West Wight Medical Practice Patient Representative Group mtg 29th May 2014

Here are the minutes of the Patient Representative Group Meeting held on 29th May 2014. A few things to note maybe to comment on.

a) Patients over 75 to get named doctors

 b) The aim is to have a plan in place by the end of May that the current partners and NHS England feel would work, to ensure patient care in the West Wight

 c) There are also thoughts of bringing in trained pharmacists who are highly trained. These pharmacists would be employed by the practice.

d) At the first point of contact patients will be asked a few short and precise questions to enable the receptionist to directed the patient to the relevant healthcare professional, who will assess and either provide treatment or refer to the doctor.

e) The problems still remains that there are not enough GPs to see every patient and a change of working has to be looked at with increased input from nurses and healthcare assistants.

f) The plan is to extend the partnership with backing from a support company, which could be LML or similar. This would enable the practice to carry on with the General Medical Services Contract. The decision is ultimately with the existing partners in conjunction with NHS England and will be taken within the next month. As this would mean the current contract is continuing there is no need for public consultation.

g) Yarmouth Surgery is due to re-open on 1 July but it will be with a different service than before. It is likely it will be with a rotation of staff and run in the same way as Brookside.

There is some pretty significant stuff in there!!! If you choose to leave comments here, in the comments boxes, I will collate and pass over to the practice. I don't know whether the patient representatives are geographically allocated or what, or whether the intention is that we comment via the reps. Probably best to pass comments over to Mike Oldham. It could be that patients would like to hear more, maybe in a meeting hall? Surely that can be arranged, if anyone would like that.

Minutes PPG Meeting No 13 - 29 05 14 by david5174

Shalfleet proposed Warlands Lane Estate "Sustainable Housing Survey" Freedom of Information request

Please find below the most recent correspondence with Shalfleet Parish Council regarding the FOI request on the Sustainable Housing Survey.

The Excel spreadsheet file is now available from this link:

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0EQpUF-FQ8geFYzeGRGc3JqV28/edit?usp=sharing

Re_ Freedom of Information Act Sustainable Housing Survey by david5174

Moa Place Parking Petition Update + Open Letter to IWC Councillors

I am pleased to report that I have an appointment with Isle of Wight Council Executive Member for Finance and PFI Contract,  Cllr Jonathan Gilbey, to hand over the Moa Place Parking petition on Tuesday 3rd June at 1230, at the Council Offices in Newport, County Hall, in the main reception.

Cllr Gilbey kindly offered to discuss the matter, after I addressed the Full Council Meeting on Wednesday 21st May.   There had been press coverage suggesting that petitions from other parishes had been disqualified because they do not all have full addresses.  Cllr Gilbey has stated in the Council Chamber that the petitions will be 'listened to'.  I'm sure we'll all hold him to that!

Open letter to IWC Councillors regarding the Parking Consultations

Dear IWC Councillors,

I am writing to all IWC councillors because the matter of parking and the so-called 'consultation' is becoming a political football.  This 'ball' actually belongs to the residents. The people, not the Councillors.  The parking protest has come about by private individuals setting up petitions, both online and hard-copy.  These include:

Deborah Connor, Newport
Rachael Brown, Wootton Bridge
Tony Gibbs, Ryde
Jean Orman, Sandown
David Walter, Wellow (re Moa Place) - me.



A surprisingly large amount of work is needed to get a petition up and running.  In my case, I spent several hours online, printed dozens of sheets for names and addresses, printed and laminated a dozen or more in-shop display sheets, and spent many hours talking to shopkeepers and residents. I still have to go back to Freshwater on Monday to 'mop-up' the final sheets and tell people what is happening.  No doubt the others have done likewise.  There is very strong feeling in Freshwater about this; the proposed changes to the charging in Moa Place would cause real hardship in some cases, as well as being a safety issue.

