Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Partridge and Councillor Goodheart.

Members and Officers are invited to make any declaration 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 items 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 interest and/or prejudicial interest

c)             the nature of the interest

There were no declarations of interests.

The Committee will be asked to approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Planning Policy Committee held on 18 September 2024 and 26 September 2024.

The minutes of the previous meetings held on 18 September 2024 and 26 September 2024 were approved by the Committee and signed by the Chair.

There were no urgent items presented at the meeting.

To receive questions from the public (for a period of up to 15 minutes).

There were no public questions.

To update the Committee on the key messages from the current consultation on Southern Water’s revised draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024 (WRMP24), including any changes that may directly and indirectly affect Arun residents.

The Interim Head of Planning Policy was invited by the Chair to present the report.  He outlined the report that provided details of the key messages from the consultation and the Council’s proposed draft response, at Appendix 1, to the Southern Water Revised Draft Water Resource Management Plan (SWRDWRMP) consultation taking place until 4 December 2024.  He drew attention to paragraph 4.9 that set out the key headline ambitions of the in the SWRDWRMP, to ensure there was a safe and suitable water supply available in its catchment area.  He referred to the Government’s ambitious housing growth targets, which will put more pressure on the region’s water supply.  It was hoped that the Council would be involved in positive engagement around those projections, including through the Local Plan process.  He advised that in general officers were able to support the contents of the SWRDWRMP in principle subject to safeguards being in place. 

He referred to proposed amendments to the Council’s response that had been tabled at the meeting by Councillor McAuliffe.  Officers considered that the proposed amendments supported the officer response without changing the meaning.

A typographical error was corrected at Appendix 1, paragraph 3: Replace ‘110l/h/d’ with ‘110l/p/d’.

The recommendation was then proposed by Councillor Tandy and seconded by Councillor McAuliffe.

The Chair invited the Committee to make comment and ask questions, as follows:

·      Reference was made to Southern Water’s Water for Life document and it was asked if Southern Water’s projected housing figures had been correlated with the Council’s own trajectory.  Could reference be made in the Council’s response with details of what the variations might be?  Members were advised that officers could put information together setting out the numbers relating to the Council’s own projected identified housing growth trajectory.  This was subject to the caveat, as the SWRDWRMP covered a period of 50 years and the projected housing supply numbers, as the outcomes of the consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework, were still unknown.  The Water for Life document was an adaptive document that would take into account matters, such as population growth and future climate change, with different scenarios for each.

·      Responding to a question concerning the impacts and lack of detail currently available regarding the proposed extension to the Littlehampton Wastewater Treatment Works, the Interim Head of Planning Policy advised it was hoped that the delays to both this scheme, and the desalination plant, would enable an opportunity for engagement on the required consents and planning permissions.  He undertook to raise the matter at his next stakeholder meeting with Southern Water.

·      A view was expressed that the Council’s Local Plan should identify the  proposed extended Wastewater Treatment Works to inform residents of its implications, such as its potential location and environmental issues i.e. required buffer zones.

·      Concern was raised regarding the increasing year on year costs to the public identified by Southern Water to provide the initiatives whilst the public being asked to reduce their demand on the water supply.  Could Southern Water  ...  view the full minutes text for item 306.

To update the Committee on Arun’s’ Brownfield Land Register 2024 and any changes to it since it was published in 2023. The Brownfield Land Register (BLR) will then be published and used as the basis for the annual BLR statistical return to Government (in a prescribed format) required by national legislation.

The Interim Head of Planning Policy was invited by the Chair to present the report that updated the Committee on Arun’s’ Brownfield Land Register 2024 (BLR) and any changes to it since it was published in 2023 before being used as the basis for the annual BLR statistical return to Government required by national legislation. Nine new sites had been added to the Register and four sites had been removed as they no longer met the criteria. The sites on the register comprised approximately 13.35 hectares, which could deliver over 600 new dwellings.

The recommendations were then proposed by Councillor Lury and seconded by Councillor Yeates.

The Chair invited the Committee to make comment and ask questions.

The Chair suggested that the list of sites in the BLR should be re-ordered into Parish headings and to add the total numbers to the end of the “Site area (ha)” and “No, of dwellings” columns. 

          The Interim Head of Planning Policy clarified that site NEWFG2 Land Rear of Henty Arms, Ferring Lane, Ferring (NCD) at paragraph 4.7, had been removed from the BLR as the status had changed to not currently deliverable.  He undertook to provide Councillor Elkins with further details by email.

A question was asked about the number of brownfield sites that had previously been industrial sites and asked if assessments had taken place concerning ground contamination and pollution, which could prevent them coming forward for development.   The Interim Head of Planning Policy replied that it was too early in the process and at this stage it was a high-level assessment identifying land that could potentially come forward.  If the Council became aware of contamination that could not be mitigated or cleared up it would make the site unviable it would not be included in the BLR.  As part of the planning process a minimum of a desktop study would be required to be undertaken and phase 2 Geotech surveys would also likely be undertaken.

Further to the Chair’s suggestion to reorder the BLR into Parish order, he advised that the public BLR register was an online searchable register.

The Committee

                     RESOLVED to

1. Note the 2024 Brownfield Land Register (Part 1); and

2. Keep the Brownfield Land Register under review regarding preparation of a (Part 2) register and ‘permission in principle’ (including the carrying out of consultation and publicity requirements), should any suitable sites be identified, in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 (as amended).

The Committee’s Work Programme for 2024-25 is attached for the Committee’s information.

            Arun Biodiversity Action Plan: This item, due to be considered at the next meeting on 28 January 2024, would be considered at a later date to allow further work and evidence testing of the biodiversity net gain targets.

            Members noted the number of items on the agenda for the next meeting and therefore it was important to manage the agenda carefully due to the number of important items, especially concerning affordable housing via the Section 106 process.  It was suggested that timings should be added to each item.  In response to a concern raised of placing a time limit on members’ comments, the Chair advised that if timings were used they would only ever be used as a guide to help manage the meeting  so that all items were considered, whilst still allowing members time to debate the items fully. It was noted that a special meeting could be convened if necessary.

The Committee noted the Work Programme for 2024/25.