Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Zoom

Contact: Committees (Ext 37547) 

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Items
No. Item

32.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for Absence had been received from Councillors Chapman, Charles, Huntley and Jones.

 

33.

Declarations of Interest

Members and Officers are reminded to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

 

Members and officers should make their declaration by stating :

 

a) the item they have the interest in

b) whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial

c) the nature of the interest

Minutes:

There were no Declarations of Interest made.

34.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 178 KB

To agree as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 December 2020 as (attached).

Minutes:

35.

Local Plan Update - Vision and Objectives pdf icon PDF 329 KB

The Council is updating the Arun Local Plan 2018 following a Full Council decision on 15 January 2020. Following a series of 3 Member Workshops and a Question & Answer Session, a draft Vision and Objectives have been proposed in order to steer work and monitor progress on the Plan update. The Vision and Objectives accommodate a range of Member views and reflect emerging best practice and national Policy. This first step is the early stage of Plan preparation. The Council will now engage with all stakeholders and the community on the Plan preparation, following which, there will be scope for further alignment with infrastructure, utility and housing providers, businesses and communities in helping to delivering the Authority’s aspirations through supporting the Plan update.

 

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report from the Principal Planning Policy Team Leader which set out the background as to why the Council was formulating the proposed Vision and Objectives and it set out the process followed to get to this point.  The Council was updating the Arun Local Plan 2018 following a Full Council decision made on 15 January 2020. This had been triggered due to issues surrounding housing delivery performance and as the Council had declared a climate change emergency and had identified its key sustainability priorities which had driven this process forward. Also, In July  2020, the Council had adopted the Local Development Scheme which set out the plan making programme and the timescale by which the Council would adopt a new updated plan by 2023 identifying that development management policies and environmental standards would be looked at but also strategic policies in reviewing the update to the Local Plan.

 

            It was explained that the Vision and Objectives was a very important step in the process where the Council came to a view about the direction of travel it wanted to take in undertaking its Local Plan update. It also set out the overall direction of travel and the scope of the Plan in terms of the work that needed to be undertaken and so was a critical step.

 

            The Sub-Committee was reminded that three Member workshops had been held in December 2020 and January 2021 as well as a question and answer session; presentation and further background information and a feedback form to steer the work and collate Member input. The draft Vision and Objectives, which had been attached to the report as Appendix 1, had accommodated a range of Member views that were important to include and reflected emerging best practice and national policy.  However, in doing so, to make the Vision and Objectives read concisely, Officers had streamlined it to make sure that it still covered the key points raised but at a general level in order to allow more detailed policies to emerge that would address the more detailed considerations raised. 

 

            The Planning Policy Team Leader then worked through the Vision and Objectives document explaining its key themes and stated that the Sub-Committee was being asked to consider it and hopefully agree its content so that it could then be recommended onto Full Council on 17 March 2021 for adoption.

 

             The Chairman then invited debate on this item.  In view of the detail and number of queries and points raised, these have been summarised in the bullet points below:

 

·         On the Vision it was felt that this did not put enough emphasis onto the economic activity that was necessary to support the District.

·         There were also some areas that were beyond the scope of the Council that needed to be taken up with third parties under the Economic and Infrastructure section such as high quality education and the prospects of schools.  It was felt that these would only be achieved if the Council got  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

36.

Local Plan Evidence Update pdf icon PDF 243 KB

This report updates Members on the current and pending evidence studies being progressed to inform the update of the Arun Local Plan 2018 and is for noting.

 

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report from the Planning Policy Team Leader which provided an update on the current and pending evidence studies being progressed to inform the update of the Arun Local Plan 2018. The Sub-Committee was being asked to note this update report.

 

The Planning Policy Team Leader explained that the Council had updated its Local Development Scheme in July 2020 which had set the overall plan making timetable and reflected the Council’s priorities for urgently updating the Development Management policies.  The current and future programme of work and studies had been set out within the report and these were briefly explained.

 

In discussing the report, support was given to updating the Arun Transport Model as this had last been completed in 2015.  It was also recognised that it was desperately important to undertake this work in light of all that was going on with highways and transport. As this subject was so key to the development of the revised plan, Councillors were interested to learn what opportunity there would be for them to have input into developing these studies as it was important for Councillors to begin to understand what would be proposed and what was going to happen with Arun transport as this was a developing issue now and would be one that would continue to become an even bigger issue in the future. Similarly, this also applied to the issue of climate change and sustainable design standards. Looking at the 20-minute communities’ study, it was hoped that this study would reflect on the realities of life accepting that everyone had different needs, and this then impacted transport modes.