I make a plea to our Councillors of all political parties: It's great to see you engage and support this important campaign, and thank you, but keep in mind that it is a huge people issue.  Residents would like to see you work as a team to get this sorted out.  We all know that we have seemingly insurmountable problems with the budget.  Maybe there is some way to make parking self-funding to an extent, without taking yet more money from motorists to the detriment of residents, visitors and local businesses who are all already struggling during the worst depression since the 19th Century?  As our Councillors, many of you have local businesses, business or professional skills as well as the authority to get things done.

It was heartening to see Councillors on last Sunday's 'protest march' in Ryde, and our MP, Andrew Turner.

We are looking to you to sort this out for us - whether Conservative, LibDem, Labour, UKIP or Independent.  This is about the Community, not the politics.  It is true that many of you, as politicians, are making fair and valid points but regardless of how we got here, we are here and we need it sorted.  Thank you.

Best wishes and regards,

David Walter

Warlands Lane Estate progress

I have today uploaded my interim objections to the Planning Department. 

I wish to register my objection to this Planning Application on the following grounds:

Since the site is a green-field, need has to be established. The Shalfleet Parish Council's 'Sustainable Housing Survey' dated May 2013 was used by the Applicant to justify need. I have taken some professional advice but require further information from SPC, who have been uncooperative. I submitted a Freedom Of Information request to the SPC on 23^rd May and on 27^th May received a response that shows a lack of understanding of FOI requests and I am having to re-iterate the request. There has, therefore, been insufficient time for me to provide a detailed critique of the Sustainable Housing Survey however I can state with confidence that the survey is so deeply flawed that it cannot be acceptable for establishing need to build a large housing estate on this green-field site with all of the consequential issues that affect the residents and locality.  

From the Clerk's reply it appears that the final survey has never been reviewed by a person qualified and competent in that field.

I object to this proposal because:

a) There is no proven need for the development. The Applicant refers to the Sustainable Housing Survey produced by the Shalfleet Parish Council to justify need. I have taken professional advice and from the information already in the public domain the document appears deeply flawed. Furthermore, there have been two public meetings called by the Shalfleet Parish Council and at both meetings every member of the public present* stated that they did not believe that the survey report reflected either their views or the views of the Parish. I have placed a Freedom Of Information request with the Parish Council to obtain the necessary raw data to determine exactly what the situation is. The information is not available at the time of writing this comment, placed at the limit of the period allowed for comments.

If permitted, and when I have the information from my FOI request, I will submit another comment to the Planning Department.

* At both of the public meetings one person came forward to express an interest in an Affordable House (i.e. two people in total). Neither of those people had any understanding of what 'affordable' means and it seems likely that neither would be able to obtain one of these homes. We have yet to find one person or family who either wants one of these homes or, if they did, could conceivably afford one. That must surely indicate 'need' more accurately than any survey since if the homes built are not affordable to those who would live there, there is no need to build them.

b) This is yet another attempt by property developers to build a large housing estate on green field land, urbanising the pretty rural nature of the Parish of Shalfleet. Building along this road will by itself make Shalfleet look like the tail of a dog; inevitably the green fields down to the Shalfleet Primary School will be urbanised. If there was real justifiable need, that would be different but I challenge anyone to show any need.

c) Other objectors have raised many technical issues which would clearly be hard to overcome without huge extra cost - increasing the cost of the homes, of course.

d) I concur completely with the Shalfleet Parish Council's objections.

e) I concur completely with the objections submitted by Cllr Helena Hewston, who has a detailed local knowledge as Chair of the Ningwood Residents' Association.

f) I believe that it would be wrong to grant even outline planning consent on the grounds that the need has not yet been established and the detailed technical details (hence costing) has not been carried out. I believe that this is a case where the Planning Authority should reject this application and not consider it until there is available a fully-engineered proposal and need proven.

