Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Community and Resources, which sought approval of the publication of a revised Delivery Allocations Local Plan Scoping Document for a six week period of public consultation.

The Board was advised that there was a statutory requirement for the local authority to produce a development plan for its area. The Board had previously approved consultation under Regulation 18 at its meeting on 9 January 2014, on the scope of the Delivery and Allocations Local Plan (DALP). It was reported that since that time, the implementation of the National and Local Planning Policy Framework and the National Planning Policy Guidance, had indicated the need to widen the ‘scope’ of the DALP. The report provided Members with details of Polices which required further consideration.

Reason(s) for Decision

A Local Plan was a statutory requirement; the UDP (2005) needed updating; developers needed confidence of land allocations to bring forward development.

The Government’s recent changes to the national planning system required amendments to adopted policies.

New evidence documents had been produced that required changes to adopted policies.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

The alternative to taking stock of emerging evidence, re-framing and re-consulting on the scope of the DALP would be to continue with production of the DALP document as initially intended, or to widen the scope but not repeat the Regulation 18 consultation stage.

To continue with the DALP as originally framed, risked insurmountable problems emerging between the Core Strategy, the evidence base and the DALP later in the production process, perhaps after Examination. Widening the scope of the document without the appropriate consultation risked future legal challenge to the finally adopted Plan on procedural grounds.

Implementation Date

The DALP Scoping Document and the Community Infrastructure Levy Scoping Document, if approved for consultation, would each be subject to a six week public consultation period. This was scheduled to begin January 2016.

RESOLVED: That

1)    the revised Delivery and Allocations Local Plan Scoping Document (attached to the report at Appendix 1), be approved for the purposes of public consultation for a six week period, scheduled to begin in January 2016;

2)    the Community Infrastructure Levy Scoping Document (attached to the report at Appendix 2), be approved for the purposes of public consultation for a six week period, scheduled to begin in January 2016; and

3)    any minor drafting amendments to be made to the scoping documents prior to public consultation be agreed by the Operational Director, Policy, Planning and Transportation, in consultation with the Executive Board Member for Physical Environment.