Major Decisions
You may be as shocked as I was to learn that Cllr. Tim Pike has signed off the Hayling Transport Assessment Addendum as of March 16th 2020, having disagreed with "the [Operations and Place Shaping Board March10th] decision that further consideration is needed regarding this matter." You will recall my last posting in which I summarised the fundamental reasons for sending the Addendum back to reconsider the decision for the reasons which I can now quote from this week's HBC documents as being the following 4 issues. (Please note that you can find the relevant documents on this matter via the link further below.)
1. Document to include phased funding timeline with trigger points; [this is to ensure that funds are actually available before projected/associated work can be commenced] Item 2 of the Technical Paper.
2. Further research in respect of flooding & how this might affect the mitigation measures proposed; [HBC's Technical paper to support Cllr. Pike's signing off, actually does not, it seems to me, reassure at all. See for example 3.1]
3. The feasibility of the Hayling Billy mitigation measure;
4. Whether the Addendum and mitigation measures would be altered based on updated data that the Council holds since the 2011 census [used for the TA], including windfall development.
For further scrutiny of published documents relating to this case, please visit HBC https://havant.moderngov.co.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?Id=384
Given the role and importance of due democratic process in, for example, the Operations and Place-Shaping Board members' scrutiny of the Hayling Transport Assessment Addendum Report that elected representatives, namely Councillors, have themselves 'called-in', it is breath-taking that such key issues as funding, flooding, the use of up-to-date data and mitigation measures have been quite quickly swept aside. We know that the NPPF, referred to by Cllr. Pike, has been re-written by Government Ministers in recent years, to an extent that, it is widely recognized, favours Developers. But people have trusted our local Councils to prevent decisions from being hastily progressed on the grounds of expedience, and which have far-reaching consequences for us all.
On yet another, troubling, element, yesterday I wrote to each of our 6 local Councillors urging them to seek a postponement of next week's HBC scheduled Meetings of the
1) Development Management Committee (DMC) 26th March on Sinah Field Development Application 18/00724 (providing deputations & public gallery seating 6 feet apart)
2) Cabinet followed by Full Council Meeting 25th March
on the basis of the multiple reasons why these Meetings should not go ahead in the current pandemic crisis: anyone keeping abreast of the daily pronouncements by Prime Minister Boris Johnson & the Government's Health & Science Advisors must be aware of such Meetings' real health risks. Today we have heard that the Sinah Field DMC has been postponed until the end of April - so it will be interesting to see if the crisis is over then! We are still awaiting a decision re the 25th Meetings. I and other Havant Borough Residents Associations have also separately written to HBC's Legal Advisor, copying in HBC's CEO Gill Kneller, Cllrs. Pike and Wilson, urging them to postpone, in line with Prime Minister's 'strong advice', forthcoming Council Meetings; this is firstly to safeguard Council staff, Councillors, the public and deputees, and secondly to ensure that democratic due process can take place in the future. I and others have explained why remote meetings on such a scale will disenfranchise far too many people across the age spectrum so are unsuitable at this stage when the situation may even have improved in a matter of months.
Re Public Meetings: your HIRA Committee had agreed to run a Hustings for the May elections but that has had to be cancelled owing to the fact that the Government had postponed until 2021 all local elections and the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. We will let you know in due course whether or not our June Meeting can/will take place. Doubtless many of you are aware of the closure of our schools at the end of today, plus a number of Hayling's activity venues.
Re Herald Publication & Collections: please contact the editor@haylingherald.co.uk
if you can help deliveries in any way. Her latest message is: There is a plan in place to leave the papers double bagged outside distributors' front doors so there is no contact with residents.But please don't feel you have to deliver over the coming months. We have had a very kind offer from the Hayling Helpers to deliver the papers to as many houses as possible. So please let me know by return if you cannot make your round over the next two months. The most important thing is that you all stay healthy.
I hope that you are all taking sensible precautions health-wise and helping one another whenever you can. Perhaps one bright thought is that we are at least able to enjoy our spring gardens and can look forward to, however slowly, warmer weather at this time of year!
Kind regards,
Anne
Chair
