A statement from Formby Parish Council regarding the comments relating to the proposed new Community

Formby Bubble has been contacted today by the Formby Parish Council to give a response to articles that have been published on our Facebook post in recent days regarding the new proposed Community Sports Facility within Formby High School.

Here is their statement:

The Parish Council Office

Formby Library

Duke Street

FORMBY

L37 4AN

parishclerk@formbyparishcouncil.org.uk

Response to articles published on the Bubble Facebook page

Formby Parish Council were given the opportunity to make a decision on the proposed employment / retail sites by the Inspector for the Sefton Local Plan, namely,

(1) the proposed employment site to the north of Stevenson Way or

(2) the proposed employment / retail site to the south of Tesco, which was an enabling development needed to fund a proposed sports development.

The Parish Council took independent advice and at the meeting of the 3 January 2017, decided that, due to the complexity of the planning decision and the legality of this being questioned by Sefton Council, the decision to choose the employment site should be made by the Planning Inspector.

The minute is reproduced in full below:

‘105.2 Cllr Bennett reported that following the questions raised by Cllrs during discussions in December, Mr Pike had responded to clarify the points raised (information circulated to Cllrs); although it was noted that Sefton Council have expressed concern over the legality of the Parish Council making the decision, which could affect them determining if the Neighbourhood Plan meets the basic conditions.

Mr Pike clarified that neither site will be removed from the green belt at this stage. Once the decision on the employment site allocation is made then the greenbelt will be re-designated to allow for that development; there will be no “safeguarding” of the other site to come forward later.

Cllrs noted that the choice was to either refer the decision back to the Inspector or to put the decision out to a referendum of the local community through the Neighbourhood Plan process and hold a further 6-week consultation just on this issue.

Cllrs noted that the Sainsbury decision by the Secretary of State had gone in favour of Sainsbury’s. It was considered that this would have an impact on the village centre and therefore be a consideration if the Parish Councils were to choose the site.

Cllrs expressed major concern that the local knowledge of flood risk on both sites complicates the issue; Cllrs felt it would become a moral decision as it was considered that both sites would heighten the risk of flooding to residents and businesses.

It was resolved to refer the decision on the choice of employment site to the Inspector to make as part of the Sefton Local Plan.

Cllrs voting preferences were recorded:

Cllrs Irving, Baxter, Coles, Williams, Stinner, Broadbent, Hearn, Prescott and Gwyther voted in favour.

Cllrs Bennett and McCann voted against.

Little Altcar Parish Cllrs present voted as follows:

Cllrs Irving, Wield, Baxter, Kolassas voted in favour.

Note: a quorate of LAPC attended to have a joint discussion on this item.’

Mr Pike referred to in this minute is the Government appointed Planning Inspector for the Sefton Local Plan.

Yours sincerely

Claire Jenkins

Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer

05 July 2017

______________________________

This is the original story that was published on Friday 30th June on our website

Here is a link to the Facebook post with all the comments HERE

Original post:

It is well known that there is a lack of sports facilities in Formby. Formby Parish Council felt it was important to try and find somewhere in Formby that a Community Sports Facility could be built that would be for the benefit of all ages, young and old, and all abilities.

Formby Parish Council said: "Sport and well-being is now a significant part of all our lives and there is a need to have the best we can afford in Formby."

"The Formby Parish Council has been part of discussions with the headmaster of Formby High School and other potential partners and it was felt that it was important to try and find somewhere, in Formby, that a Community Sports Facility could be built that would benefit all ages, young and old, and all abilities. A Formby focused Sport and Leisure strategy works towards improving the mental health and well-being of Formby’s residents as sport and leisure contributes to our health and wellbeing. The vision is for a community sports facility to benefit the whole community." "Sport and leisure make us healthy and happy, they encourage people to be active and do the things they enjoy. This increases personal, physical and mental well-being and helps build healthy communities. The importance of healthy lifestyles which promotes good physical and mental health is a key factor for many health problems and behaviours."

The facility is intended to be built in 3 phases: Phase 1: Floodlit artificial (sometimes called 3G) playing pitch for football

Phase 2: A wide range of other new facilities for netball, basketball, tennis courts and other sporting activities

Phase 3: Development of an indoor gymnasium, outdoor athletic facilities, cricket and indoor sports activities.

"This will require a significant change in the financial planning of the Parish Council if it is to be one of the funding partners for this project. This questionnaire attempts to gather the views and opinions of the community as to whether they would like to see the Parish Council obtain a Public Works Loan in order to fund up to 50% of this project and working in partnership with other organisations who would match fund the facility." "The Parish Council has a power to borrow with the consent of the Secretary of State and would propose using this power, to secure consent to borrow up to £500,000 repayable over 5 years. The Parish Council must provide evidence of community support for the proposed borrowing. Depending on what interest terms could be secured, this is likely to cost approximately £110,000 per year. The money could be raised by increasing the precept by the repayment amount in addition to any inflationary requirement on current expenditure. Fixed rate repayments over 5 years would cost a Band D household in the region of 32p per week on their precept." "The cost of a public works loan would depend on the period the loan. We have calculated the figures for the increase in the precept based on a 5 year loan and a 10 year loan. Included in the costings are increases in line with inflation over the years for the parish council to continue its present commitments. The precept will be capped for the period of the loan and would not increase during that time, and would be reduced once the loan had been paid off." It will not be possible to deliver this project without the support of our residents and we want to know, from you, if you are in support of this project which will benefit the whole community.

You will receive a leaflet through your door in the next few days which will explain everything in more detail.

Cllr Maria Bennett said: "As the Chair for the Neighbourhood Plan, and having taken on board responses to our questionnaires regarding a lack of sports facilities in Formby, this is an exciting proposal for the community to have a Community Sports Facility on their doorstep."

"Once we have the opinions and views of our residents we will then move to a public consultation in September for 4 weeks. I think that most people will agree that we already have a fantastic facility in the Pool but that this took far to long to come together, this is an opportunity for the residents to have a Community Sports Facility which offers 3G pitch, Tennis, Basketball, Netball, Cricket, Athletics to name a few and will be open for all ages and all abilities within the community."

"The Sports facility will be based in the heart of the community with easy access via all modes of transport to include walking and cycling and will be open to everyone. It does not require any enabling development (ie retail) to be built to bring it to fruition."

"I would like to think that our community will get behind this and support it in order to offer a fantastic facility for use by all the community for the future."

This exciting information will improve sports facilities for the local area. It will not be possible to deliver this project without the backing of our residents and Formby Parish Council want to know if you are in support of this project to benefit the whole community which would require an increase in the precept which would be reduced once the facility had been paid for.

Please go to the survey which will only take two minutes to fill in at: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/fpcsports or collect a copy of the survey from Formby Library. Closing date is the 11th September for all responses.

Here is a copy of the leaflet: