The Working Party will be updated verbally.
Minutes:
The Planning Policy Team Leader updated the Working Party on progress made towards Regulation 19 consultation. There were a few remaining policies to review but work was now progressing towards bringing the policies together in one document. The wording of specific policies would be reviewed. Further work would be carried out on the site allocations, including North Walsham, and this would be brought to the Working Party in due course. Work was required on the Sustainability Appraisal. A Consultation Statement to show how the feedback from Regulation 18 consultation had been used to finalise the policies would be prepared. The Habitat Regulation Assessments would be updated once the policies were finalised. Employment boundary reviews were being undertaken. A Policies Map was also required to graphically illustrate the policies.
The Planning Policy Team Leader explained that the emerging Plan placed significant emphasis on climate change issues; it was included in the key issues and vision, it was a core objective and embedded throughout the policies. There was a statutory duty in the NPPF to address climate change, but it was a broad issue that could not be addressed by planning alone. Planning could lay down the strategic framework, but delivery was reliant on partnership with others and was dependent on many other factors. There was scope to bring the issue to the forefront of the Plan through the layout of the document. He presented two possible options: 1) a strategic climate change policy, or 2) a table or flow chart to illustrate how the plan addressed climate change. Neither approach added anything new, but would highlight to the reader how climate change issues were addressed in the Plan. He explained that these were ideas and it would be necessary to discuss them more fully with his team. He requested the Working Party’s views on the options or alternative suggestions for the presentation of the information.
The Planning Policy Manager considered there was scope for the inclusion of a strategic policy that encapsulated all the high level principles and converted them into policy requirements, with a flow chart diagram with clear explanatory text leading into the strategic policy. He stated that one of the criticisms had been that the Plan did not adequately address climate change; however all the issues had been covered in various sections of the Plan. He considered that these issues needed to be drawn together in one place in a clearer way so that people could see that the strategic direction informed all the later policies.
The Chairman considered that both approaches would be helpful as there were two target audiences. Developers needed to drill down to the finest detail, whereas the general public would prefer a more simplified approach. However, it was clear that climate change ran throughout the Plan and was arguably the most important aspect.
Councillor N Lloyd stated that there was a huge amount of environmental data and climate change pledges in the Plan. He agreed that they should be set out at the front of the document and considered that it would be helpful to have a graphical representation alongside the wording.
Councillor N Pearce emphasised the need for the Plan to educate everybody about climate change in a way that could be easily understood.
Councillor Ms V Gay considered that there was a need for both a strategic, overarching policy, clearly expressed at the beginning of the document, and a flow chart to help people who were interested in a particular aspect to navigate through the document.
Councillor G Mancini-Boyle expressed concern at a comment by the Planning Policy Team Leader that developers were expected to tell the Council how they were going to meet the requirements, and considered that it should be the Council telling the developers what was required. He referred to green technologies such as heat source pumps and passive homes, and the phasing out of gas boilers. He asked if the Council should take a lead in seeking to exceed Building Control requirements and Government expectations.
The Planning Policy Team Leader explained that his comment related to the clarification in the policies that developers would be required to demonstrate how they would meet the policy ambition in a separate document or through their design and access statement.
The Planning Policy Manager stated that there was a need to redraft the next version of the Plan using slightly different language to that of the Regulation 18 consultation. The next version would ultimately become the adopted policy document. Referring to Councillor Pearce’s comments, he explained that the educational aspect of the Plan was more relevant to the Regulation 18 consultation version as it explained the options and evidence in a discussive way. Discussion, options and analysis would be included in the background papers to be published alongside the examination version of the Plan, but these would become superfluous when the Plan was adopted. The policies in the new Plan would be backed up by reasoned justification to explain the purpose of each policy.
The Chairman asked if an online version of the Plan, with an interactive index, would be available.
The Planning Policy Manager explained that the Plan was designed to be an online document, but he recognised that it may be necessary to produce a small number of paper copies.
Referring back to the climate change policy options, Councillor J Toye suggested that there could be a balance between the two proposals, with a graphic at the front of the document with additional detail. He suggested that options be drawn up and discussed with the Chair and Portfolio Holder, and if necessary brought back to the Working Party.
Councillor C Stockton considered that in order to meet the needs of all age groups, it would be essential to include a graphic representation in the document as people would notice it, and that printed copies would be required.
The Chairman stated that it was hoped to undertake Regulation 19 consultation in July, and that some of the less complex or less controversial policies would be delegated to Officers if necessary to meet the timescale.