(Local Councils) The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 required each local planning authority to have published a Brownfield Register of land suitable for residential development, by 31 December 2017.
The District Council will report to the Committee on the current position with regard to the preparation and publication of its Brownfield Register.
Minutes:
The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 required each local planning authority to have published a Brownfield Register of land suitable for residential development by 31 December 2017. The Assistant Director (Development Management) explained that the register provided publicly available information on brownfield land in the District that the Council considered was appropriate for residential development.
The Council had been working on the first part of a two-stage process. Just because sites were listed in the Brownfield Register did not mean that they had been granted planning permission, as the register was purely for housing or housing-led sites. The register included sites proposed for allocation in the Local Plan Submission Version 2017 and sites that had been granted planning permission. It would not include greenfield sites despite what was allocated in the LP.
Sites held within the Brownfield Register had to meet a set of criteria, which included a minimum of 0.25 hectares or land capable of at least 5 dwellings, the land needed to be available, i.e. that the owner would either sell or develop the land, and that development must start within 15 years of being listed in the Register.
The Council would publish the Brownfield Register shortly but the priority had been the submission of the LP to meet the March 2018 deadline. It would be available on the Council’s website at: http://www.efdclocalplan.org/planning-policy/brownfield-land-register/
Part 2 of the process would list sites that the Council had given permission for in principle but currently there were no such sites proposed.
North Weald Parish Councillor T Blanks asked about the status of North Weald Airfield (NWA). The Assistant Director (Development Management) replied that future development would have to be housing-led and that he would answer the councillor’s further questions soon after the meeting. Councillor G Mohindra said that in terms of the executive viewpoint, he thought the NWA was still identified as economic growth and business-led so he would be surprised if it ended up in the Brownfield Register. The Acting Chief Executive said that with regards to the NWA, it was all in the submission version of the LP. The masterplan for the area and its future potential was all in the public domain. Technically on whether it would fit in the register or not, the Council would provide some clarification following the meeting.
Chigwell Parish Council Clerk A Belgrave said that it was mentioned that the land in the Brownfield Register was not a register for which planning permission was a foregone conclusion, so in what circumstances would the Council envision planning permission not being granted to a brownfield site that was in this register. The Assistant Director (Development Management) replied that it would have to be listed in the part 2 element and it was the Council’s choice to move sites from part 1 to part 2, not the developer’s. However, a lot of assessment would need to be completed by the Council to move a site from part 1 to part 2. The process could allow a ‘permission in principle’ through the LP, but the directions on this process were not confirmed yet. ‘Permission in principle’ would be through a planning application and would be similar to ‘outline planning permission’, but this had not come in yet. Councillor J Philip said that you could go through the policies of the LP in the usual way and the application would either be as a delegated decision or though the planning committees. The fact the site was in the Brownfield Register was an indication that it was on previously developed land and out there for development.
Councillor D Wixley wanted to clarify that the Brownfield Register would not have an impact on the submission of the LP and these brownfield sites were only for housing or could they be used for other purposes. The Assistant Director (Development Management) replied that there would be no impact on the LP but was just a register that authorities had been required to publish. Development would have to be predominantly housing or all housing.
Councillor T Church wanted to clarify Councillor Philip’s comments that it would only be part of the normal process of planning if a site was in part 1, but if in part 2 then it would take away rights, i.e. to go through a planning committee. Councillor J Philip said that if a brownfield site was in part 2 then it would take away rights, but he wanted to make it clear that the Council was not planning to move any sites to part 2. To clarify further on what Councillor Wixley was asking, if there was a site development that had a few retail units but was mostly housing, then this would a housing-led development.