Council Meeting – 1st April 2025

Minutes of the Meeting of Great Longstone Parish Council
held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 1^st April 2025
in Great Longstone Village Hall DE45 1TB

Present: Cllr W Long (Chair), Cllr J Cox, Cllr A Douglass, Cllr S Hornsey

In attendance: Simon Headington (Clerk). There were no members of the public in attendance.

59/25    Apologies for absence from members.
Cllr P Barrett, Cllr C Briggs, Cllr J Rigby

60/25    Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest relating to items on the agenda.
None

61/25    Discussion of Confidential Matters: (Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 S1(2))
Council decided that no items in this meeting needed to be discussed with the public excluded

62/25    Planning Applications, for consideration at the meeting

NP/DDD/0325/0194 – S.73 application for the removal of condition 2 on NP/DDD/0197/002 – 1 Glebe Court, Glebe Road, Great Longstone.

It was noted that this property is one of six in a small development built between 1997 and 2000 by a local developer. Although this is now over 25 years ago it remains the most recent development of new built housing in the parish.

The planning permissions for this development, granted in 1997, included a “Local Occupancy Clause” that were designed to ensure that the new housing remained as “affordable” housing for local people, either to rent or to buy.

The Council noted that the issue of “Affordable Housing” is regularly raised, within the parish, and this appears to be backed up by recent (2024) “Housing Needs” surveys in the neighbouring parishes of Calver and Stoney Middleton, which should that there is significant unmet demand.

The Clerk was instructed to notify PDNPA authority that the Council sees no reason for the removal of the original condition, which was in line with policies in force at the time and is still in line with the current policy.

In addition:

1. The argument that “Condition 2” has been removed on the other properties in the development is not believed to be correct. Whilst a Lawful Development Certificate (NP/DDD/0511/0432) was approved, for 3 Glebe Court, in 2011 on the basis that the property had not been occupied in accordance with the local occupancy condition and it was therefore no longer enforceable, similar applications for the other properties were all rejected.
2. The applicant has not provided any evidence regarding a claimed lack of demand for local affordable housing. The evidence that does exist, in the form of recent housing needs surveys, suggests that there is significant unmet need.
3. The clause should not make it more difficult to sell the property if it is marketed at an appropriate price for an “affordable property”. No evidence has been provided to show that any attempt has been made to sell the property at an “affordable” price. Homes England Fact Sheet 9 suggests that an “affordable” price should be at least 20% below the open market price.

63/25    Playground Equipment

1. It was note that the new “Birds Nest Swing” seat has been delivered and will be installed soon.
2. Damage has been found to the tarmac behind the “ship” on the playground. It Proposed that the clerk be instructed to have this repaired as soon as possible. This was Approved with all in favour.

64/25    Local Government Reorganisation

The Clerk reported that 2 interim proposals for Derbyshire had been submitted, by the deadline of 21^st March. Copies of these documents are available via the Parish Council’s website.

65/25    Items of Late Correspondence

1. Invoice from Peak Park Parishes Forum for annual membership fee – £12 – Approved
2. Invoice from Will Brindley Contractors for 1^st instalment of Closed Churchyard Maintenance – £200 – Approved
3. Issue raised by a parishioner, to a Councillor, regarding possible breaches of planning conditions NP/DDD/0720/0682 (Old Builders Yard), in that it appears that the area assigned for parking, in the approved plans, is now being developed into a patio/seating area. If left unaddressed there is a concern that the required parking spaces will not be made available and that this will have a detrimental impact on this congested part of the village.The Clerk was instructed to write to the Enforcement Officer at PDNPA to make them aware of the Council’s concerns.

66/25    Items from Councillors for information: No other items were raised.

67/25   Confirmation of forthcoming meetings:

• 7^th April – Neighbourhood Plan Meeting – Establishment of Steering Committee
• 30^th April – Annual Parish Meeting
• 14^th May – Parish Council Meeting (Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council)

The Chair closed the meeting at 8.09pm