Agenda item

(Planning and Governance Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-001-2017/18).

(1)        That the corporate implications for the delivery and implementation of the Local Plan, including the need to establish appropriate processes and arrangements and put in place the necessary resources, be noted;

(2)        That the emerging approach to the production of Strategic Masterplans in the District, including the identification of sites/areas (subject to progression of the Local Plan) requiring the production of a Strategic Masterplan, be agreed; and

(3)        That the emerging approach to the introduction of Planning Performance Agreements associated with the progression of sites identified for allocation through the emerging Local Plan be agreed.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning & Governance presented a report on the implementation of the District Local Plan.

The Portfolio Holder reminded the Cabinet that, in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework, the Council was required through the Local Plan to plan to meet the short and long term objectively assessed development needs of the District. This would require a significant step-change in future levels and complexity of development being brought forward in the District, which would need to be managed and overseen by the Council.  Alongside the progression of the Local Plan, the Council therefore needed to establish the necessary processes and arrangements to prepare for the delivery of the planned level of development and infrastructure. Taking such steps now would help the Council to demonstrate at the Examination in Public for the Local Plan that the Plan was deliverable and therefore ‘sound’.  An action plan was being developed to progress this work. 

The Portfolio Holder added that this included the preparation of a framework for the production of Planning Performance Agreements, which had been appended to the report. A draft had been discussed with the Developer Forums, Members, the Local Plan Officer Working Group and Management Board. In addition, these groups had considered where and how Strategic Masterplans should be produced and the proposed sites/areas requiring such an approach. Once the approach had been approved, the Council would need to ensure that the necessary skills and resources were put in place in a timely fashion to enable Local Plan implementation to progress as proposed.

Cllr A Grigg, as a local Member for North Weald Bassett, was not particularly enamoured by the proposals. All of the proposed sites for North Weald Bassett had been progressed to this stage, which would not please residents of the village. The Portfolio Holder stated that none of the sites from the draft Local Plan had been removed, and the Council was now investigating possible groups of sites where it would be logical to perform a Strategic Masterplan. All of the sites identified would have some degree of input from the Council, and the bigger sites would have more input via a Masterplan. It might be possible to use the previous North Weald Bassett Masterplan from 2014 as the base for the new version, as there would be more detail in the new Masterplan.

In response to questions from the Members present, the Portfolio Holder stated that the process for Regulation 19 would be completed in the early months of 2018, and the Local Plan would then be submitted for its Examination in Public, which usually took place approximately six months after its submission. The final Local Plan would then be adopted by the Council. Town and Parish Councils would not be encouraged to go ahead on their own with Neighbourhood Planning; it was intended to fully include the Town and Parish Councils in the process up to the adoption of the Local Plan. The Council would always need to maintain a five-year land supply for housing development; the Local Plan would show how this would be implemented up to 2033, and the ideal scenario would be to start small and increase the amount of development throughout the District over time. In respect of road capacity, the Council was already performing some traffic assessments, but it would be better to perform this analysis when all of the sites were known, for which the Council would have a better idea once the Regulation 19 process had been completed.

In conclusion, the Portfolio Holder reiterated that no decisions had yet been made regarding any of the sites and the Council had a legal obligation to consider any new sites proposed as part of the Local Plan process. The estimated costs had already been factored into the Local Plan budget, but accuracy was considered more important than speed in following the process.

Decision:

(1)        That the corporate implications for the delivery and implementation of the Local Plan, including the need to establish appropriate processes and arrangements and put in place the necessary resources, be noted;

(2)        That the emerging approach to the production of Strategic Masterplans in the District, including the identification of sites/areas (subject to progression of the Local Plan) requiring the production of a Strategic Masterplan, be agreed; and

(3)        That the emerging approach to the introduction of Planning Performance Agreements associated with the progression of sites identified for allocation through the emerging Local Plan be agreed.

Reasons for Decision:

To support the successful progression of the Local Plan and ensure that the Council took a pro-active position in managing and delivering development and infrastructure requirements. 

To ensure that the Council was in the strongest possible position to resist speculative and potentially inappropriate development proposals that did not form part of the emerging Local Plan.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

To delay the work associated with the implementation of the Local Plan, or to adopt a less pro-active approach to managing and overseeing the development and infrastructure proposals emerging as part of the Draft Local Plan, which would carry a risk that the Plan would not be seen as deliverable at the Examination in Public and therefore not ‘sound’.