Agenda item

In accordance with Chichester District Council’s scheme for public question time the Council will receive any questions which have been submitted by members of the public in writing by noon two working days before the meeting. Each questioner will be given up to three minutes to ask their question. The total time allocated for public question time is 15 minutes subject to the Chair’s discretion to extend that period.

The Chair explained that no subsidiary questions would be allowed. The following questions and answers were received:

Question from Jane Towers:

The Local Plan and Strategic Infrastructure Update shows that waste water treatment infrastructure is a significant constraint on the level of and location of housing development. It is well known that Thornham Wastewater Treatment works has finite capacity and does not have the technical or environmental conditions to be upgraded in the near future.  Yet the actual capacity is still not in the public domain. It is therefore essential there is a Statement of Common Ground for Thornham, exactly as for Apuldram, and signed off by CDC, Havant BC, Southern Water and the EA as quickly as possible.  This will enable Chidham and Hambrook, Southbourne and Westbourne in our District and Emsworth in Havant to better defend what is now well over 1000 houses in planning applications.

1.    When will you put in the public domain the remaining capacity for each Waste Water Treatment Plant?

Answer from Cllr Taylor:

An estimate of the capacity at each WWTW, made by comparing the EA permit to the average Dry Weather Flow information from Southern Water can be made available in August. This information will change each year as new Dry Weather Flow data becomes available.

This estimate will be supplemented by information on recent completions and permissions - an update to this information is currently in progress alongside work on the Five Year Housing Supply for the Chichester plan area.

We are currently working with both Southern Water and the Environment on a Statement of Common Ground which will include this information, with Southern Water also providing information on development in other Districts using WWTWs in the Chichester plan area.  Further updates may be needed to reflect any changes in the emerging Local Plan Review Development Strategy. Once this Statement of Common Ground is agreed it will be published on the Council’s website at the earliest opportunity.

2.    Given the simplicity of the current Apuldram Position Statement that has been in place since 2018, and the urgency with respect to planning applications, what is the barrier to getting an individual Position Statements issued for Thornham by the end of August?

Answer from Cllr Taylor:

We are currently in discussion with Southern Water and the Environment Agency concerning the need for and content of a Position Statement for Thornham and will also be discussing this with Havant. Subject to the agreement of all parties it is anticipated that a position statement will be progressed shortly.

Question from Roderick Hague, Chair of Oving Parish Council – read by Ruth Palmer, Clerk of Oving Parish Council

1.    Given the letters that were sent out to all of the Parish Councils on the 26th November 2020, would this Council (if they agree to item 10.4) include in those letters the analysis of each of those proposed allocations for their impact on the new revised situation of only minor mitigation measures along the A27? This will be critical part of many ongoing Neighbourhood Plan processes.

Answer from Cllr Taylor:

It is envisaged that following this meeting parish councils are written to outlining the current position with the local plan and the implications for neighbourhood plans. 

2.    Given the recommendations of the Stantec Modelling Review is the distribution of housing likely to be changed again to reflect this new information, particularly its recommendation on the Development Distribution? 

Answer from Cllr Taylor:

It is very likely that the distribution of development which was communicated to Parish councils in November 2020 will change before the Plan is finalised, either in location or phasing of development.  This will require further work and in particular an agreed way forward with the highway authorities and others to consider the transport and waste water issues.  Parish councils will be kept informed of progress.

Question fromMrs Susan Milnes:

The Chichester District Council website states that the new local Plan will be published in Spring 2022, submitted to the Inspector in Summer 2022 and the Examination will commence in Autumn 2022. How reliable are these dates considering the delays already experienced, the latest developments and need to reassess the location and size of development sites taking into account the limitation of funding for transport improvements and challenges around waste water?

Answer from Cllr Taylor:

The report today provides an update for Members on the transport work for the local plan, and a snapshot of the progress with securing a deliverable, affordable package of measures for the A27 in the absence of a national scheme.  The report does not propose an amendment to the local plan timetable at this point.  Clearly this issue has the potential to delay the local plan process, but it is only when further discussions have been held with the highway authorities that any implications for the local plan programme can be determined.

Question from Mr Andrew Kerry-Beddell:

Since the Local Plan went out of date exactly a year ago, all Parishes have been inundated with developer planning applications, due to the false promise the CDC HELAA gives them and which still includes many entirely unsuitable sites with no mains sewage, lack of transport access, unsafe road widths and regular site flooding.

The only defence any Parishes have from developers is delivered by a Council with an up to date Local Plan, a 5 Year Housing Land Supply and a robust road and sewage infrastructure plan.

Precisely what dates are these three key factors – the Local Plan, 5 Year Housing Land Supply and detailed road and sewage plans going to be in the public domain, in order to try and deliver the number of houses Government insists the Council take based on its mutant new housing calculation system?

Answer from Cllr Taylor:

The report today provides an update for Members on the transport work for the local plan, and a snapshot of the progress with securing a deliverable, affordable package of measures for the A27 in the absence of a national scheme.  The report does not propose an amendment to the local plan timetable at this point.  Clearly this issue has the potential to delay the local plan process, but it is only until further discussions have been held with the highway authorities that any implications for the local plan programme can be determined.

Regarding the next 5 year housing supply position, the Council has procured the advice of consultants who specialise in this matter to ensure that it sets out the best possible defensible case on housing supply.  An exact date is not fixed, but it is expected that this statement will be published in August.

Regarding road and sewerage, the relevant infrastructure providers are working to their own timescales.  Southern Water’s Drainage Waste Management Plan is due to be finalised in 2023.  West Sussex County Council’s Transport Plan is due to be finalised in early 2022.  Highways England’s next Road Investment Strategy is expected to cover the period 2025-2030, though it is anticipated that a consultation on the A27 will be undertaken in in the next year.  The Local Plan can only reflect as best it can the progress made by those partners at any particular point in time, which is why the report being considered by Members proposes further discussions to seek an agreed basis for managing development (and bringing forward the Local Plan) in the meantime.

Question from David King:

Given that it has recently been reported that CDC officers have concluded that the Stockbridge link Road “is currently not fundable or deliverable through the local plan process and therefore should not be proceeded with” and that “it is clear that from projected funding sources it is not currently possible to fully secure the money necessary to be able to deliver the full level of development envisaged in the preferred approach plan published in late 2018:-

Will Chichester District Council now pause the progress of the Southbourne Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan?

Answer from Cllr Taylor:

The examination of the Southbourne Neighbourhood Parish Plan Review will formally commence once the independent examiner has been appointed and received the documents that are required to be submitted to him/her. However the plan can be withdrawn at any time by the qualifying body, Southbourne Parish Council, and that is a decision for the Parish Council.