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Extraordinary Full Town Council Minutes (Signed) 15-09-2020

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Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of Newmarket Town Council

held on Tuesday 15th September 2020 at 6:00 pm via Zoom

Attendance:

Councillor M Jefferys (Town Mayor)

Councillor A Appleby

Councillor J Borda

Councillor O Bowen

Councillor A Drummond

Councillor Y Fitzgerald

Councillor R Hood

Councillor P Hulbert

Councillor J Lay

Councillor T Kerby

Councillor C O’Neill

Also Present: Debbie Baines – Town Clerk, Julie Ashton – Minute Assistant, Karen Soons – West Suffolk District & County Councillor, Adam Ford – West Suffolk Officer, Paul Valentine, Paul Thomas and Ben Fox – McDonalds and 1 member of the Public

Minute

  • WELCOME

The Mayor opened the meeting and announced that the meeting was being recorded and asked if anyone else intended to record the meeting.  There were no requests.

  • APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE – LGA 1972, Section 85(1) & (2)

Apologies were received from Cllrs Caesar, De’Ath and Yarrow.  Cllr Anderson was absent.

  • DECLARATION OF MEMBERS INTERESTS & TO REMIND COUNCILLORS OF THE NEED TO KEEP UP TO DATE THEIR REGISTER OF member’S INTERESTS AND TO CONSIDER ANY REQUESTS RECEIVED FOR MEMBER’S DISPENSATION

None noted.

  • PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AN INVITATION TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO PUT QUESTIONS/STATEMENTS OF NOT MORE THAN 3 MINUTES DURATION. NO RESOLUTIONS CAN BE MADE BUT COUNCILLORS ARE VERY HAPPY FOR MATTERS RELATING TO THE TOWN TO BE BROUGHT TO THEIR ATTENTION (MAXIMUM 15 MINUTES)

A resident spoke to item 5 advising that there was no change to the objections that he had sent to West Suffolk.

  • DC/20/0817/ADV – LAND ADJACENT TO TESCO PETROL STATION WILLIE SNAITH ROAD NEWMARKET – Application for Advertisement Consent – 1 no. internally illuminated freestanding totem sign

The Mayor invited the McDonald’s representatives to speak and in response, a request was put to councillors to explain their concerns regarding the application.

The Mayor read out the Neighbourhood Plan policy NKT32: Attractive Entrances to the Town, “Any new development or re-development at the gateways to the town and in particular along the A142, should be of high quality and sympathetic to the locality”.  It was hoped that a compromise for the sign could be reached with something both appealing and appropriate to the setting and acceptable to the applicant.

Cllr Soons joined the meeting   

Councillors discussed both the need for signage at that location and what form it should take.  The installation of a heritage sign rather than the standard McDonalds style was discussed as a more suitable alternative to that proposed.  The applicants explained that the McDonalds brand had global design standards, which they had to adhere to and in addition, that the sign was intended to advertise the presence of both McDonalds and Costa Coffee shop.

Cllrs Hulbert and Bowen joined the meeting

The applicant presented examples of existing local McDonalds signs and explained that different signs were used for drive through restaurants to those sited in city centres – similar to the one in Cambridge which is in a historical building.  Councillors suggested that the colours could be muted with less lettering and lighting, similar to that of Starbucks and Paddy Power and that the height be reduced with some reference to Newmarket being added.

The Planning Officer present advised that West Suffolk Council was bound by national guidance on planning and could only take visual impact and public safety issues into account.  He added that the Newmarket Neighbourhood Plan policies had been taken in to account when the application was considered.

The Mayor gave thanks for the opportunity to work with McDonalds to reach a compromise and welcomed their input.

The Planning Officer and McDonalds representatives left the meeting.

  • REFORM OF THE PLANNING SYSTEM

The working group had met and considered stage one of the Planning White Paper, and a written response was circulated to councillors prior to the meeting. The consensus of the group being that the proposals went against the principles of localism.  The response was considered and the following was agreed:

20/09/6.01 Resolved

That the first response to the MHCLG/NALC consultation on the reform of the Planning System be approved.

Further meetings would be held to consider parts 2&3 of the proposal.

  • DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

Extraordinary meeting Thu 24th September 2020 at 6:00pm at the Memorial Hall.

Meeting closed at 7:10pm

Signed: By the Chairman                                                                                   Date: 28 09 2020