Tomorrow I will upload the Freedom Of Information Act request and correspondence

Change of date June Parish Council Meeting was 11th June now 18th June

According to the Parish Council website, the June Shalfleet Parish Council Meeting has changed date from 11th June to 18th June 7.15pm at Wellow Institute. I have changed the pdf document (see link alongside "Shalfleet Parish Council Meetings, 2014") so you can print it out. Please tell neighbors who might not have noticed! There's quite a lot going on at the moment with developers wanting to build housing estates on green fields all over the Parish so it is important to keep in touch and have your say -- to make democracy work.

The Warlands Estate Parish Council Meeting (coming soon)

[UPDATE2] -- Tuesday 27/5 1749pm  I have now received some professional input on the Housing Needs Survey.  As I suspected, you could drive a coach and horses through it with many, many quite basic and significant errors and anomalies.  Because SPC refused to revisit the validity of the Housing Needs Survey despite asking them three times, once, formally, in writing, and despite two public meetings telling SPC that they do not agree with the findings of the survey, I submitted last weekend a Freedom of Information request to the SPC.  They have 20 working days in which to answer.  I will publish that FOI request here before close on Thursday along with some of the comments about the document itself.

Note: The cut-off date is 30th May (Friday) and you have all day Friday to get your comments in on the Internet.  You can, of course, send by mail and you can send in your neighbours' comments if they don't have access to the Internet.  Also please note that you may send further comments in even if you have already sent your comments.  The Planning Department recognise that this is a contentious application and they are likely to accept comments right up until they make their decision.  They are not obliged to, but they are likely to.  You can also phone or visit them (Seaclose, by appointment); they are generally very approachable and accessible.  I will post again on Thursday with an update.

[UPDATE1] -- Monday 26/5 1751pm I am waiting for some information that won't be available until tomorrow, today being a Bank Holiday I will have to wait.  If you leave your email in the box on the first page, you will get an automatic email - I don't have access to your address, or if I do, I don't know how to access it so it is quite private!  Or email me to seraphinaoflondon@gmail.com to be added to my mailing list used ONLY for updates on local issues. Another way is to use the RSS feed.

I shall be reporting on the Warlands Estate Public Meeting and the Parish Council meeting soon but there is a lot of material to digest first.  If you have anything to add please email me seraphinaoflondon@gmail.com

Letter to Residents of Shalfleet Parish

I have uploaded a few new posts to the blog in the past couple of days.  Note especially the post about the public meeting and Shalfleet Council (interim planning) meeting on Friday 23rd at 1830 in the Shalfleet Hall (the one with the car park, immediately outside Shalfleet village). 

http://shalfleetparish.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-warlands-lane-estate-meetings.html

Please also see the other posts, some of which contain important local information.  Planning is the big topical issue at the moment with the Shalfleet Parish Council refusing to reconsider the validity of the 'Housing Needs Survey' as requested by residents.  Also the parking charges at Moa Place; however this is becoming part of an Island-wide issue with the Conservative Councillors in particular taking the lead in demanding a full review of parking charges rather than the illogical and ad-hoc changes in the present Order.

The Shalfleet Parish Council's usual tactic (as regulars will know) at so-called public meetings is to find speakers to fill up almost all the time, when the Chair refuses to listen to residents due to a shortage of time.   This is YOUR meeting, a public meeting, so have your say.  The meeting on Friday has been called to listen to the public's views on the planning applications, not some unrelated pet hobby-horse of the Parish Council.  Don't be bullied.

Once they have built on your green belt it will never be green belt again, and urban development always spreads.  It is far from clear that there is any need to build new homes on green field land in this Parish.

Best wishes,

David Walter

http://shalfleetparish.blogspot.co.uk/

Parking Charges Protests

There will be a Voters' protest held at Appley Tower, Ryde, this next Sunday (25th May 2014) at 1000, against the IWC's proposed new car parking charges.  Andrew Turner, the Island's MP, will be joining the protest.  We'll be there.  If you want to take the bus from Shalfleet parish, take the No 7 to Newport then the No 9 to Ryde (bus station at the end of the pier) then walk down to Appley Gardens.

