Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no substitutes at the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 30 June 2015 (copy attached).

The minutes from the meeting held on 30 June 2015 were unanimously confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/001

(Report No LOP/FH/16/001)

The Strategic Planning Manager explained that the Working Paper to this report had been unable to be completed in time for consideration at this meeting.

Therefore, this item would have be deferred to the next meeting of the Local Plan Working Group on 15 February 2016.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/002

(Report No LOP/FH/16/002)

The Principal Planning Officer presented this report which explained that the Core Strategy Single Issue Review (SIR) revisited the quashed parts of the 2010 Core Strategy, as well as reassessing the overall housing need/numbers to ensure compliance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

An ‘Issues and Options’ (Regulation 18) consultation was completed on the Core Strategy Single Issue Review (SIR) from between July to September 2012, with a second consultation being held from between August and October 2015.

The 2015 Core Strategy SIR consultation document proposed four options for the distribution of homes across the Forest Heath district:

·         Option 1 – Focus on Mildenhall, Newmarket and Lakenheath

·         Option 2 – Focus on Lakenheath and Red Lodge, with a planned extension at Red Lodge and medium growth at Mildenhall and Newmarket

·         Option 3 – Focus on Red Lodge, with a planned extension and focus on Lakenheath and Mildenhall, with lower growth in Newmarket

·         Option 4 – Focus on Mildenhall, Newmarket and Red Lodge, with more growth in those primary villages with capacity.

The consultation document emphasised that these were alternatives for consideration and the final preferred option could be a combination of these four options, or even an approach that was entirely new and different.

364 individual consultation responses were received to the SIR consultation which, along with further evidence based work, had resulted in the identification of three distribution options, which varied slightly to those consulted on in 2015.  These three options were:

·         Option 1 – Higher growth in Mildenhall and Red Lodge and Primary Villages, enabling lower growth at Newmarket

·         Option 2 – Higher growth at Newmarket, enabling lower growth at Mildenhall, Red Lodge and Primary Villages

·         Option 3 –Higher growth at Mildenhall (similar to Option 1) and Newmarket (similar to Option 2), enabling lower growth at Red Lodge and Primary Villages

It was the view of Officers and the consultants appointed to undertake the  Sustainability Appraisal work that, in order to progress the Core Strategy SIR and to ensure a more engaging consultation, a smaller number of options for consultation should be included in the next Core Strategy SIR document (one to be indicated at the Council’s preferred option and one as an alternative option).

In order to assist with deciding on the final options for inclusion in the Core Strategy SIR document, these three options had been tested to determine whether they could deliver the required level of housing in a sustainable manner.  Part of this testing had involved a high level Sustainability Appraisal (SA) to ensure they were acceptable in terms of meeting the overall SA objectives.  This SA summary was attached as Working Paper 1 to the report.

The SA conclusions to the three distribution options stated that the sustainability impact of the options varied between higher levels of growth in Newmarket and Mildenhall and to a lesser extent, the amount of growth directed to Red Lodge.  Therefore, there was little potential to differentiate between the options in terms of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

To note the dates of the next meetings as follows (to be held at 6.00 pm):

          Monday 15 February 2016

          Thursday 18 February 2016

It was noted that the dates of the next meetings of the Local Plan Working Group would be held as follows (all meetings to be held at 6.00 pm):

          Monday 15 February 2016

          Thursday 18 February 2016