Issue - meetings

That the proposed Local Plan Preferred Options be considered and that agreed comments be referred to the Director of Development and Regeneration, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning.

The Director of Development and Regeneration presented to Members the proposed Local Plan Preferred Options for Members consideration and the Committee were asked to consider whether any agreed comments should be referred to the Director of Development and Regeneration, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning.

It was reported that since September 2016 the Council had been undertaking a Local Plan Review in order to update its current, adopted Local Plan (West Lancashire Local Plan 2012-2027) to better reflect revised national planning policy and guidance and the evolving sub-regional context surrounding West Lancashire.

It was noted that the proposed Local Plan Preferred Options document that Cabinet had approved for public consultation proposed a draft vision for the Local Plan which reflected the Council's corporate vision to be a Council which was ambitious for West Lancashire.

The Director of Development and Regeneration informed Members that the Preferred Options included 38 policies, including site allocations for specific uses, spread over six broad topic areas:

· Strategic Policies

· Economic Policies

· Residential Policies

· Infrastructure and Services Policies

· Green Infrastructure Policies

· Sustainable Development and Design Policies

It was reported that the scale of development anticipated to be needed in West Lancashire over the next 30 years, it was inevitable that significant release of land for development, including land currently designated as Green Belt, would be required. It was felt that by seeking to release sufficient land for those needs for the full 30 years in one go, the Council would be able to have a more comprehensive and forward-looking Local Plan.

Members were informed that by undertaking a 30 year plan, it was felt it would provide certainty to residents, infrastructure providers, landowners and developers by setting a new Green Belt boundary that, barring a significant increase to the anticipated need for new development, should remain unchanged for at least 20 years.

At this point in the meeting the Chair informed members of the public and Officers that over the past few days the Committee had received a large number of emails from residents outlining a number of concerns; namely;

·     The Consultation was too short and the period be extended from 6 weeks to a minimum of 12 weeks

·     That all documents be made publicly available as soon as possible.

The following Motion was moved and seconded:

"That the following agreed comments be referred to the Director of Development and Regeneration for consideration, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning:

1.   That the Council encourage the submission of alternative options to the Preferred Options and that these be given full consideration by the Council in the next stage of the local plan review process i.e. the preparation of the Publication Version of the Local Plan.

2.   That due to the long term strategic nature of the plan and the considerable level of public interest a copy of the Preferred Options document be placed on the Local Plan pages of the Council’s website on the 4^th October rather than the 12^{th  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20}

(Relevant Portfolio Holder: Councillor J Hodson)

Councillor J Hodson introduced the report of the Director of Development and Regeneration which sought authorisation to consult the public on the Council’s Preferred Options for a new Local Plan.

Minute No. 49 of the Planning Committee meeting held on 6 September 2018 was circulated at the meeting and in relation to minute 49 (B), the Portfolio Holder confirmed that an additional event would be held in the South Eastern Parishes.

A motion from Councillor J Hodson was circulated at the meeting.

At the invitation of Councillor J Hodson, the Director of Development and Regeneration and the Strategic Planning & Implementation Manager addressed the meeting to provide an outline of the local plan process.

In reaching the decision below, Cabinet considered the minute of the Planning Committee, the motion from Councillor J Hodson, the representations of Minute 27 above, the comments of the officers (Director of Development and Regeneration & Strategic Planning & Implementation Manager) and the details as set out in the report before it and accepted the reasons contained therein.

RESOLVED  (A)    That the agreed commentsof the Planning Committee be noted.

(B)    That the Local Plan Preferred Options document provided at Appendix C be approved for a six week public consultation exercise, subject to the revision of paragraph 3.12 in order to provide further clarification of the calculation for the housing requirement for the local plan.

(C)    That the Director of Development and Regeneration, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, be authorised to finalise and make amendments, prior to public consultation, to the Local Plan Preferred Options following consideration of any agreed comments from the Executive Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

(D)    That call-in is not appropriate for this item as the report is being considered at the next meeting of the Executive Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 27 September 2018.

To consider the report of the Director of Development and Regeneration.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Development and Regeneration as set out on pages 353 to 941 of the Book of Reports the purpose of which was to seek Cabinet's authorisation to publicly consult on the Council's Preferred Options for a new Local Plan and for Planning Committee to refer any agreed comments to Cabinet.

In addition to the agreed comments moved and seconded as detailed at (A) and (B) below, the following comment (C) was moved and seconded:

"That Planning Committee have serious concerns over the Local Plan Preferred Options as it considers the Local Plan Review Cabinet Working Group has exceeded its remit.  It was set up to carry out the planned 5 yearly review of the Adopted Local Plan 2012/27 and to make recommendations to the Cabinet.  Instead, it has exceeded its remit and put forward Preferred Options for a completely new Local Plan.

The Preferred Options recommend scrapping the existing Local Plan that still has 9 years to run yet it is meeting local housing need, has delivered the planned number of new homes and continues to provide the necessary 5 year supply of housing land.  It has also withstood legal challenges in respect of rogue developments and proved to be robust.

The proposal for a new 30 year Local Plan 2020/50 is unprecedented and it is felt impractical to accurately forecast that far ahead, the future housing and employment needs of the Borough.  The proposal to plan for 15,992 new homes can only be a very rough estimate given the official population forecast only project to 2041 and even the Treasury has difficulty forecasting medium term economic growth.

It is also proposed to stop the established practice of safeguarding sites identified for future development.  This would mean the Council abdicating its responsibility to manage the release of sites and allow developers, or "market", to decide which sites should be developed first.  It would also mean that all the sites needed for the next 30 years would be made available for development from 2020/21.

Apart from wanting a huge increase in the annual target for both housing building and commercial development, the Preferred Options propose to provide land to meet the future housing and commercial development needs of Merseyside – 6,256 new homes and hundreds of acres for employment use.

The proposed release of up to 1,500 acres from the Greenbelt or Safeguarded land is cause for considerable concern.  The need to take such drastic action is a direct consequence of the issues detailed above.

The Planning Committee urge Cabinet to reject the Preferred Options and instruct the Local Plan Review Cabinet Working Group to prepare new proposals that are in line with the original remit i.e. to review the existing Local Plan 2012/27 and make suitable recommendations to update, amend and perhaps extend it for a further 5 or 7 years. "

A vote was taken on the comment (C) at the request of a Member which was recorded as follows:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49