There is activity on the Moa Place parking petition and a lot of discussion behind the scenes.  I will fill you in later but for now, I will share with you that I shall be asking a question at the Full Council Meeting of IWC tomorrow (starts 1800 County Hall all welcome to attend).  We are not expecting any immediate action as it isn't on the agenda.  There is strong objection to these uncoordinated price hikes by both voters and shopkeepers.  Conservative Councillors and a number of Independents are supportive though sadly we haven't had any support from Shalfleet Parish Council. Both Stuart Hutchinson and Paul Fuller have given us their full support.

If you can make the protest this Sunday you'll help to make them see that the public really don't accept this.  Could be a fun Sunday, anyway, especially for those of us in Shalfleet for whom a trip to Ryde is a major life event.

Do try to make it; why not share a car or come by bus?

The Warlands Lane Estate Meetings Friday 23rd May 2014

There is to be a public meeting on Friday 23rd May to discuss the proposed Warlands Lane Estate housing development.  The meeting is to be held in the Shalfleet Hall, at 1830.  Following which there is due to be a Parish Council meeting in the same room.  All welcome to both meetings, of course.

Sadly, the Isle of Wight Parking Consultation ends on the 6th June so it seems that our Parish Council will not give the Parish opinion on that. 

Planning Meeting Agenda 23-05-2014 by david5174

Notes taken at Shalfleet Parish Council Meeting Wednesday 14th May 2014

Here are a few jottings and thoughts from the last SPC meeting:

1.  The date of the advertised SPC meeting in June (June 11th) has been changed but we were not told when or where it is to be held.  Cross out that date in your diaries now!  If the Clerk emails me, I will email all on my email list.  If you are not receiving emails and wish to, let me know and I'll add you; if you are, and you want to be removed, the easiest way is to reply to any of my emails and ask me to remove you.

2.  Most of the discussions were, as usual, completely unintelligible to residents because, unlike main IWC meetings, residents are not given copies of the matters either on paper or on the Parish website.  We are still living in the age of opacity. So I move swiftly on past the agenda to....

3.  Spectrum Property Development Limited have formally pulled-out of their planning application for building an estate on the grounds of The Ashlar, Ningwood.  The landowners have put it on the market with a firm of local estate agents; the only residential planning consent is for the existing house on the land.

4.  Ward Councillor, Stuart Hutchinson, referred to the fiasco of the parking order by IOW Council, which is now formally in a Consultation phase until 6th June.  All interested parties -INCLUDING INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC - must get their views into the IW Council by 6th June.  Every voice DOES matter so if you don't want these ridiculous and inconsistent price hikes, please get your comments in.  Stuart said that the Conservative group is aiming for a thorough review of parking on the Island, not just scrutiny of the proposed changes.  I reported that the Moa Place petition is fit to hand-in, pending Stuart's advice that the time is right.  At this stage we need the resistance to be coordinated albeit given that the main petitions on the Island were started by individual residents acting on their own initiative.

5.  Stuart also reported that there are concerns about progress on the BT Broadband scheme paid for by the Island Council (£6m of our money!).  This needs to go to the Scrutiny Committee.  BT has just announced that plans are in place for some new fast broadband and this included "parts of Shalfleet".  Note subsequent to meeting, I have not found any mention on the BT website and the service availability search on their website is still shown as 'no plans' for us, in Wellow.  If you let me know what the situation is with you, I will condense the information and let Stuart have it, in support of the case for Shalfleet.

