To receive the following two items from the Forward Planning Manager, both of which he will be giving an oral report to.
(i) Local Biodiversity Action Plan.
(ii) Community engagement regarding the Local Development Framework and sustainable Community Strategy.
Minutes:
(a) Local Biodiversity Action Plan
The Forward Planning Manager addressed the Committee regarding the Local Biodiversity Action Plan. This had been produced for the District in consultation with a number of other bodies, and circulated at the meeting was a list of the fourteen aims of the Action Plan, along with potential local council involvement for each aim such as including an article regarding the Veteran Tree Hunt in parish magazines. The Forward Planning Manager added that the trees within the District currently protected by County Council Tree Protection Orders (TPO’s) would be resurveyed prior to the lapsing of their orders. However, this was a planning issue that was currently being addressed by the Conservation Team. The Local Biodiversity Action Plan had been adopted at the recent meeting of the Cabinet, but it would be redrafted in an easier to read format prior to general circulation early in 2008/09. It was highlighted that several areas had tree strategies, of which the District Council had been very supportive during their implementation.
(b) Community Engagement – Local Development Framework and Sustainable Community Strategy
The Forward Planning Manager gave an overview of the new planning system to be implemented, the Local Development Framework, to the Committee. The key document under the new system would be the Core Strategy, which would be closely integrated with the plans and strategies of other local public bodies, focused on delivery and coordinated with other components such as the Local Area Agreement and Sustainable Community Strategy. It was intended for the Core Strategy to be very different from the Local Plan, which was essentially a development control document. The key to the new system was the provision of a ‘vision’ for the District over the next fifteen years, in accordance with national and regional policy such as the East of England Plan. The District Council was under an obligation to consult widely with the local community, or there was the risk of the Planning Inspectorate declaring the Council’s Framework ‘unsound’.
The Committee was informed that a ‘visioning’ exercise had been undertaken recently by Chigwell Parish Council, which had examined open spaces, facilities, the street scene, education and housing provision within the parish. It had been a very useful process for the Parish Council, which had required the balancing of competing priorities, and it was intended to invite the public to comment in due course. Local Councils were requested to consider pursuing a similar approach to Chigwell Parish Council, either singly or jointly, as it would an excellent method of engaging the local community in the establishment of the Local Development Framework. Stage one of the engagement process would involve events and exhibitions throughout the District advertising the Core Strategy; stage two would encompass the more formal consultation upon the issues and options contained within the Strategy and was scheduled to start in the autumn of 2008. The Forward Planning Manager advised the Committee that the emphasis of the Local Development Framework was upon delivery, and would be an entirely different concept from the Local Plan.