Issue - meetings

Note: No other business is permitted unless, by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified at the meeting, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

After consultation with the Chairman of the Planning Committee the following item was deemed an urgent item of business as a response was needed to be provided to the consultation exercise on the Planning For the Future White Paper and Consultation on changes to the Planning System by the 29 October 2020.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE WHITE PAPER AND CONSULTATION ON CHANGES TO THE PLANNING SYSTEM

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Place and Community as contained on pages 355 to 392 of the Book of Reports, the purpose of which was to seek the Council's response to MHCLG's consultation on both the Planning for the Future White Paper and the technical changes to the planning.

The report had been previously published on the agenda for Executive Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 24 September and Cabinet 13 October 2020.

RESOLVED:     That the following agreed comments be forwarded to the Corporate Director of Place and Community for consideration prior to a final response being agreed in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and submitted before the deadline of 29 October 2020:-

A.   That the Council's response should stress that the Planning White paper undermines local democracy by removal of member involvement in certain aspects of decision making.

B.   That any new local plan system needs to be simple to engage with by the pubic and that there should be a variety of means to engage in the process, in addition to digital means.

(Relevant Portfolio Holder: Councillor D Evans)

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Place and Community the purpose of which was to consider the proposed Council response to Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG)'s consultation on both the Planning for the Future white paper and the technical changes to the planning system.

In reaching the decision below, Cabinet considered the details as set out in the report before it and the reasons contained therein.

RESOLVED:   A.           That the agreed comments of Executive Overview & Scrutiny Committee provided at Appendix C be noted.

                          B.           That the proposed Council response to the Planning for the Future white paper at Appendix A be agreed, subject to the consideration of the agreed comments of Planning Committee on 15^th October.

                          C.          That authority to agree and submit the Council's response to the Planning for the Future white paper be delegated to the Corporate Director of Place and Community, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, following consideration of the agreed comments of Planning Committee on 15^th October

To consider the report of the Corporate Director of Place and Community.

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Place and Community as contained on pages 213 to 242 of the Book of Reports, which was to consider the proposed Council response to MHCLG's consultation on both the Planning for the Future white paper and the technical changes to the planning system.

The Strategic Planning, Regeneration & Implementation Manager outlined the report, he explained that there were two separate consultations taking place, the Planning for the Future white Paper as well as the related technical consultation on changes to the planning system, the suggested draft Council responses to the consultations were detailed at Appendix A & B of the report.

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:-

·         New zonal style local plan required

·         Focus on design /quality/style in zones

·         'Binding' housing requirement would be introduced

·         Nationally set infrastructure levy–replace s106's to fund new infrastructure and affordable housing from same pot

·         Planning process increasingly digitised

·         More community consultation on specific zones

·         Local plan preparation more intense

·         Resources - likely reduced planning fee income but greater workload overall

·         Propose change to standard method for calculating housing requirements for strategic plans (Local Plans)

·         Delivering 'First Homes' concept

·         Support small/medium size developers

·         Proposal to extend 'permission in principle' consent regime

RESOLVED:     A.      That the proposed Council response to the Planning for the Future white paper at Appendix A be endorsed and further consideration by Cabinet on 13 October 2020 and Planning Committee on 15 October 2020 be noted.

B.        That the proposed Council response to the technical consultation changes to the planning system at Appendix B be noted and the following agreed comments of the Committee be forwarded to the Corporate Director of Place and Community for consideration prior to a final response on technical consultation being agreed in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and submitted before the deadline of 1 October 2020: "To reconsider the technical responses, particularly the answers to questions 1 and 2 of Appendix B.  To review the basis of whether housing stock calculations includes student properties and, if it does, then put argument to Government that student housing should be excluded from those calculations, as student housing is not likely to increase and that the revised calculations should then be reflected in the answer to question 2."