Agenda item

(Planning Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report and include the Strategic Land Availability Assessment in the Council’s Local Plan Evidence Base (LPC-003-2012/13).

The Appendices to the Strategic Land Availability Assessment have been published to the website as a separate supplementary agenda as the document is 142 pages, and printed copies have been provided to the members of the Cabinet Committee and Group Leaders. If any other Member wishes to have their own printed copy then please contact Democratic Services by Wednesday 27 June 2012 and we will get a copy delivered to you.

(Planning Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached appendices to the main report.

(Director of Planning & Economic Development) To consider the attached maps for the appendices to the main report.

(1)        That the completed Strategic Land Availability Assessment and its findings be approved for inclusion in the Council’s Local Plan Evidence Base.

The Forward Planning Manager presented a report on the Strategic Land Availability Assessment, for inclusion in the Council’s Local Plan Evidence Base.

The Cabinet Committee noted that it was a policy requirement for Local Authorities to undertake a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment or similar work to inform their Local Plan making process. The Council had taken this approach a stage further and had also considered land which might be available for commercial purposes. The Strategic Land Availability Assessment was a central document to the delivery of the Local Plan as it assessed the land potentially available in the District for future development. The document had assessed 416 sites which were sourced from the ‘Call for Sites’ exercise, the Council’s land terrier and by identifying the boundaries of settlements not already included to ensure a full radius search was conducted around the main settlements. The study concluded that 335 sites could potentially be suitable for development in the next plan period. Of these, 32 sites could be deliverable within the parameters of existing policy.

The Forward Planning Manager stressed that the Assessment was a technical document, to be included as part of the Evidence Base for the Local Plan; it was not a policy document. The Assessment would require monitoring on an annual basis to ensure that the database remained current and relevant.

The Chairman reiterated that no sites for development had yet been selected, these were options for discussion only, and there was always the possibility for other sites not yet listed to be considered. The Assessment was now out in the public domain as part of the Committee papers on the Council’s website. The Democratic Services Officer highlighted that a decision sheet from tonight’s meeting would be published and distributed via the Members’ Bags on Friday morning, to enable the call-in period to commence. The Principal Planning Officer undertook to provide the maps in an Excel format for any Member that requested them.

Decision:

(1)        That the completed Strategic Land Availability Assessment and its findings be approved for inclusion in the Council’s Local Plan Evidence Base.

Reasons for Decision:

To incorporate the results of the Strategic Land Availability Assessment into the Evidence Base for the new Local Plan, and inform discussions on growth options for development over the next 20 years.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

To not include the SLAA into the Evidence Base. However, this would mean that the Local Plan would not benefit from the detailed work assessing a significant proportion of land in the District for suitability and availability for future development, and would risk the Local Plan being found unsound.

To carry out further assessment work. However, this would result in delays to progressing the Evidence Base and could significantly endanger the Council’s current target of submitting the draft Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate by the Autumn of 2013.