Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr G Bull.

None received

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of a meeting of the Working Party held on Monday, 20^th February 2023.

The Minutes of the meeting held Monday 20^th February 2023 were approved as a correct record.

To determine any other items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

None.

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests that they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.  The Code of Conduct for Members requires that declarations include the nature of the interest and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.  Members are requested to refer to the attached guidance and flowchart.

None received.

None.

Health Protocol Update

Contact Officer, telephone number and email:

Mathew Gutteridge; Senior planning Officer, matthew.gutteridge@north-norfolk.gov.uk Tel 01263 516224

Officers Report

The PPM introduced the Officer’s Report and updated Health Protocol; a multiagency-owned document shared between members of the Norfolk Strategic Planning Group including planning authorities and health organisations. The PPM commented that one of the key frustrations from the public, with regards the Local Plan, was that the delivery of housing was not matched by healthcare provision or infrastructure more broadly. The PPM advised that Members were asked to consider and endorse the revised changes to the Protocol as identified on P.21 of the Agenda.

The meeting was adjourned at 10.11am due to an IT outage and was reconvened at 10.32am.

Members debate and questions

1. Cllr N Dixon stated that whilst he was content with many aspects of the Protocol he was not content with the way in which it failed to consider and deal with certain components of health. With reference to Page 20, Paragraph 1.4 of the Officer’s report, Cllr N Dixon noted that Members were asked to ‘note the new approach to embedding health and wellbeing in spatial planning’, but questioned what that actually meant in practice. He contended it was important that other elements of healthcare including mental, dental and public also be considered within the Protocol, and reflected that the lack of mental and dental health services had been a considerable issue locally. Cllr N Dixon affirmed that Members had a responsibility to ensure such elements were explicitly defined within the document as a critical part of the delivery of health and wellbeing services, to not do so would be a failed opportunity to place greater emphasis to those components of health. 

2. Cllr J Toye, with reference to Page 20, Paragraph 2.4, questioned how this could be ensured in practice. He contended that large developers may choose to subdivide a site into smaller sites which, if taken alone, may not meet the 50 dwelling threshold figure, though would have if they had been considered collectively.

3. Cllr V Holliday asked how the 50 dwelling figure had been reached and whether this was implementable. She noted that within her Ward smaller developments had, over time, cumulatively resulted in 50 dwellings, but that this would not have been apparent at the outset. She questioned how cumulative development would be considered and managed. Additionally, Cllr V Holliday asked the PPM to offer examples how healthcare and public health had influenced the design and pre-planning of developments.

4. Cllr J Punchard supplied that through the Protocol a new doctor’s facility had been built in his Ward. This had been completed to a high standard and with the appropriate physical infrastructure to provide services for mental health, district nursing, and minor surgeries. However, staffing the facility remained an issue meaning the resource could not be used to its fullest.

5. Cllr P Heinrich sought clarity how it could be ensured that developers pay the relevant share of the cost of providing the services identified in the document. Further, with regards Paragraph 2.2, Page 20, Cllr P Heinrich asked, when combining two  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

             To pass the following resolution (if necessary):

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act.”

None.