(Service Director – Planning Services) To consider the risks involved with the stance of Natural England on planning applications affecting the Special Area of Conservation within Epping Forest, as well as the risks for other areas within the Directorate.
Minutes:
The Service Director for Planning Services, N Richardson, updated the Committee on the risks currently facing his Directorate.
N Richardson stated that the biggest risk was the inability of the Council to issue planning permissions for new developments affecting the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) within the Epping Forest. The main issue affecting this risk was the increased amounts of traffic from developments affecting the SAC; therefore, any development leading to a net increase in traffic on the roads within 200 metres of the SAC should not be granted permission unless mitigation measures had been put in place. A small number of planning permissions had been issued where the Developer had been able to demonstrate that no harm would arise to the SAC, but Natural England was a statutory consultee and the Council could only depart from Natural England’s advice when it had strong reasons for doing so.
N Richardson reported that the District’s draft Local Plan had designated a number of sites across the District for residential development. The draft Local Plan was currently subject to independent inspection from the appointed Planning Inspector, who had identified a number of actions for the Council to take to resolve this issue. The Council had been working on this issue through modelling, but Natural England and the Conservators of Epping Forest had raised concerns about the methodology being used by the Council. The whole issue was highly technical and scientific, but the Service Director was optimistic that a solution could be found. The Cabinet had agreed the Mitigation Strategy at its meeting last week, and the Council would continue to work with Natural England and the Conservators to find a solution.
N Richardson commented that there were many local developers frustrated with the current situation, some of whom had waited two years for their planning permissions, and the Council was not now submitting such applications for determination unless mitigation of the potential effects on the SAC had been clearly demonstrated. Air quality was an issue highlighted in the draft Local Plan, for which the Planning Inspector had queried some of the allocations and the Council had made some changes to these allocations subsequently. However, the Service Director was optimistic that the draft Local Plan would get adopted in early 2021.
N Richardson added that the situation was frustrating for Planning Officers also, as the permissions that could be released currently affected the whole of the District because, potentially, traffic could travel through the Forest. Fortunately, the majority of the planning applications received by the Council were for extensions to residential properties, which were not affected by this issue.
Cllr R Jennings queried if this Council was the only local authority in England in this position? N Richardson stated that Portsmouth City Council had water quality issues to resolve and the Council had been liaising with them. The Council had also been trying to engage with the District’s three Members of Parliament to highlight this issue at a higher level.
Cllr S Heap enquired if the Council could implement other measures to offset carbon usage, was the development at Latton Priority affected by this issue as well, and what was the Council’s response to the last letter from the Planning Inspector querying some of the statistics that the Council was basing its draft Local Plan on.
N Richardson responded that the draft Local Plan was encouraging more sustainable methods of developing throughout the District. The Council had engaged a Sustainable Transport Officer, and was recruiting for a Climate Change Officer, so change would be encouraged in the future. All sites in the draft Local Plan would affect the air quality throughout the District, and the Council needed to demonstrate that the predicted increase in pollution was not enough to affect the SAC. Ultimately, the Conservators of the Forest and Natural England would decide what was damaging for the Forest, but if the Council could gain agreement for its Sustainable Transport Strategy from Natural England, then the Council would be relied upon to make the requisite planning decisions. It could also not be assumed that all future vehicle movements would be electric, despite all new properties being required to provide a charging point, and not even electric vehicles were completely sustainable. The Council was doing all it could to reduce the traffic movements arising from the development at Latton Priority, but the developers felt that each dwelling should have two or three parking spaces provided. Cllr P Keska added that it was essential to have access to at least one car if you lived in the east of the District.
In respect of the last letter received from the Planning Inspector, N Richardson agreed that the Council did need to review some of the Housing numbers within the current draft Local Plan. In addition, the Council also needed to carefully review its proposed release of sites within the Metropolitan Green Belt, as it had already been requested to remove some of the greenfield sites currently within the draft Local Plan.
Cllr Heap agreed that the current situation was very problematic, and would need some compromises to resolve. N Richardson stated that this was the most challenging time during his thirty-year career in Planning.
Cllr I Hadley highlighted recent instances within the Council where there was a lack of procedures for staff to follow, and enquired if this was the case within the Planning Department? N Richardson reassured the Committee that the Planning Department did have a number of written procedures in place, and these had been audited in the past. A review of the existing procedures was currently being undertaken by the Service Manager and the Principal Planning Officers. The Department did receive complaints from residents about Planning from time to time, but this did sometimes result in the improvement of existing procedures.
N Richardson informed the Committee that ‘what kept him awake at night’ was the difficulty in getting good Planning Officers whenever the Council had a vacant post. It had been necessary to use Agency staff at times, and Consultants as well. However, the Council had been developing its own Planning Officers over the previous ten years by getting suitable candidates qualified before they started to work for the Council afterwards. In addition, revenue from Planning fees had been reduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the Department was looking to increase revenue in other areas, such as chargeable pre-planning advice.
Cllr R Jennings enquired about the role of Members in Planning, as the Government could remove the responsibility for Planning from District Councils. If the Planning Committees were not as consistent as they should be in their decision-making, then could they be the weakest part of the system?
N Richardson explained that it was virtually unknown for an Officer recommendation to be overturned at other Essex authorities, but the Council did perform well at Planning Appeals so perhaps the involvement of Members added an important local element to the process. The Council received so many planning applications that it was impossible for Members to comment on all of them, and the delegation to Officers to determine planning applications was not as high as other Councils, but the Service Director felt that Members did have a role to play in the Planning process but not for every planning application. In addition, the Town and Parish Councils commented on all Planning applications submitted and Planning Officers did take account of their representations.
Resolved:
(1) That the Service Director for Planning Services be thanked for his attendance to answer the Committee’s questions on his Service Area.