Agenda item

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and its three appendicesand to make the following recommendations to the special meeting of the Council at 14:00 on Monday 19 June 2017:

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNCIL

(1)  That the published Local Development Scheme 2017-2020 be amended by adding the key dates for the Local Plan Review set out in paragraph 6.3 of this report.

(2)  That the Local Plan Review Issues and Options documents presented as appendices to this report be approved for a six-week period of public consultation from 22 June to 3 August 2017.

(3)  That the Head of Planning Services be authorised following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning Services to make minor amendments to the consultation documents prior to their publication.

RECOMMENDED TO THE COUNCIL

(1)  That the published Local Development Scheme 2017-2020 be amended by adding the key dates for the Local Plan Review set out in paragraph 6.3 of the agenda report.

(2)  That the Local Plan Review Issues and Options documents presented as appendices to the agenda report be approved for a six-week period of public consultation from 22 June to 3 August 2017.

(3)  That the Head of Planning Services be authorised following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning Services to make minor amendments to the consultation documents prior to their publication.

The Cabinet received and considered the agenda report and its three appendices in the first agenda supplement (copies attached to the official minutes).

The report was presented by Mrs Taylor.

Mr Allgrove and Mr Frost were in attendance for this item.

Mrs Taylor said that this review of the Chichester Local Plan: Key Policies 2014-2029 (CLP), which had been adopted in July 2015, was imposed by the planning inspector in pronouncing the CLP to be sound. The requirement for a review within five years was due to the annual housing figure in the CLP of 435 homes per year falling short of meeting the objectively assessed need (OAN) at that time of 505 homes per year. Satisfying the OAN was a particular challenge for Chichester District since 70% of the area fell within the South Downs National Park and so outside the CLP area. A portion of the remaining 30% was either in the AONB or subject to environmental constraints eg flooding. In addition Chichester District was adjacent to other large urban areas with growth in employment and housing requirements, particularly in Arun District Council and Havant Borough Council areas. Moreover, it was evident from recent examinations of other local authorities’ local plans that councils were having to plan for very substantial increases in housing numbers and CDC could not assume that it would be exempt at the review examination. Despite not being able at this stage to estimate the scale of development for which CDC would be required to allocate land, the plan-making process had to be commenced now. The timetable was set out in appendix 1 (page 9) and would require close adherence in order to ensure adoption was completed within five years ie by July 2020.  The absence of a new local plan could render the CLP area vulnerable to speculative development in inappropriate and even damaging locations instead of the most suitable sites which balanced meeting demand with minimising harm to the area’s wonderful natural heritage.

The first main stage of the review process was the Issues and Options consultation which was due to run from 22 June to 3 August 2017, using a questionnaire to engage the community (parish councils and their residents) and drawing out comments and information to help CDC draft a strategy and preferred policy options to be included in the CLP review document.  Community engagement was a very important process. The possible locations for housing development listed in the consultation were described only in broad terms at this stage.  As the plan-making process progressed, the options would become narrower in range and more clearly defined.

The consultation would be accompanied by a sustainability appraisal (SA) which would deal specifically with the locations in questions 11 and 14. A SA assessed inter alia the social, environmental and economic impacts of the development options in the CLP review. At this preliminary stage this SA provided only an outline summary of the positive and negative impacts of options.

The consultation documents were amended in the light of comments made by CDC’s Development Plan and Infrastructure Panel on 3 May 2017 (para 6.9 of the report).

Consultation on the SA and the Habitat Regulations Assessment would run in parallel with the issues identified in the CLP review questionnaire.

Mr Allgrove and Mr Frost did not wish to add to Mrs Taylor’s presentation.

In reply to two questions by Mr Wilding with respect to (a) how the receipt of feedback from stakeholders could be ensured and (b) how responses were weighted, Mr Allgrove summarised the publicity means which would be used by CDC and explained that all comments received would be carefully considered by officers including responses from statutory consultees such as Natural England, Historic England and Highways England.   

Decision

At the end of the discussion the Cabinet voted unanimously on a show of hands in favour of making the recommendations set out below.

RECOMMENDED TO THE COUNCIL

(1)  That the published Local Development Scheme 2017-2020 be amended by adding the key dates for the Local Plan Review set out in paragraph 6.3 of the agenda report.

(2)  That the Local Plan Review Issues and Options documents presented as appendices to the agenda report be approved for a six-week period of public consultation from 22 June to 3 August 2017.

(3)  That the Head of Planning Services be authorised following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning Services to make minor amendments to the consultation documents prior to their publication.