Issue - meetings

The community council are asked to comment the application for a neighbourhood development area and also for qualifying body status by Bankside Neighbourhood Forum as set out in the report.

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.

Presentation on neighbourhood planning followed by a presentation from the Bankside Neighbourhood Forum.

The community council are asked to comment the application for a neighbourhood development area and also for qualifying body status by Bankside Neighbourhood Forum as set out in the report.

Juliet Seymour, Planning Policy Manager, explained the background to neighbourhood planning and that the community council were being asked to comment on the proposals to designate the Bankside Neighbourhood Forum as a qualifying body and to comment on the appropriateness of the boundary suggested for the plan.

The chair of the Bankside Neighbourhood Forum was not in attendance some other members of the forum, including Cllr Adele Morris, commented on their work.

Members asked how the membership was made up, how people became part of the forum and whether the forum was representative specifically in terms of BME groups.  Councillors also questioned whether the forum overlapped with other groups in the area such as TRAs or historical societies. Members also raised concerns about how the forum was constituted and how the membership would replenish – stating that the constitution was more of a statement of current arrangements rather than a document outlining the governance arrangements of the forum (for example the process for electing a chair).

In response to these questions members of the forum explained that the forum was made up of 21 individuals: 7 from local business, 7 from community groups and 7 residents. There were no BME members of the group. The function of the forum specifically related to neighbourhood planning so if a plan was agreed the role of the forum would be to monitor the delivery of the plan. The planning policy officer advised that the governance issues could be addressed before a final report went to the cabinet member for decision and clarified that the role of the community council was to comment on the appropriateness of the area and the group before the cabinet member took a decision.

Members noted the work that the forum had put in getting to this stage.

RESOLVED

That the community council notes the work of the Bankside Neighbourhood Forum and welcomes the development of a neighbourhood plan in the area however the community council requests that the forum considers its governance arrangements and how far the group is representative specifically in terms of BME membership.