Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Leader of Council made a short address to remind all present that the meeting would be broadcast on the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any item on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest pursuant to the Council’s Member Code of Conduct.

(Director of Governance) To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Cabinet held on 1 September 2016 (previously circulated).

(1)        That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 September 2016 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Resolved:

(1)        That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 September 2016 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

There were no verbal reports from the Portfolio Holders present at the meeting on current issues concerning their areas of responsibility.

To answer questions asked by members of the public after notice in accordance with the provisions contained within Part 4 of the Constitution (Council Rules, rule Q3 refers) on any matter in relation to which the Cabinet has powers or duties or which affects the District.

(a)        The Cabinet heard from Ben Thomas, representing Savills (UK) Limited, who expressed their disappointment that the Pickfield Nursery site at Pick Hill in Waltham Abbey was not currently allocated for residential development within the draft Local Plan.

(b)        The Cabinet heard from Local Councillor Tom Owen, representing Loughton Town Council, who highlighted some issues for the relationship between the proposed retail development at Langston Road and the existing retail outlets in The Broadway, Loughton; and that the new development would have an impact on the retail outlets in both The Broadway and Loughton High Road.

(Planning Policy Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-023-2016/17).

(Planning Policy Portfolio Holder) To consider the following revised and additional documents alongside the main report previously published:

            (i)         revised figures for the Housing and Traveller trajectories (page 359 of         the original agenda); and

            (ii)        additional information for the Non-Technical Summary (page 373 of             the original agenda).

(1)        That the Draft Local Plan (Appendix 1 of the report) and the non technical summary of the Sustainability Appraisal (Appendix 2 of the report) be endorsed and that consultation on the Draft Local Plan under Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2012 should commence for a 6 week statutory period from 31 October to 12 December 2016 in accordance with the Statement of Community Involvement, and that representations received after 5.00pm on 12 December 2016 would be deemed invalid, be recommended to the Council for approval;

(2)        That the endorsement of the Draft Local Plan as a material consideration to be used in the determination of planning applications and enforcement decisions, in accordance with paragraph 216 of the National Planning Policy Framework, be recommended to the Council for approval; and

(3)        That the granting of delegated authority to the Director of Neighbourhoods, in consultation with the Planning Policy Portfolio Holder, to make any necessary minor non-material amendments to the Draft Local Plan prior to the commencement of public consultation on 31 October 2016 be recommended to the Council for approval.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy presented a report on the Epping Forest District draft Local Plan for consultation.

The Portfolio Holder stated that the draft Local Plan outlined the Council’s vision and preferred approach for development in the District for the next 17 years. The draft Plan included the identification of sites for residential, traveller and economic growth (including strategic sites around Harlow within this District) to meet the needs as set out in the evidence base and also included draft planning policies for use in determining planning proposals. The Council was seeking to consult on the draft Local Plan under Regulation 18 of the Local Planning Regulations 2012. All comments received would be considered prior to the preparation of the Local Plan for publication, and this might result in changes to the draft Plan prior to publication of the pre-submission version of the Plan.

The Portfolio Holder reported that there would be further work undertaken on the assessment of employment sites – to understand the existing supply and therefore the overall need throughout the Plan period. The Council would then determine the most suitable sites for allocation, however, in the meantime, all the sites had been included that had been identified in order that the Council could obtain views during the consultation period.

The Portfolio Holder confirmed that, in setting out the Council’s preferred strategy, consideration had been given to reasonable alternatives as required by legislation.  Appendix 2 of the report contained the Non-Technical Summary of the Interim Sustainability Appraisal – the full background report would form part of the consultation documentation. The Summary set out a comparison between the preferred Strategy and four reasonable alternatives for the spatial distribution of housing across the District. Table 3 in the report provided a summary of the findings and how the preferred Strategy performed in relation to the alternatives. The Non-Technical Summary had been updated since the Cabinet agenda was published – the only substantive change was to the monitoring arrangements which had been updated to reflect Appendix 3 of the Local Plan and the proposed monitoring indicators. These amendments would be included in the agenda for the Council meeting on 18 October 2016.

The Portfolio Holder also drew the Cabinet’s attention to minor changes in Appendix 5 – the Housing and Traveller Trajectories - as some of the original numbers were incorrect. The updated Appendix 5 reflected the corresponding Appendix in the Site Selection Report. The Cabinet’s attention was also drawn to a number of new pieces of key evidence which had not yet been published but had been used to inform the preparation of the Plan; these studies would be published prior to the consultation period. In addition, during preparation of the pre-submission version of the Local Plan, the Council would also be undertaking some additional work, including:

            (i)         Local Transport modelling on the sites proposed for allocation to understand the     highway improvements that would be necessary and to inform the Habitats Regulation         Assessment;

            (ii)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 requires that the permission of the Chairman be obtained, after prior notice to the Chief Executive, before urgent business not specified in the agenda (including a supplementary agenda of which the statutory period of notice has been given) may be transacted.

The Cabinet noted that there was no further urgent business for discussion.

Exclusion

To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Background Papers

Article 17 of the Constitution (Access to Information) define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

The Council will make available for public inspection one copy of each of the documents on the list of background papers for four years after the date of the meeting. Inspection of background papers can be arranged by contacting either the Responsible Officer or the Democratic Services Officer for the particular item.

The Cabinet noted that there was no business which necessitated the exclusion of the public and press.