 

            In response it was explained that as the evidence studies were prepared, they would follow the normal reporting route through Committee, and this would apply in terms of the new Committee structure that would commence in May 2021. This meant that as and when evidence reports were completed or draft reports prepared, then these would be brought to the new Planning Policy Committee to update Members in terms of progress and to allow for proper scrutiny. The Group Head of Planning explained how this had taken place before via holding informal briefings with all Members outside of the Committee on all evidence based documents.

 

The inclusion of the Biodiversity Study was very much welcomed, and it was felt that with the evidence outlined, the Council would have an excellent plan in place.

 

Looking at the various studies to be undertaken, clarification was sought  regarding local green spaces to establish which studies would materially address this issue; development strategy or environmental assessment evidence and in view of the Worthing Borough Council Local Plan and would a study be undertaken for the particular two gaps associated with each authority on the eastern boundary. It was explained that this matter would become clearer through the 20 minute community study together with the landscaping study. The strategic gaps in Arun in terms of supporting the current adopted Local Plan did have evidence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

37.

Interim Housing Statement pdf icon PDF 146 KB

The Council has prepared an Interim Housing Statement because it is unable to demonstrate a 5-year Housing Land supply. The Interim Housing Statement does not introduce new policy. This document merely provides the Council with a mechanism for inviting landowners, developers and promoters to submit planning applications in the right locations at the right scale by providing a high level tick list and RAG rating of existing Development Plan and National Policy Guidance matters, which if they are addressed by applicants, will help speed up decision making. It will operate until a 5-year housing land supply is demonstrated.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report from the Planning Policy Team Leader confirming that the Council had prepared an Interim Housing Statement because it had been unable to demonstrate a 5-year Housing Land supply. It was explained that this document provided the Council with a mechanism for inviting landowners, developers and promotors to submit planning applications in the right locations at the right scale by providing a high level tick list and RAG rating of the existing Development Plan and National Policy Guidance matters, which if addressed by applicants, would help speed up decision making.  If approved, the interim Housing Statement would operate until a 5-year housing land supply could be demonstrated.

 

            A range of issues were raised in considering this report. With the HELAA sites it did feel like a dangerous road to go down as it seemed that if a site made it onto the HELAA, then it tended to progress onto full blown planning consent eventually.  Was this dangerous in terms of how it fitted in with the Local Plan in that it was not cohesive. It was explained that in reality the Council was unable to demonstrate a 5 year land supply and so proposals for development that might conflict with the polices of the Local Plan could come forward and have the risk of being determined favourably at appeal if the Council wanted to refuse them. It was also about giving some guidance to landowners in terms of where we would prefer them to look, as the HEELA was not meant to apply down to a level of decision making for planning applications.  Its purpose was to help the Council to look for the most suitable land available. All sites still had to go through a level of evidence gathering through the plan making process which they might not survive. The key point was whether the Council should provide guidance to potential applicants about where the authority saw where any proposals should come forward.

 

            Another issue of concern around land supply was that of land banking and the question was asked as to whether this contributed to the figures being so low in Arun.  There was a significant level of unimplemented planning consents to a figure of around 4,000 dwellings and that there were different reasons for this. If the implementation of 4,000 homes that had planning permission already, would it bring the Council back up to the 5-years and if it did, then this meant that the Council was in the position it was in due to developers.  In response, it was confirmed that the 4,000 was already in the Council’s 5-year classed as commitments.

 

Another point raised was that the Council’s position with regard to housing delivery was presumably measured against the phasing in the Local Plan and was this established or could it be changed.  Also, if the Council was doing a review of the Local Plan then the phasing needed to be changed and adjusted to avoid the Council being penalised. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

38.

Walberton Village and Village Green Conservation Area Character Appraisals pdf icon PDF 158 KB

Arun District Council has 29 Conservation Areas within its Local Planning Authority Area (LPAA). In order to be able to fully preserve and enhance its Conservation Areas, the Council will prepare individual Conservation Area Character Appraisals. These appraisals define what is special, and therefore worthy of protection, as well as what detracts and could be enhanced. They also review the existing boundaries of the Conservation Areas and recommend where there is potential for them to be amended. Appraisals assist the determination of planning applications, but also form part of an appropriate heritage evidence base in the preparation or review of a Local Plan. 

