Agenda item

1. The PPM updated Members on the current position of the Local Plan and what the next stages would be ahead of its submission. He noted that Members were in receipt of a schedule of modifications following the Regulation-19 (Reg-19) consultation responses. As part of the submission process Members had the opportunity to consider the responses made during the Reg-19 process, and were encouraged by the PPM to do so. Any modifications agreed by Members would form a separate schedule of modification document which would be submitted to the Planning Inspector alongside the Local Plan. It would be for the Inspector to decide if the proposed modifications were acceptable or not.

He confirmed that when brought to the Working Party at the next meeting, issue matters would be grouped into policy areas and subdivided into key issues. The PPM commented that the process of aggregating responses had taken Officer time as not all responses from the public had been received in the prescribed format.  It was envisioned that at the December Working Party Policy Area would be considered with Site Allocations considered at the January 2023 meeting. If supported by the Working Party the Local Plan would progress through to Cabinet and then to Full Council. Issues of a typographical nature would be added to the schedule by officers, it was not asked for Members to comment upon any grammatical or typographical errors.

The PPM cautioned Members that if any substantial changes were proposed that the Local Plan would not be submitted within the intended timeframe. 

2. Cllr V Gay asked if the Planning Inspector would be interested in the quality of Members’ discussion and if Minutes would be provided to the Inspector evidencing debate and deliberation.

3. The PPM advised the Planning Inspector would have access to Minutes, contents of the website and the Livestream of meetings via the Council eDemocracy YouTube page. Whilst the Inspector may be curious about Members’ debate, they would largely focus on the contents of the Local Plan itself, including consultation responses and the contents of the schedule of modifications. He stressed the importance to give justice to the Reg-19 responses at the next couple of meetings.

The PPM acknowledged one area of difficulty presented since the Reg-19 Consultation was the matter of Nutrient Neutrality (N.N), and noted that the Local Plan made no reference to N.N. He contended that viability assessments regularly changed and that a new NPPF was to be published in the New Year with the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill to follow. The PPM was satisfied with the approach to submit the Local Plan ahead of the new administration.

4. The Chairman stated that he was keen for the Local Plan to be submitted before May 2023, and cautioned Members that there would likely be an Extra-Ordinary Full Council Meeting required in February to address Local Plan submission. He considered it important for the sake of openness and transparency that the Local Plan be considered by Full Council rather than by Cabinet alone.

5. Cllr N Dixon supported the approach set out by the Chairman and stated that it was important that Members discharged their duty to ensure that business and residents’ interests were covered within the Local Plan.

6. Cllr V Gay agreed that the Local Plan should be presented to Full Council, and asked if the recommendation would be for submission.  The Chairman confirmed all being well and according with the proposed timeline, the recommendation would be for submission.

7. Cllr J Punchard asked if the Local Plan would be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee after Cabinet. The Chairman commented that as the Local Plan would be progressed through Full Council it would be considered by all Members not simply Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members.