6.  The Warlands Estate  I have already reported on this below at http://tinyurl.com/l3amh7z  There is to be a public meeting followed by a Shalfleet Parish Council meeting on Friday 23rd May 1830 at the Shalfleet Hall (that's the one just outside Shalfleet Village, with the car park).  All are welcome, of course.  The Chair, Cllr Pam Broadhead, has refused to add an agenda item allowing for a public discussion on withdrawing Parish support for the "Sustainable Housing Survey", which is a highly flawed-document that's already been used four times to attempt to justify building major housing developments in the Parish, on green-belt land.  If you come to the Public Meeting on 23rd May you WILL have the chance get it withdrawn though I can say no more at this time.

7.  The High Sheriff, Mrs Claire Locke, lives locally and can be contacted on 07881 924487, by email to highsheriff.iow@gmail.com website www.highsheriff-iow.org.uk  The High Sheriff office has funds available to support youth-related activities.  In particular you might look at  http://www.highsheriff-iow.org.uk/awards.htm and http://www.highsheriff-iow.org.uk/trust.htm  The youngest person 'on' the Shalfleet Parish Council is the Clerk, Susannah Jennings.  I'm sure she won't mind if you call her in the office to discuss youth related projects or write to her at clerk@shalfleetiow.org.uk

8.  Two Councillors and a local resident said that they have concerns about the validity of crime reports and motoring offence details from Hampshire Constabulary.  It was suggested that the new Police Commissioner should be contacted.  My own private view is that it would be better to tell the local police about these concerns and ask them to justify their reports, before the time and expense of involving an outside agency.

Freshwater Independent Lifeboat Shop urgently needs volunteers

Cllr Jane Jacobs (Shalfleet Parish Council) has made a plea for volunteers to help staff the Freshwater Independent Lifeboat shop, in Freshwater Bay.  Details of the Freshwater Independent Lifeboat are at http://www.freshwaterlifeboat.org.uk/ or you can contact Jane by phone.  I haven't added her phone number here because robots crawl all over the web harvesting numbers - look her up in the phone book or the local parish mags.  An enjoyable way to help the community, get out and about, and meet people.

Wellow Millenium Green AGM Wellow Institute Wednesday 21st May 2014 7.00pm

There is to be the Wellow Millenium Green AGM Wellow Institute Wednesday 21st May 2014 7.00pm

Please try to make this meeting as the Trustees need a little bit of help....many hands make light work!

Shalfleet Village Hall AGM 7.30 pm Tuesday 20th May 2014

There is to be an AGM of the Shalfleet Village Hall on  Tuesday 20th May 2014 at 7.30pm all welcome.

Proposed Warlands Lane Estate, Planning, Parish Council Meeting, Update

At the Shalfleet Parish Council meeting on Wednesday the SPC stated that they would be arranging a public consultation, public meeting and Parish Council Meeting (all on the same day) in order to get the SPC comments to the Planning Department by 30th May, as required.  Please note, the SPC's comments do not carry a great significance in a proposal of this size.  Residents, statutory bodies (English Nature, Environment Agency) and other organisations representing conservation are equally important (Campaign for Protection of Rural England, for example).

What is significant at this stage is the 'need' for this building.  Since the estate would be built on green-field land, the developers must show a need.  The need is based on the Parish plan and 'Affordable Housing Survey' issued by the SPC over a year ago.  I, along with many other residents, consider these plans to be deeply flawed yet they have been used as justification for proposed large-scale development planning applications by West Wight Alpacas (Wellow), The Ashlar (Ningwood), Bouldnor Meads Estate and now the proposed Warlands Lane Estate.

If there is no proven 'need' the application will fail the most vital requirement, and will fail.

At Wednesday's meeting I asked the Parish Council to table an agenda item for the next Parish Council Meeting to discuss the validity of the Housing Survey.  The Chair, Mrs Pam Broadhead, somewhat surprisingly refused to commit to that saying that they would 'take it away'.  When I asked what that meant, she said that she didn't know!  The meeting was well-attended by local residents and everyone who expressed an opinion said that they did not accept the Affordable Housing Survey was a valid proof of 'need'.  The Parish Council were asked for the 'figures' used for the survey.

