Decision details

Local Plan Evidence Update

Decision Maker: Planning Policy Committee

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Decisions:

[During the debate, Councillor Elkins declared a Personal Interest as a Member of Ferring Parish Council.]

 

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Planning Policy and Conservation Team Leader presented his report which updated Members on the remaining evidence position and whether any further studies to those already committed to should be commissioned following the decision at Planning Policy Committee on 6 October [Minute 338] and Full Council on 10 November [Minute 422] to pause the preparation of a revised Local Plan until details of the new plan making system be agreed. He also noted a typo in Table 1 under the Housing Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA) Study, which should read ‘the prescribed formula’ rather than ‘the proscribed formula’.

 

Members then took part in a full debate on the item where a number of points were raised including:

·       support for the conclusions of Officers to halt or not start many studies as most of the studies started with a need to know housing numbers which could not be known at this point, and may have led to expensive studies needing to be repeated

·       support for certain studies being progressed now (Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, Heritage and Conservation Area studies) and how these could possibly help determine current planning applications under the current Local Plan

·       whether the Infrastructure Development Plan should be progressed, as the District has infrastructure issues now that crop up in planning applications, and whether identifying these now would go some way to dealing with issues now and help inform future works

·       concern that the Active Travel Study was being put on hold, and why this study was dependent on new housing numbers when there was a need for it now and sufficient funding coming from new development

·       the need for guidance to Parish Councils of the work they could do rather than pausing everything whilst the Local Plan updates are paused

·       the importance of infrastructure to residents and the usefulness of an update on the work of Transport for the South East

 

The Planning Policy and Conservation Team Leader provided Members with responses to all points raised during the debate and amended the Officer recommendation in response to issues raised around infrastructure requirements arising from non-strategic development.

 

The recommendation was then proposed and seconded.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

That the conclusion in section 1.5 of the report be agreed as the basis for work programming the pending evidence studies, and that a further topic paper be prepared alongside those infrastructure studies listed in section 1.4 of the report to scope out the need for further studies on infrastructure requirements arising from non-strategic development to inform Development Management decisions.

Report author: Kevin Owen

Publication date: 06/12/2021

Date of decision: 30/11/2021

Decided at meeting: 30/11/2021 - Planning Policy Committee

Accompanying Documents: