Agenda and minutes

Nominations were invited for the election of the Chairman of the South East Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee for the ensuing year.

DECISION:

That Councillor P Bedford be elected Chairman for the ensuing year.

(To be from a different authority to that of the Chairman.)

It was agreed that this matter be deferred until the Committee’s next meeting.

To sign as a correct record the notes of the meeting of the South East Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee meeting held on 28 February 2014. (Copy enclosed.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2014 were signed by the Chairman as a correct record subject to it being recorded that Councillor CJTH Brewis had submitted his apologies.

To seek approval for a revised Local Development Scheme for South East Lincolnshire.  (Report of the Joint Policy Unit Manager enclosed.)

Consideration was given to the report of the South East Lincolnshire Joint Policy Unit Manager, which sought approval for a revised Local Development Scheme (LDS) for South East Lincolnshire. A copy of the ‘Draft Revised LOCAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME March 2015’ was attached as Appendix 1 within the report.  

The Joint Policy Unit Manager explained that the timetable for preparing the Local Plan, set out in the current LDS approved in February 2014, was now considered to be unachievable. 

Since the last meeting of the Joint Committee, a number of Local Plan Steering Group meetings had been held for the purposes of, firstly, discussing policy issues emerging from the consideration of public comments made on the Combined Preferred Options and Sustainability Appraisal Report (May 2013) and also from the findings of new evidence-gathering; and, secondly, considering the results of an extensive examination of sites as potential options for residential development. However, since it had taken some six months to replace two full-time posts in the Joint Policy Unit last year, this work had taken longer to complete than was originally intended and, furthermore,  the commencement of other proposed work had been delayed.

This situation, combined with the recent view that the next iteration of the Local Plan document should be informed by the process of ‘whole plan viability assessment’ (WPVA), now meant that there would be substantial slippage in the timetable set out in the LDS approved in February 2014.

The Joint Policy Unit Manager explained that the concept of WPVA had become increasingly important following the publication of the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework in March 2012, which emphasised the need for careful attention to viability and costs in plan-making and decision-taking. Consultants undertaking WPVA work strongly recommended that it should relate to the currently-emerging Local Plan proposals and inform revisions to them before approval for public consultation. Therefore, there was a specific need to extend the time required for the preparation of the Draft Local Plan (including site options for development) by some 4 months to take account of the estimated time for completing the WPVA. 

The Joint Policy Unit Manager illustrated the role of the WPVA with respect to development site identification and promotion. It was essential that the detailed   requirements set out in emerging policies which were considered  necessary to support the creation of sustainable development (e.g. for affordable housing, health services, educational facilities and other significant infrastructure such as the Spalding Western Relief Road and the Boston Distributor Road) were used to assess the viability of promoting specific proposals having regard to the need to provide competitive returns to a willing landowner and willing developer. The results of such assessments would then be used to inform decisions on whether or not to revise certain emerging policies and proposals.

The Joint Policy Unit Manager then confirmed that the third recommendation in the officer’s report should read that the Draft Revised Local Development Scheme ‘shall have effect from 20 March 2015’.

Councillor Gambba-Jones enquired as to how the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Note:          No other business is permitted unless by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified in the minutes, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

No items were deemed to be urgent.

The next meeting of the South East Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee was scheduled to be held on Friday 19 June 2015 at 10.00 am at South Holland District Council, Council Offices, Priory Road, Spalding.  This would be the first meeting, following the District Election, and would therefore be the Annual General Meeting, which would be followed by a ‘Local Plan Training’ session.