Agenda item

(Planning Policy Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-008-2016/17).

(1)        That the Examiner’s recommendation for the Moreton, Bobbingworth and the Lavers Neighbourhood Development Plan not meeting the basic conditions be noted;

(2)        That the plan proposal should be refused and should not proceed to referendum be agreed;

(3)        That publication of this decision would occur as soon as possible be noted; and

(4)        That the District Council would assist the Parish Council in the process of producing a revised proposal, should it seek to do so, be noted.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy presented a report on the outcome from the independent examination of the Neighbourhood Plan for Moreton, Bobbingworth and The Lavers.

The Portfolio Holder stated that the Examiner of the Moreton Bobbingworth and the Lavers Neighbourhood Plan had concluded that the Plan did not meet the basic conditions required of a Neighbourhood Plan and therefore could not recommend that the Plan should proceed to referendum. Having considered each of the Examiner’s recommendations and reasons for them, Officers had agreed with the Examiner’s conclusions. Whilst the District Council could make modifications to the Plan to put it forward for referendum, these would be critical to the Plan Purpose and were therefore considered to be the purview of the Parish Council. Therefore, the Council should now refuse the Plan proposal.  The Council would continue to advise and assist the Parish Council of Moreton, Bobbingworth and the Lavers in producing a revised plan should they seek to do so.

The Portfolio Holder added that the full Neighbourhood Plan had been published as a background paper to this meeting for other Local Councils to learn from, and one of the lessons was for Local Councils to heed the advice of the District Council’s Planning Policy Officers. Although every Neighbourhood Plan was at a different stage in its development, they had to be in general conformity with the strategic policies of the District Local Plan. Therefore, most Local Councils were waiting for the consultation on the draft District Local Plan scheduled for 31 October to 12 December 2016, before continuing to progress their Neighbourhood Plans to the Examination and Referendum stages.

Decision:

(1)        That the Examiner’s recommendation for the Moreton, Bobbingworth and the Lavers Neighbourhood Development Plan not meeting the basic conditions be noted;

(2)        That the plan proposal should be refused and should not proceed to referendum be agreed;

(3)        That publication of this decision would occur as soon as possible be noted; and

(4)        That the District Council would assist the Parish Council in the process of producing a revised proposal, should it seek to do so, be noted.

Reasons for Decision:

To comply with the relevant regulations and in so doing make clear the Council’s position, that the current Plan did not meet the basic conditions. The magnitude of change to a key policy in the Plan to enable it to meet the basic conditions was such that the Parish Council should reconsider and re-consult on their proposals.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

Under the regulations, the Council was able to make changes to the plan proposal, consult on these and put it forward for referendum or send it back for examination.  It could therefore, with the Parish’s agreement, strike out the policies that were of concern to the Examiner and make the additional changes. However, given that the Council generally agreed with the conclusions of the Examiner and Policy MBL 1.1 was critical to the Plan proposals, this was not a recommended course of action; it was considered that a revision of the Plan by the Parish Council would be needed followed by all the relevant regulatory stages.