Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Robin Millar and Christine Mason.

Councillor Louise Marston was also unable to attend the meeting.

There were no substitutes at the meeting.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/006

(Report No LOP/FH/16/006)

The Working Group received this report which explained that the Forest Heath Core Strategy was adopted in May 2010. Following a successful High Court Challenge in May 2011, parts of Policy CS7 detailing how the overall housing need would be distributed between the settlements  over a 20 year period (to 2031) were quashed (removed from the Strategy). Consequential amendments were also made to policies CS1 (Spatial Strategy) and CS13 (Infrastructure and Developer Contributions).

Since then, the Council had been revisiting the quashed parts of the Core Strategy (known as the Single Issue Review) to determine the overall housing numbers and distribution, as well as developing a Site Allocations Local Plan (SALP) to identify which sites should be developed, in order to achieve the vision and objectives of the Core Strategy and meet the outcomes of the Single Issue Review.

Consultation had taken place between August and October 2015 on an Issues and Options (Regulation 18) Site Allocations Local Plan. The purpose of the document was to stimulate debate on the most appropriate way to distribute housing need throughout the District, as well as considering sites for employment, community and leisure uses.

The consultation responses received during the 2015 consultation, and officer responses to them, were considered at the Local Plan Working Group meeting on 15 February 2016. All of the responses were available to view online at the Council’s public consultation website at http://westsuffolk.jdi-consult.net/localplan/.  The consultation responses, and other evidence, had been used to develop the Council’s preferred site options and the next SALP document for consultation.

Working Paper 1 to Report No LOP/FH/16/006 was the Site Allocations Local Plan Preferred Options document. It superseded and updated the 2015 consultation document and set out the Council’s preferred sites for housing, employment and other uses to 2031. The document asked questions and invited comments from both the public and statutory stakeholders. The Council was still evidence gathering at this stage and was not making a final decision on sites, but was giving an indication of its preferred strategy.

Officers explained that a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) was a tool for appraising policies to ensure they reflected sustainable development objectives. Sustainability Appraisals were required for all local development documents. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was a procedure (set out in the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004) which required the formal environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes which were likely to have significant effects on the environment. 

Consultants had been appointed to undertake the full SA and SEA work in relation to the next consultation draft of the SALP document.  A full report setting out the findings of the SA and SEA and the proposed SALP Regulation 18 consultation would accompany the document for consultation in April 2016.

The Council were planning for long term growth to give certainty in how and where settlements would grow within the District. This would ensure that service providers could plan and deliver the necessary infrastructure to enable the planned growth  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/007

(Report No LOP/FH/16/007)

Members received this report which set out the five year housing land supply report for publication and use in development management.

The National Planning Policy Framework (March 2012) required Planning Authorities to identify and maintain a five year land supply of deliverable land for housing.  The assessment of land supply was updated annually, however, if any significant land supply changes occurred during that time, further updates would be prepared and made available on the Council’s Website.  The supply should include a 5% buffer to ensure choice and competition in the market for housing and a 20% buffer where there had been a record of persistent under delivery.

The Forest Heath Assessment of Housing Land Supply (as contained in Working Paper 1 of Report No LOP/FH/16/007) set out the availability of housing land supply for the period 2016-2021.  It took a baseline of 31 March 2015 and estimated completions and new commitments arising for the year 2015-2016, establishing a ‘year forward’ five year supply for the period 2016-2021.  It took an updated OAN of 6,800 dwellings for the plan period 2011-2031 as the housing requirement.

The report demonstrated that Forest Heath District Council had a 6.9 year supply of housing land, including a 5% buffer and 6.2 years when addressing the under supply in the first five years.  Members were also informed that the Hatchfield Farm site had been included within the five year supply calculation.  The decision on the call-in inquiry was still awaited, however, should the recommendation to approve the application be dismissed, the Council could demonstrate a corresponding 5.9 or 5.2 year supply using methodologies cited above.

Officers referred to Working Paper 1 and explained that this report would be subject to the approval by Cabinet on 1 March 2016, of the Site Allocations Local Plan (SALP).

With the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED:

That the content of the five year housing supply report, as set out in Working Paper 1 to Report No LOP/FH/16/007, be noted for publication and used in development management.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/008 (TO FOLLOW)

(Report No LOP/FH/16/008)

The Strategic Planning Manager presented this Briefing Note which had been produced following a request made by Members at the meeting of the Local Plan Working Group held on 19 January 2016.  The Note set out the external costs which had been commissioned to inform the preparation of the Site Allocations and Core Strategy Issues and Options ‘Regulation 18’ consultations since 2014.

It was noted that the specialist skills and advice were necessary to inform and underpin the preparation of the Local Plan and that whilst some documents were a single piece of evidence, some of the Consultants would be retained and evidence would inform each stage of the Local Plan preparation process.

With the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED:

          That the content of the Briefing Note be noted.