Agenda item

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 final consultation was planned from 10 January 2017 to 21 February 2017.  Consultation events would be held in towns and in Lakenheath and Red Lodge and would be advertised online and in the press.  Comments received during this next consultation would be submitted directly to the Secretary of State with the Local Plan documents for consideration through a Local Plan Examination led by an independent Planning Inspector.

It was anticipated that submission of these documents would take place in early March 2017.  However, should any factors arise which could cause delay and which were beyond the Council’s control, a further meeting of the Working Group would be arranged to outline options for the progressing of the Single Issue Review and any consequential impact on the Local Plan timetable itself.

During the meeting, the Working Group were provided with additional information, following from the CS SIR Preferred Options consultation:

·                  A summary of the responses which had been made by the key statutory consultees and the key issues which had also been raised by other parties.

·                  Supporting text and Policy CS7 changes which had been made to the Submission draft, along with the reasons for the changes.

The Working Group were also referred to page 37 of the agenda papers (Working Paper 1) which set out the overall housing provision and distribution for the period 2011 to 2031.  Up to the end of March 2016, 2,437 dwellings had been committed or completed, which left a need to provide 4,440 dwellings for the remainder of the Plan period.  The shortfall, as a result of the Hatchfield Farm decision, had been met through commitments arising since March 2016 and through increasing capacity on some sites consulted on at the Preferred Options stage.

Officers explained that environmental designations around Brandon would be protected from negative effects of development.  The allocations in Brandon were limited to protect the environmental assets and designations.  There was opportunity for growth to the west of Mildenhall for planned mixed use development.  Fewer homes were distributed to Newmarket as a result of the Secretary of State’s decision in August 2016 to refuse planning permission at Hatchfield Farm for 400 homes and the site was not considered deliverable.  The high levels of growth in Red lodge and Lakenheath in the Plan period would be delivered with the appropriate infrastructure.  The primary villages were protected from further unplanned growth.

With the vote being unanimous, it was

          RECOMMENDED:

That, subject to the approval of Council:-

1.       The Core Strategy Single Issue Review (CS SIR) Submission document (Regulation 19), as set out in Working Paper 1 to Report No: LOP/FH/16/012, be endorsed.

2.       The Core Strategy Single Issue Review (CS SIR) Submission document (as set out in Working Paper 1 to Report No: LOP/FH/16/012) and accompanying Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA)/Sustainability Appraisal (SA), together with supporting documents, be approved for Regulation 19 consultation.

3.       The Head of Planning and Growth, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Growth and the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Local Plan Working Group, be given delegated authority to submit the Core Strategy Submission document, all representations received to it during the final consultation and supporting documents, to the Secretary of State for independent Examination, subject to there being no material issues raised by consultees at the final consultation stage which require further consideration/modifications to the CS SIR.

4.       The Head of Planning and Growth, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Growth and the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Local Plan Working Group, be authorised to make any minor typographical, factual, spelling and grammatical changes to the document, provided that it does not materially affect the substance or meaning.