 

Two separate Conservation Area Character Appraisals have been prepared for the ‘Walberton Village’ and ‘Walberton Green’ Conservation Areas, and this report seeks agreement to publish them for public consultation.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report from the Principal Conservation Officer outlining that the Council had 29 Conservation Areas within its Local Planning Authority Area (LPAA).  In order to be able to fully preserve and enhance its Conservation Areas, the Council proposed to prepare individual Conservation Area Character Appraisals which would define what was special, and worthy of protection. They would also review the existing boundaries of the Conservation Areas and would recommend whether there was potential for them to be amended. 

 

It was explained that two separate Conservation Area Character Appraisals had been prepared for the Walberton Village and Walberton Green Conservation Area and this report sought agreement to publish them for public consultation.

 

            The Sub-Committee

 

                        RESOLVED – That

 

(1)  It be agreed that the Walberton Village and Walberton Green Conservation Area Character Appraisals be published for a six-week period of consultation; and

 

(2)  The Cabinet Member for Planning in consultation with the Chairman of the Planning Policy Sub-Committee and the Group Head of Planning be given delegated authority to agree minor editorial changes prior to publication.

 

39.

Worthing and Crawley Local Plan Regulation 19 - Pre-Submission Consultations pdf icon PDF 169 KB

This report advises Members on Worthing Borough Council’s and Crawley Borough Council’s ‘Pre-submission’ Local Plan (Regulation 19) public consultations. The respective plans propose strategies, site allocations and policies to deliver housing and development needs over their plan periods but with a significant residual unmet housing need in each case. At this stage each plan is considered ready for submission and comments are restricted to legal or ‘soundness’ issues. The response urges the two authorities respectively, to secure Statements of Common Ground with Arun to clarify and address  the cross boundary implications of the levels unmet housing need.

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a report from the Planning Policy Team Leader advising Members on Worthing Borough Council’s and Crawley Borough Council’s ‘Pre-Submission’ Local Plan (Regulation 19) public consultations. 

 

            The Sub-Committee was being asked to agree to the suggested responses to these consultations as outlined in the report.  In looking at Crawley Borough Council’s pre-submission Local Plan first, the response was that the Council was satisfied with the approach to the Crawley Publication (Regulation 19) Local Plan and Duty to Co-operate based on the fact that Crawley be urged to secure a Statement of Common Ground with Arun in order to clarify its approach to securing unmet need within the North Sussex Housing Market Area (HMA) before submitting its Plan. 

 

             Looking at the situation for Worthing Borough Council, Councillors were referred to Paragraph 1.4 of the report setting out the background to the Worthing Local Plan. Arun had objected to the original Plan and since making that objection, several Duty to Co-operate meetings had taken place to overcome the objection including through progressing the Plan’s supporting evidence base and approach. The points covered were explained by the Planning Policy Team Leader.

 

It was explained that Worthing was facing a significant housing shortfall and was only meeting around 26% of its overall Plan requirement and there was no plan in place to overcome the issue. In view of this, the report was proposing that whilst they had addressed the concerns over evidence base, the level of unmet need was still an issue and no resolution had been reached in terms of which and how Local Authorities would  assist with that number.  The Council had been asked if it could help to accommodate that unmet need. The Council’s proposed response was that it would remove the objection originally lodged on the evidence base but that Worthing Borough Council be urged to pause its plan timetable in order to progress Statements of Common Ground and joint progress working other authorities within its HMA to look at potential development options.

 

            Debate on this item raised questions about the delay to the Local Strategic Statement 3 process (LSS3) and the issues surrounding this were explained. Other observations made were what the responses were made by other local authorities as it would have been useful to have seen their comments.  It was explained that the consultation deadline was 23 March 2021 and so other Local Authorities still had not made their consultation response. Officers were asked what discussions they had had with other authorities and if they were in a position to meet that need. It was explained that discussions had taken place with Horsham and the South Downs National Park on the basis of Duty to Co-Operate and the issue about unmet need across the sub-region. 

 

            Following further discussion, the Sub-Committee

 

 

 

 

                        RESOLVED – That

 

(1)  That the Council’s outstanding objection to the Worthing Local Plan is resolved, however, Worthing Borough Council is urged to pause its plan timetable in order to progress Statement of Common Ground  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.