Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was noted that Councillor Mrs C Pond was substituting for Councillor C Finn.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items of the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview and Scrutiny members are asked to pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an Overview and Scrutiny Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub-Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub-Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an Overview and Scrutiny meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such  a matter.

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

The notes of the last meeting of the Panel held on 13 September 2011 are, as yet, uncompleted. They will be submitted to the next Panel meeting on 20 December 2011.

It was noted that the notes of the last Panel meeting held recently on 13 September 2011 were, as yet uncompleted. They would be submitted to the next Panel meeting on 20 December 2011.

The Terms of Reference are attached.

The current terms of Reference were submitted to the Panel. They would be re-drafted in the near future for Panel approval before being recommended to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Work Programme is undergoing a re-draft and will be submitted to the next Panel meeting in Tuesday 20 December 2011 for Member’s approval and recommendation to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Work Programme was undergoing a re-draft and would be submitted to the next Panel meeting on 20 December 2011 for Member’s approval and recommendation to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

(Director of Planning and Economic Development) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report regarding the Draft National Planning Policy Framework Consultation by the Director and the Assistant Director of Planning and Economic Development, Policy and Conservation.

The proposed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) involved the deletion of all but one of the current Planning Policy Statements (PPS), all of the current Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPG), and a small number of circulars, replacing these with a much shorter single document. The overall intentions were to:

(a)        Consolidate and streamline national planning policy to reduce bureaucracy;

(b)        Promote sustainable economic growth while retaining important environmental and social objectives;

(c)        Empower local communities to do things their way instead of excessive control from Central Government; and

(d)        More “user friendly” and accessible, so that it was easier for members of the public to have a meaningful say in planning decisions.

The consultation ran for a 12 week period from 25 July to 17 October 2011. Officers expressed concern that this major and complex change to national planning guidance was being put out for consultation through the main annual holiday period when some members and staff were likely to have been away for a number of weeks. There were 41 policy questions relating directly to the draft framework, and other Impact Assessment, covering costs of implementation, sustainable development, economic development, planning for people, and environment.

The draft NPPF also introduced some changes to planning policy. The most significant ones were:

(i)         presumption in favour of sustainable development;

(ii)        removing office development from a “town centre first” approach;

(iii)       increasing the time horizon for assessing impacts on town centres from 5 to 10 years;

(iv)       removing the maximum non-residential car parking standards for major developments;

(v)        removing the national brownfield target for housing development;

(vi)       requiring local authorities to add at least 20% to five year housing requirements;

(vii)      removing the national minimum site size threshold for provision of affordable housing;

(viii)      removing the rural exception sites policy; i.e. for these sites only to be for affordable housing;

(ix)       within the Green belt to permit development on previously developed land even if it had not been identified as a “major developed site” in the local plan;

(x)        Community Right to Build schemes to be permissible within the Green Belt if backed by the local community;

(xi)       extending the alteration or replacement of dwellings (already permissible in the Green Belt) to include all buildings;

(xii)      removing the requirement for councils to set decentralised energy targets (based on e.g. micro generation, combined heat and power systems, and district heating systems); and

(xiii)      expecting councils to consider identifying suitable areas for renewable and low carbon energy sources, and any supporting infrastructure.

CLG was also seeking responses from all individuals and organisations with an interest in planning. Officers have therefore sent details of the consultation to town and parish councils, residents’ and other groups, local businesses and developers, using contact details from the database for the Local Development Framework (LDF), encouraging them to respond.

The Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

(Director of Planning and Economic Development) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report regarding a Consultation for Local Planning Regulations by the Assistant Director of Planning Policy and Conservation.

The process of preparing a local plan was currently set out in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Town and Country Planning Regulations 2004. The Localism Bill was amending the 2004 Act, and this consultation sought views on revised regulations replacing the amended 2004 Regulations. Comment was sought regarding whether the changes proposed to the regulations would deliver the intended outcomes.

This consultation concerned the specific regulations which must be followed in order to achieve a sound local plan. It was stated that the intention behind amending these regulations was to ensure that centralised bureaucracy was removed and decision making in planning was returned to local councils and communities.

The Localism Bill introduced a “Duty to Cooperate” in relation to planning of sustainable development. This duty applied to a broad list of organisations including local planning authorities, county councils and other bodies as prescribed by the regulations. The duty required that these organisations engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis in the preparation of development plan documents where they related to strategic matters. Concern remained over whether the resources were available within all of these organisations to engage effectively.

The draft regulations made reference to “general” and “specific” consultation bodies. It was not clear whether this would remain following the publication of the final version of the NPPF and the Regulations.

There was an existing requirement for each local planning authority to submit an Annual Monitoring Report to the Secretary of State by 31 December every year. The draft regulations now proposed that a Monitoring Report must be published by each local authority which identified.

(a)        progress against published timetables for DPD preparation;

(b)        any adopted polices which were not being implemented, and the reason(s) for this;

(c)        what action should be taken to ensure these polices were implemented in future;

(d)        the number of dwellings built in that year, and since the relevant policy was published;

(e)        details of any Neighbourhood Development Order or Neighbourhood Plans that had been published;

(f)         progress against any Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) tariff that had been adopted;

(g)        any action that had been taken under the duty to co-operate.

The regulations did not specify a timetable over which monitoring reports must be published, but did not set out that information that was collected for monitoring purposes should be made available as soon as possible after it was collected. This information must be made available on the Council’s website, and at principal offices. It was necessary for the Council to identify from the outset, the frequency at which update Monitoring reports would be published.

The consultation questions and proposed responses were as follows:

(1) (a)  Do you agree that the revised regulations effectively reflect the changes proposed in the Localism Bill?

Agree

(b)        If you have any comments please enter these below:

The stated intention of the Localism Bill  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

It was advised that site visits would be taking place on the 8 October 2011 for Panel members, which formed part of the Panel’s Work Programme. A subsequent report would be submitted to a future Panel meeting.

The next programmed meeting of the Panel is on Tuesday 20 December 2011 at 7.30p.m. and thereafter on:

Tuesday 7 February 2012; and

Tuesday 24 April

The next programmed meeting of the Panel was scheduled for Tuesday 20 December 2011 at 7.30p.m. and thereafter on:

Tuesday 7 February 2012; and

Tuesday 24 April