Agenda item

(Director Planning and Economic Development) To consider the attached report.

Because the draft Local Plan is 165 pages long it is not possible to reproduce it as a hard copy but is available online at the following address:

http://haako/Published/C00000688/M00007137/$$Supp10898dDocPackPublic.pdf

or

http://rds.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/documents/b10898/Local%20Plan%20Cabinet%20Committee%20Supplementary%20Agenda%20I%2002nd-Jul-2012%2019.00%20Local%20Plan%20Cabinet%20Committee.pdf?T=9

The Committee received a report from the Assistant Director Policy and Conservation (Planning), K Polyzoides regarding the progress of the Council’s Local Plan. The meeting noted that the ‘Community Choices – Issues and Options’ paper was due to be published for public consultation. Community Choices covered a wide range of issues including options for potential growth targets, possible distribution patterns and locations for growth. It also identified a number of policy issues which needed to be addressed, including Green Belt, historic and natural character, transport, economic development and the Community Infrastructure Levy. It was noted that this had recently been through the Local Plan Cabinet Committee and had been approved to go out for consultation

The proposed consultation period was from 30 July to 21 September 2012. The existing Local Plan could be used until March 2013. The consultation was to make sure that the council had identified all areas of the plan.

The draft document proposed for consultation is split into a number of chapters which set out the key issues and potential options for the district up to 2033. 

Chapter 3 concerned the Green Belt and the character of the district. The continued protection of the Green Belt was the priority for residents of the district, and therefore this issue was addressed at the outset and the potential options for growth later in the document were included with this in mind.  It was clear that amendments to the Green Belt boundary would be needed in the period to 2033 to accommodate the growth needs of the district. No significant changes to the Green Belt boundaries in the district had been made since they were first established, and no housing or employment land allocations had been made since the last full Local Plan was adopted in 1998.  

Chapter 4 presents the reasonable options for the levels of growth that could be included in the Local Plan, and the potential strategies for distribution of this growth.  In the longer term the East of England Plan (EEP) was due to be abolished, but this had not yet happened and no timetable had been published by CLG for this. 

Key decisions that must be taken early in the preparation of the Local Plan are whether (i) growth on the periphery of Harlow should be supported, and (ii) land should be allocated for development on the boundaries of Harlow but within Epping Forest District. 

Officers were aware that the consultation period (30 July to 21 September) covered the holiday period, which was not ideal; however, they had extended the period from 6 weeks to 8 weeks. They also offered the choice to reply online as well as by hard copy.

A briefing pack had been issued in mid-June to all Town and Parish Councils and officers also hope to hold workshops in September.

The Planning Portfolio Holder, Councillor R Bassett, added that the issues and options document was also available on the council’s website.  Other documents would also be published on the site. This consultation was just to put together information so that we would have options to discuss. It was for  the Town and Parish Councils to look at what they wanted for their area and give us evidence  and a realistic view on what should (or should not) be there.

Q:        What would 6,000 or even 500 new properties look like, would there be a visualisation aid available for this? Also as this was a consultation it must be made clear that this was providing future options for our district.

A:         The standards worked to was for 13.5 premises per hectare. Smaller houses would enable more per hectare, flats even more. We need to know what type of premises we need to provide before we can work out the land area needed. One of the sections in the document covers densities including images of low and high density buildings. In some areas higher density building may be more feasible.

Q:        Would Transport for London be involved in this consultation?

A:         Yes.

AGREED:  The Committee requested that formal guidance should be issues to the Town and Parish Councils in regard to Neighbourhood Plans.

The Assistant Director Policy and Conservation (Planning) agreed to supply this to the local councils along with any other relevant information available and a list of relevant websites from which to gather further information.

Ms Polyzoides added that planning had been sending out information since last year including Rural Community Council of Essex guidance as this was a good guide breaking down the process into manageable chunks.

AGREED: Not all members of the Committee had received these documents and it was agreed that they would be reissued.

Q:        How could local Town and Parish Neighbourhood Plans be fitted into this.

A:         Neighbourhood Plans do not need to be put into the Local Plan. Anything brought out in Neighbourhood Plans would be retrospectively added to the Local Plan. Also, the more detail added in the Local Plan the less need for a very detailed Neighbourhood Plan.

Neighbourhood Plans could be sent in as part of the consultation where it would be taken into consideration.

Councillor Bassett warned the meeting that they should be aware that a Neighbourhood Plan had a big cost attached to it as it had to go through the same processes as a Local Plan and could cost up to £100k. Local Councils needed to be aware of this and needed a realistic, evidence based case.

A member from Loughton Town Council said that in reference to the ‘Call for Sites’, Loughton had put forward an area in ‘class D’ but it had not appeared in any plans issued so far. In response Ms Polyzoides said she would look into this and get back to them.

            RESOLVED:

1.         That the “Community Choices – Issues & Options” document due to be published for public consultation be noted;

2.         That the Sustainability Appraisal of the Issues & Options document prepared by Scott Wilson/URS due to be published for public consultation be noted; and

3.         That the consultation period would run for 8 weeks from Monday 30 July to Friday 21September 2012 be noted.