Decision details

Juliet Seymour, Planning Policy Manager, introduced the report and outlined the neighbourhood planning process. In response to a questions from the floor Juliet explained that the report had been brought back to the community council as the questions and issued raised by councillors at the last meeting had not been answered. The Bankside and Bermondsey forums had been pathfinders which meant they had received funding from the council which had come from a government grant.

There was a discussion around the area proposed some members of the audience felt the area should not go west of Blackfriars Road as this would impact on the work of the South Bank Forum which existed in this area.

Tim Wood, the chair of the Bankside Forum addressed the representation issues which had been raised by councillors at the last meeting stating that the 21 members of the forum were from groups such as: businesses, residents and church representatives. He stated that the Localism Act which established the neighbourhood planning procedures required forums to reflect the community and to prepare a plan that understands and reflects the local community – the forums were not required to be completely representative in terms of membership.

In response to questions from councillors Juliet clarified that an area could only be included in one plan and that if the boundary was amended then the consultation process would need to begin again. Groups were now requested to provide information on how their membership reflects the communities in the area and that groups were being recommended to use Charity Commission guidance to develop their constitutions, this was in response to the questions raised by councillors at the last community council meeting. Councillors commented that they felt it was appropriate to include Borough High Street within the boundary of the area.

RESOLVED

That the community council is broadly supportive of the Bankside Neighbourhood Forum and the proposed area however the community council raises concerns about how far the group represents the area, in relation to the council’s duties under the Equalities Act.