Agenda item

Local Plan Update (LPU) Towards Our Strategy Consultation

Decision:

That:

 

1)        the ‘Local Plan Update: Towards our Strategy’ be approved for consultation, including supporting engagement activities;

 

2)        the Director of Corporate Services and Director Locality and Customer Services be authorised, in consultation with the Executive Member for Business, Economic Development and Strategic Planning, to agree minor amendments, if necessary, prior to consultation;

 

3)         the Local Development Scheme 2018 be adopted.

Minutes:

The Executive considered a report relating to the Local Plan Update (LPU) which was intended to provide a robust strategy for managing development to ensure that it occurred in suitable and sustainable locations and that it was deliverable and well-designed and would help to regenerate towns and villages within the Borough, whilst supporting social and economic prosperity and encouraging economic growth.

 

When introducing the report the Executive Member for Business, Economic Development and Strategic Planning stated that the purpose of the report was to seek approval to undertake consultation to assist the development of the Local Plan Update.  The consultation would last from November 2018-February 2019 and every household in the Borough would be provided with a pack explaining the process that was being followed and this would be supplemented by public meetings which would be held at around 10 different venues within the Borough. 

 

As part of the process Councillor Munro advised that the Council would be considering over 300 sites and this figure was expected to grow during the consultation period.  The purpose of the consultation was to gain residents’ views on the sites that had been put forward and how development should be managed in different places across the Borough.

 

Following a query by Councillor Pollock it was confirmed that a number of council owned sites had been included on the list.  In addition, given that residents were unhappy with the amount of development and associated traffic congestion, Members queried why the Council was carrying out this process now, particularly as there was already in existence a Local Plan which ran until 2026.  Councillor Munro explained that the Council was required to constantly review its Local Plan to ensure that it was still valid and in addition if the process wasn’t followed then there was the danger that unsuitable planning applications could be won on appeal. In addition this was an opportunity to get residents’ views on development within the Borough.

 

Councillor Weeks informed the meeting that he, and others, had recently met with the Chief Planner from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and whilst the Chief Planner was very positive that the Council had a structured Local Plan, which was enabling the delivery of houses in the right places, he had made it clear that it was absolutely essential to have an up to date, and frequently updated, Local Plan in order to continue to be able to direct where the housing numbers needed to go that were being imposed on the Council by central Government. 

 

The Leader of Council urged everyone to take part in the consultation, and particularly attend the public events, as it would be an opportunity for residents to have their say about where they would like new homes of the future and new facilities to be built.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)        the ‘Local Plan Update: Towards our Strategy’ be approved for consultation, including supporting engagement activities;

 

2)        the Director of Corporate Services and Director Locality and Customer Services be authorised, in consultation with the Executive Member for Business, Economic Development and Strategic Planning, to agree minor amendments, if necessary, prior to consultation;

 

3)         the Local Development Scheme 2018 be adopted.

Supporting documents: