Agenda and minutes

The Chair alternates between a District Councillor and a Parish/Town Councillor every meeting.  The Committee must appoint a District Councillor as the Chair of this meeting.

Proposed by Councillor Hobbs

Seconded by Councillor Allison

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Hollingsbee be appointed as Chairman for the meeting.

Members of the Council should declare any interests which fall under the following categories:

a) discloseable pecuniary interests (DPI)

b) other significant interests (OSI)

c) voluntary announcements of other interests

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2022.

Members agreed that the minutes were a correct record of the meeting held on 17 March 2022.

An update regarding fly tipping, provided by Karen Weller, Environmental Protection Senior Specialist, and Andrew Clarke, Senior Area Officer – Environmental Enforcement.

Karen Weller, Environmental Senior Specialist, and Andrew Clarke, Senior Area Officer (Environmental Enforcement), provided the Committee with an update regarding fly tipping in the district.  During their address, the following points were noted:

• Fly tipping was the unauthorised deposit of controlled waste, without a licence.
• All cases of fly tipping were investigated, even if it did not take place on Council owned land.
• The team used smart water to find patterns and link events.  They also installed cameras in in key locations to gather video evidence.
• There were a number of wildlife cameras set up around the district that had proved very valuable in gathering evidence.
• Normally a first-time offender would be issued with a fixed penalty notice of £300.  It was hoped that this would be enough to stop most people from re-offending.
• If there was a repeat offense, the Council would consider criminal prosecution.  This was resource intensive as officers had to put a case together that proved beyond reasonable doubt that the individual was guilty.
• Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) worked closely with neighbouring Councils, to share information.  An individual had recently been successfully prosecuted for fly tipping in Folkestone, Dover and Ashford.
• There were four officers who covered the FHDC area.
• Residents should be aware that they were responsible for the disposal of their rubbish.  If someone offered to take it away, they remained responsible unless they had a transfer note detailing where it was collected, where it would be deposited, and the name and address of the collector.

In response to the Committee’s comments and questions, it was noted that:

• Some people found it difficult to use the Kent County Council (KCC) Waste and Recycling Centre booking system.  This could lead to fly tipping.  However, KCC had conducted a consultation about the booking system, and it was found to have public support.

• The booking system also allowed the Council to identify individuals who did high a number of regular visits, this could suggest that they were providing an unofficial collection service which could be investigated.
• The Council would investigate fly tipping on private land; however the owner of the land was responsible for the removal of the waste.
• It was important to report instances of fly tipping, as every report could help officers link patterns of incidents and build a bigger picture of what was happening.
• A while ago, a settee had appeared outside St Mary in the Marsh Parish Council Hall and was reported.  It was removed and no further action seemed to be taken.  Often old furniture did not have many clues regarding ownership , so the item would just be removed.

Parish Councillor Allison wished to know if the number of bags given to the litter pickers were restricted.  Ms Weller offered to investigate and respond to Parish Councillor Allison after the meeting.

A presentation will be given to members by Julia Wallace, Senior Project Manager at Otterpool Park.

Dave Shore, Planning Manager at Otterpool Park LLP, provided an update on the developments with the Otterpool Park (OP) project since the last update to the Committee, around three years ago.  During the update it was noted that:

The Folkestone and Hythe Local Plan

• The Local Plan was adopted in 2013 and sought to meet the future needs of the district.  The Plan was based upon an objectively assessed need for the creation of 350 new dwellings per year.  Since then, the need had risen to 738 new dwelling per year.
• The Council had found that a key location to meet the strategic need for future housing growth was the OP site.
• The Core Strategy Review document (that included the OP site) was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination in February 2020.  There was a public examination during the Winter of 2020, and further sessions held in the Summer of 2021.
• The inspectors published a series of modifications to make the plan sound, and the Council went out to public consultation on these modifications in October 2021.  The Plan was adopted by full Council on 30 March 2022.
• Policies SS6 to SS9 of the adopted Local Plan related specifically to the OP site, and any planning application would primarily be judged against these policies.
• The Local Plan allocated up to 5600 new homes by 2036/37 on the OP site and recognised the potential for future growth of between 8,000 to 10,000 homes beyond the Local Plan period.

The Outline Planning Application by Otterpool Park

• The original application had been submitted in February 2019, this application had been modified and resubmitted in April 2022.
• The resubmission included three parameter plans:
  • Development areas and movement corridors; showing where development could take place and key strategic movement routes.
  • Open spaces and vegetation: showing areas of open space and vegetation that needed to be retained plus structural/advance planting
  • Building heights; detailing the maximum building heights across the site. 
• The other documents submitted for approval were the Development Specification, that detailed the maximum amount of development that may be delivered on the site, such as housing numbers and floor space for retail;  and the Strategic Design Principles (SDP). The SDP set out a series of design principles that needed to be incorporated into more detailed proposals submitted for approval at a future date.
• The Environmental Statement was also submitted, its aim was to identify any significant effects of the scheme and detail what mitigation measures could be introduced reduce their impact.  The Non-Technical Summary was a useful document that summarised the detail of the Environmental Statement.
• A series of supporting strategy documents were also submitted, for example the Green Infrastructure Strategy and Heritage Strategy.

Headlines from the Application:

·         Up to 8,500 new homes.

·         29,000 sqm of retail and associated usage.

·         87,500 sqm of employment floor space, designed to support 9,000 jobs.

·         67,000 sqm of education space. This could accommodate up to seven primary schools and two secondary schools.

·         8,000 sqm of hotel floor space.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.