ST GEORGE’S BARRACKS MASTER PLAN PUBLICATION

The Leader of RCC commented last week that “the Publication of the first high-level plan for St George’s Barracks marks the start of a conversation between the Council, the MoD and Rutland Residents as we begin to plan for the future of this extremely important site” Consultation around the first high level plan for St George’s  will begin with a public exhibition at Victoria Hall in Oakham from 3pm to 7pm on May 11 and from 10am to 2pm on May 12th. In addition a roadshow will take place to communities. The North Luffenham presentation will take place on Wednesday 16th May at St Mary and St John School at 6.30pm, to be followed by a display of maps etc and a chance to discuss proposals with key staff involved in the project. As a conversation is very much a two way process I would hope that RCC will be prepared to listen carefully to local concerns.

 

I would urge all villagers to attend this presentation of the Master Plan at 6.30pm on Wed 16th May in the School Hall.

 

PBG CUMMINGS  – Chair NLPC

ST GEORGE’S BARRACKS – LETTER TO RCC COUNCILLORS

Next week the County Council’s initial Master Plan for the development of St George’s Barracks will be published. This will propose building more than 3,000 homes on the barrack site in additional to a quarry and an industrial site. To pre-empt the publication of the Master Plan the North Luffenham / Edith Weston Parish Council Working Group have sent a personalised letter to every County Councillor expressing out concern at proposals to build a town considerably larger than Uppingham in the heart of the County, and asking them if this really is Right for Rutland. A copy of the letter to Councillors is attached for your information.

PBG CUMMINGS – email:  pbgcummings@gmail.com

Letter to Cllrs – 24 Apr 18