Agenda and minutes

In addition to the apologies indicated above, the Panel had also received apologies from Councillor J Philip Governance and Development Management Portfolio Holder.

There were no substitutions made for the meeting.

To agree the notes of the last meeting held on 26 February 2015 (attached).

RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last Panel meeting held on 26 February 2015 be agreed.

The Panel’s Terms of Reference were noted.

It was noted that the Panel Work Programme for this municipal year  was completed.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report and appendix.

The Panel received a report from the Business Manager regarding the Development Management of Electronic Information and Systems.

The re-structure of the Planning Support Team, agreed in October 2014, had led to a Senior Technical Officer Electronic Information and a Technical Officer Applications Systems being appointed. The key focus was to implement business process improvements in the use of the primary planning database Northgate M3 and information@work which managed plans, maps, photographs and documents.

Web mapping on the District Council website linked to planning and building control information was scheduled for 2015/16. Work was continuing on scanning of large site, conservation and contaminated land files with progress having already been made in scanning large site files.

Significant progress had also been made in the electronic conversion of historical microfiche planning records. It was estimated that by December 2015, 93,000 jackets comprising nearly 5 million historical planning images, would be converted to electronic format.

A key element in making progress towards mobile and flexible working was the roll out of tablets for Development Control, Trees and Building Control.

RESOLVED:

That the report regarding Electronic Information Systems Development Management be noted.

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received an update on the Local Plan from the Planning Policy Manager.

The Local Development Scheme agreed in July 2014 had proposed that the next stage of consultation on the draft plan/preferred option was to run between May and July 2015. However, it was advised that it was not possible to meet the timetable for a number of reasons, one of which was that receipt of the consultant’s report updating the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) had been delayed due to new household projections published by the Government. The following was noted:

(a)  Options for Growth – A series of three Member workshops were held in the autumn of 2014 to engage Members in the process of identifying options for testing.

(b)  Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) – As indicated earlier, the receipt of the final report from consultants undertaking work on updating the SHMA had been delayed. New household projections had been published by the Government, therefore the consultants needed to update the SHMA calculations using these figures. A draft final report was expected very soon.

(c)  Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) – Work updating the Stage 1 SFRA was nearly complete, a Member’s workshop would be arranged with the consultants once the Stage 2 work had been undertaken.

(d)  Transport Matters – The District Council continued to work with neighbouring authorities on strategic transport modelling to gauge the current position in respect of the transport network in and around Harlow. Supporting the emerging Local Plan, was Essex County Council, who were currently preparing a transport accessibility study. This would provide a further tool to assess possible site allocations.

(e)  Plan Viability – Advice of viability of Local Plan policies was being undertaken by consultants. Their report would also inform policy choices on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL/S106). It had been agreed that the timetable should be revised to enable the general direction from Member workshops on Green Belt Review Phase 1 to inform the consideration of viability. A Member workshop would likely be scheduled for May 2015 reporting on the market position, consider options and include an informal view on the possibility of charging CIL.

(f)    Economic and Employment Evidence – Consultants had provided interim findings on economic and employment evidence for supporting both the Local Plan and the District Council’s overall Economic Development Strategy. This work was being used together with the SHMA with officers ensuring that the assessments of future need for housing and jobs were co-ordinated.

(g)  Green Belt Review – Phase 1 of the Review undertook a comprehensive high level review of all Green Belt land across the district to identify its contribution to the Green Belt as stipulated in the National Planning Policy Framework. It would also explore areas of Green Belt land which no longer contributed towards the national purposes or, contributed the least. The Phase 1 report was approaching completion and it was advised that an extra meeting of the Local Council’s Liaison Committee had been scheduled for 15  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

The Assistant Director of Development Management advised the Panel of new planning legislation which had just come into effect. The changes affected permitted development rights with less permission required for building, from the Area Planning Sub-Committees. A note would be put in the Bulletin for Members.

The Planning Portfolio Holder commented on a recent judicial review involving the District Council, where approval had been given to a glasshouse development in Nazeing. A statutory consultee  - the LVRPA - had objected to the application and later requested a judicial review. The review was dismissed and the judge refused an application to appeal the decision. This could have far reaching implications for the LVRPA and the scope of their powers under the 1966 in relation to planning applications.

This is the last meeting of the Panel, its work will form part of two Overview and Scrutiny Select Committees:

(1)  Neighbourhoods and Community Services Select Committee – Management and Development Plan matters;

(2)  Governance Select Committee – Development Management.

Lead officers for each select committee will be developing new work programmes for next year.

This was the last meeting of the Panel, its work would be transferred to two new committees, the Governance Select Committee and the Neighbourhoods and Community Services Select Committee.

The Chairman thanked Members and officers for their support over the last year.