Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors N Dixon, N Pearce and J Punchard.

None.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of a meeting of the Working Party held on 22 March 2021.

The Minutes of a meeting of the Working Party held on 22 March 2021 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.

The Planning Policy Manager informed the Working Party that revised agreements under the Duty to Co-operate relating to surface water drainage and flooding had been prepared as requested at the previous meeting.  The revised agreements would need to be signed off by all Duty to Co-operate Forum partners at a meeting to be held later in the week.  The Working Party would be updated at its next meeting.

The Planning Policy Team Leader introduced a report that recommended policy approaches to sustainable development for inclusion in the Local Plan.  He asked the Working Party to consider if it now wished to place greater emphasis on low carbon sources of energy and, in particular, wind turbines, in the light of the declaration of climate emergency.  In doing so it would be necessary to accept larger turbines that produced more power.  Less weight could be given to landscape sensitivity in determining planning applications, which would open up more of the District to such developments.

The Senior Planning Officer (CD) presented the revised policy SD7.  She outlined the background to the current version and highlighted the changes that had been made since January 2019 to take into account the updated national policy and guidance.  She explained that removing the landscape sensitivity element in order to make the policy even more positive would effectively open up the whole of the District to large scale wind turbine proposals.

In answer to a question by the Chairman, the Senior Planning Officer confirmed that the Broads Authority area had the same protection as the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Councillor J Toye stated that whilst the area was sensitive, there was also a need to consider biodiversity.  He stated that the footprint of a wind turbine was much smaller than that of ground mounted solar panels, and a great deal of land was lost in producing the same amount of power from solar as from wind energy.  He considered that wind energy should not be discounted as future technology may fit better into the landscape in some areas.  He asked if storage facilities such as batteries were classed as renewables.

The Senior Planning Officer explained that battery storage fell under renewable and low carbon energy so proposals would be assessed against Policy SD7.

Councillor R Kershaw stated that he had slight concerns with regard to the policy.  It was anticipated that most of the major wind energy would come from offshore turbine developments, such as Vattenfall and Vanguard.  He considered that there was no chance of an offshore ring main coming forward within the timescale of those developments and there was insufficient infrastructure to take the power that would be generated.  In East Anglia, the UK Power Network grid was not sufficient to cope with the growing demand for electric vehicles, let alone offshore power, and it was necessary for local solutions such as battery storage to be included in the Local Plan.  He was concerned that there would not be an AONB to protect if climate issues were not tackled.

Councillor N Lloyd, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, Climate Change and Environment, was pleased that the context of the policy had gone further than he expected.  He considered that there would be more emphasis on local energy in the medium to longer term and energy storage was therefore vital.  He asked for Officers’ views on the Bodham wind turbine case and was concerned that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.

The Senior Planning Officer (SH) presented an update on the work on the Development Brief for the North Walsham Western Extension and the proposed consultation website.

The Chairman and Members of the Working Party praised the Officers for the work that had been carried out to date.

Councillor G Mancini-Boyle asked if Officers could foresee any negative issues or had any negative comments.

The Planning Policy Manager stated that the proposals would not be universally supported and there had been some local concerns.  However, there was acceptance that the basic premise behind the scheme was sound, given that the options elsewhere were limited.  At this stage it was necessary to prove the concept to some local residents and Town Council Members who considered that their issues had not been properly addressed.  This was the start of two rounds of public consultation which would show the Council’s initial thoughts on the proposals and seek opinion on them from the wider public.  The document would then be reviewed and a further version produced for public consultation along with the next stage of consultation on the Local Plan.  He considered that there would be many challenges as it was a major proposal which would take many years to develop.  Whilst it was hoped there would be a great deal of support, it was accepted that there were many people who were yet to be convinced by the proposals, and concern was being expressed from further afield with regard to the impact of the proposals, such as increased traffic through Coltishall.

Councillor P Heinrich welcomed the report and wished to place on record his thanks to the Senior Planning Officer and Planning Policy Manager for their work and the progress that had been made.  He stated that he had received no adverse feedback from organisations in the town regarding routing etc. and he considered that the consultation was crucial in bringing the majority of people on board.  It was essential that the overall design and concept met the needs of North Walsham.  He had concerns regarding the impact of traffic routing and Coltishall would bear the brunt of it.  He considered that the vision statement was very good and along with the core themes provided a very sound basis to move forward in a positive way.  He hoped that the development brief would be a national exemplar of good practice.

Councillor C Stockton stated that many of the issues that people were concerned about were outside the control of the Council, such as infrastructure in terms of doctors’ surgeries, dentists and schools and there was a need to involve providers in order to remove that criticism.  Lack of jobs was another issue which frequently caused concern, and whilst it was good that the report mentioned job opportunities and employment, it was another area over which the Council had limited control.

Councillor N Lloyd, as local Member, stated that most of his comments had been covered.  He supported Councillor Stockton’s comments and stated that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97.