Agenda item

At this point the room divided into a breakout session including those participants online. 

A)   What are we missing from the local LCN?   

·         Flooding.

·         Planning infrastructure on big developments - transporting spoil and heavy machinery from site through other parishes.  

·         Planning enforcement.  An Increase in retrospective applications. Planning department access, loss of staff, repercussions of loss of staff etc.   

·         Maintaining Public Rights of Way and clearance.  

·         Better communications with Somerset Council generally.  

·         Speed reduction and traffic management.  

·         Better data around devolution of mandatory services - e.g. waste bin emptying. 

·         Liaise with neighbouring parishes around traffic diverts, flooding and Highways.  Listed buildings are a problem with the increase traffic.  

·         Highways and planning communications.  

·         Stakeholders more engagement with LCN and coming to meetings. 

·         Working groups ongoing, Communication and report highlighted and shared with the parishes.  

·         Communications on Flooding. When routes are available and needs of the local communities.  (Interactive travel map of routes available. one.network.)  

·         LCN Emergency workshop, brings groups together working to resolve the issue, looking what can be done locally and area wide.  Farms are being affected.  

B)   What matters to residents in our communities? 

·         North Curry – Parish is not having the involvement of the LCN. Needs to be more public participation. 

·         Rural isolation and the need for everything to be "online" isolating people further. 

·         Young people in villages and environment feeling isolated. What can be done for the kids? 

·         Homelessness in rural environment - Poverty in the small villages.

·         Hidden homelessness. Small families now are being felt in the parishes. This can also be sofa surfing, homeless people staying in Caravans illegally, and remaining at home with parents and not living independently. 

·         Isolation in parishes affecting both children and adults.  Under 11–16-year-olds need a voice and having them get more involved.  Not youth clubs - what do they need? Dependence on transport / volunteers. 16-18-year-olds Transport access to moped ban scheme. The older population not connected on internet or phones.  

·         More support for truly affordable social housing CLT’s, to keep our communities.  Insist on a percentage of social rent / Affordable. 

·         Rural poverty, lack of keeping everyone healthy.   

Discussion from the Group work. 

Reflections - Good first year and positive start with the working groups although some of the smaller parishes find it hard to have common ground. Lack of capacity in the smaller parishes is also a hindrance. 

The LCN cannot stop the flooding as this is a national problem,  but a flooding working group can help with local mitigations and emergency planning. Flooding and Highways need to work together.  If the police are aware of the road closures, they work to get the signs out, and adding details to the social media. Can this be under one resource?  

Highways keep residents updated using a website for this information:  one.network. 

Action 5 – Holding a flooding focused LCN Meeting. 

Planning - Clerks are invited to an online meeting Wednesday morning and strategic planning updates are provided here.   

Action 6 – Clerks to attend the Bi-weekly clerks meeting which will include planning colleagues over the coming weeks and get updates on planning enforcement, local plan, and call for sites. 

Senior isolation, rural isolation and young people, particularly young people not having access to any communal resources in the smaller communities, For example buses and community groups.