Yesterday, I wrote to Cllr Broadhead asking her to table the matter for the next SPC meeting.  I also wrote to the Clerk to ask for the figures.  If you want to express your democratic right to your say then you are going to have to say it!  Please write to the Shalfleet Parish Council asking for the matter to be tabled at the next meeting.  Remember, if there is no 'need' then developers may not build on green field land.  Period.

I am hoping to hear shortly from the Council.  They are looking for a venue and date for the consultation/meetings session and we won't hear until then.  You can leave comments here on the blog - no need to register and no records are kept.

Best wishes,  David

Planning Consent Applied for 24 dwelling Housing Estate in Warlands Lane Shalfleet

Planning Consent Applied for 24 dwelling Housing Estate in Warlands Lane Shalfleet 

 Planning consent has been applied for, this week, for a 24 dwelling housing estate in Warlands Lane Shalfleet.  Full details of the application can be found on the IWC website at http://www.iwight.com/planning/AppDetails3.aspx?frmId=28135  The application reference is TCP/31860, P/00507/14

I have posted an aerial view of the plot (a green field arable field) below.  There will undoubtedly be a number of key issues.  Note that the applicant refers to a 'local need' by which they presumably mean the Shalfleet Parish Plan and Affordable Housing Survey.  The proposed development - already submitted by Spectrum Housing - at the Ashlar opposite the Horse and Groom and next to the Shalfleet School also cites the same 'local need'.  Last summer, the owners of West Wight Alpacas in Wellow announced in the County Press their building proposals on some of their 26 acres for a pre-fab housing estate opposite the Baptist Church in Wellow - citing the SAME 'local need'!

I suggest that whether you are for or against this proposal, or just want to be kept informed, you come along to the Shalfleet Parish Council Meeting on Wednesday 14th May (this coming Wednesday).  This isn't on the agenda so probably cannot be discussed by the Council in session, there is opportunity to talk to others in the community and also to your local Parish Councillors who will no doubt be pleased to hear your views and concerns.

Aerial Photo War Lands Lane Estate by david5174

Shalfleet Parish Council Meeting Agenda Wednesday 14th May 2014

Please find below the agenda for the Shalfleet Parish Council Meeting Agenda Wednesday 14th May 2014 This meeting elects the Chair and Vice-chair for the next year There are a number of items on this agenda that do affect people more than the usual routine stuff. Also note that planning approval for the huge proposed new housing estate in Shalfleet has now been submitted and the PC should be asked to consider that matter before the next meeting and before comments are due. I'm sure this will happen with or without any question from the public but worth attending this meeting if you have views on the new estate. I will be posting some basic details here on the blog, today.

Agenda 14 05 2014 by david5174

Shalfleet Parish Police Report 2013-4

Below is the official Shalfleet Parish Police Report 2013-4 with useful contacts, etc. Might be interesting to know the outcome of the cases, but not something I am going to follow-up. If anyone is interested and does find more information, let me have it and I can add it here. Note the 'Community Speed Watch' activity, i.e. members of the public monitoring your speed and noting your reg. no. It is happening quasi-officially.

Shalfleet Police Report 2013-4 by david5174

Moa Place Half Hour Parking Petition - 1250 signatures (so far)!

We've had a tremendous response to the petition to the IWC asking for them to reconsider the removal of the free half hour parking at Moa Place Car Park, Freshwater. Rather than make the case for them, I am attaching the comments list from the online poll. The online poll is only 224 out of the 1250 total signatures; there are many other excellent reasons given why the free half-hour should be maintained.

Petition Online Comments by david5174

Some of the retailers have asked for another week to collect signatures but frankly we have done very well indeed so far, given the size of the local population. 1250 signatures is a very substantial number. I shall copy the link to this page to the most local councillors and to the press meanwhile please try to drum up some more support. If you'd like some signature sheets and a display sheet please email me at seraphinaoflondon@gmail.com or give me a ring on 761763