Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Simon Cole.

There were no substitutes present at the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 (copy attached).

The minutes from the meeting held on 16 June 2016 were received and unanimously confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/011

(Report No: LOP/FH/16/011)

The Principal Planning Officer presented this report which explained that the Core Strategy Single Issue Review (CS SIR) revisited the quashed parts of the 2010 Core Strategy as well as reassessing 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 CS SIR in July to September 2012, with a second Issues and Options (Regulation 18) consultation taking place between August and October 2015. A Preferred Option consultation was completed between April and July 2016 (Regulation 18).

An Issues and Options draft of the Site Allocations Local Plan (SALP) was prepared but did not proceed to consultation in 2013.  A further Issues and Options (Regulation 18) draft was completed, and consultation took place concurrently with the SIR between August and October 2015 and again between April and July 2016 (Regulation 18).

A second draft of an Infrastructure Development Plan (IDP) was prepared to accompany the Preferred Option(s) consultation drafts of both the CS SIR, and the SALP.  The IDP would be updated and refined as the Local Plan documents progressed through the planning process (to the Submission draft stage).  Consultation took place on this second draft of the IDP concurrently with the Regulation 18 consultations on the SIR and SALP between April and July 2016.

Paragraph 155 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) advised:

“Early and meaningful engagement and collaboration with neighbourhoods, local organisations and businesses is essential. A wide section of the community should be proactively engaged, so that Local Plans, as far as possible, reflect a collective vision and a set of agreed priorities for the sustainable development of the area, including those contained in any neighbourhood plans that have been made.”

The accompanying guidance in the National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG) noted that “Section 18 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 required local planning authorities to produce a Statement of Community Involvement, which should explain how they would engage local communities and other interested parties in producing their Local Plan and determining planning applications.”

The Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) was adopted in February 2014.  The SCI contained a statement of intent to engage with our communities – part of a wider commitment made by the Councils to create and maintain effective working relationships with all sectors of the community.  The document set out the key stages in preparing a local plan document, and the protocols that all local authorities must follow.  The SCI stated the Councils’ intention to go well beyond the minimum requirements for consultation.  The ‘Issues and Options’ stage concludes, “we must take into account any representations made to us at this ‘Issues and Options’ stage.”

Responses to all three documents had been received from statutory consultees, such as the Environment Agency, Historic England, Natural England etc., town and parish councils, interest groups and individual residents and landowners.  There were a total of 152 representations (of support,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/012

(Report No: LOP/FH/16/012)

The Principal Planning Officer presented this report which explained that the Core Strategy Single Issue Review (CS SIR) revisited the quashed parts of the 2010 Core Strategy as well as reassessing 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 CS SIR in July to September 2012, with a second Issues and Options (Regulation 18) consultation taking place between August and October 2015. A Preferred Option consultation was completed between April and July 2016 (Regulation 18).  A final Submission consultation (Regulation 19) was scheduled to take place between 10 January 2017 and 21 February 2017 and the Submission draft of the CS SIR, was attached as Working Paper 1 to Report No LOP/FH/16/012. 

Since the 2015 Issues and Options and the 2016 Preferred Options consultations on the CS SIR, Officers had been preparing the final Submission version of the document. This was last stage of consultation prior to the document, together with the supporting information and evidence and representations received, being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination in Public.    

The SIR Submission draft had been reviewed by the Planning Advisory Service and an external expert planning solicitor who had provided feedback and provided the Council confidence that the documents prepared were robust to minimise risk of a successful challenge.  The Council’s Communications Team had also read and commented upon the documents.

Working Paper 1 to Report No: LOP/FH/16/012 was the final ‘Submission’ (Regulation 19) CS SIR consultation document. This statutory Local Plan document confirmed the District’s overall housing need over the period 2011 – 2031 and how that housing need was distributed among the settlements.  The Core Strategy Policy CS7 overall housing provision and distribution would be used as a basis for allocating sites in the Site Allocations Local Plan Submission document (Regulation 19).  This distribution provided certainty for the remainder of the Plan period and protected the District from unplanned growth. 6,800 new dwellings and associated infrastructure would be delivered in the period 2011 to 2031.

The final Regulation 19 consultation on this document would be focused on the whether the CS SIR was a ‘legally compliant’ and ‘sound’ document. The consultation would ask the public and stakeholders specific questions required by the Planning Inspectorate and required that representations consider whether the tests of soundness had been met, as set out in the introduction to the document in Working Paper 1 to Report No LOP/FH/16/012.

Consultants had also been appointed to undertake the full Sustainability Appraisal (SA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) work in relation to the final Submission draft of the CS SIR document.  A full report setting out these findings would accompany the document for consultation in January 2017.

The final Submission (Regulation 19) CS SIR document would be considered by Cabinet on 13 December 2016 and Council on 21 December 2016 for approval for consultation and submission to the Secretary of State.  A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Report No: LOP/FH/16/013

(Report No: LOP/FH/16/013)

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.

An 'Issues and Options' (Regulation 18) consultation on the SALP was completed between July to September 2012, with a second Issues and Options (Regulation 18) SALP consultation taking place between August and October 2015. A preferred options SALP (Regulation 18) consultation was completed between April and July 2016.

A final SALP Submission consultation (Regulation 19) was scheduled to take place early next year and it was the Submission draft of the SALP as set out in Working Paper 1 to Report No LOP/FH/16/013, along with the final Local Plan Policies Map (as set out in Working Paper 2 to Report No LOP/FH/16/013).

Since the 2015 Issues and Options and the 2016 Preferred Options consultations on the SALP, Officers had been preparing the final submission version of the document. This was last stage of consultation prior to the document, together with the supporting information and evidence and representations received, being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination in Public.    

The SALP Submission document had been reviewed by the Planning Advisory Service and an external expert planning solicitor who had provided feedback and provided the Council confidence that the documents prepared were robust to minimise risk of a successful challenge.  The Council’s Communications Team had also read and commented upon documents.

Working Paper 1 to Report No LOP/FH/16/013was the Site Allocations Local Plan Submission document. It superseded and updated the 2015 and 2016 consultation documents and set out the Council’s sites for housing, employment and other uses to 2031.

The final Regulation 19 consultation on the SALP Submission document would be focused on the whether it was a ‘legally compliant’ and ‘sound’ document. The consultation would ask the public and stakeholders specific questions required by the Planning Inspectorate and required that representations considered whether the tests of soundness had been met as set out in the introduction to the document in Working Paper 1 to Report No: LOP/FH/16/013.

Consultants had also been appointed to undertake the full Sustainability Appraisal (SA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) work in relation to the final Submission draft of the CS SIR document.  A full report setting out these findings would accompany the document for consultation in January 2017.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.