The Chairman, Councillor Bower, will present the Minutes from the meeting of the Planning Policy Sub-Committee held on 5 December 2018. There are recommendations at:
o Minute 4 [Arun Local Development Scheme] – to view the Officer’s report, please click on this link – Report and Appendix
o Minute 5 [Statement of Community Involvement] – to view the Officer’s report and Appendix, please click on this link - Report and Appendix 1 and Appendix 2
Minutes:
The Chairman, Councillor Bower, presented the Minutes from the meeting of the Planning Policy Sub-Committee held on 5 December 2018.
The Chairman referred Members to the first set of recommendations at Minute 4 [Arun Local Development Scheme] which he formally proposed.
These two recommendations were then seconded by Councillor Charles.
The Council
RESOLVED – That
(1) the Local Development Scheme 2018/19, as amended and set out at Appendix 1 to the report, be adopted; and
(2) authority be delegated to the Group Head of Planning, in consultation with the Chairman and the Planning Portfolio Holder, to undertake minor updating and drafting of any amendments required to the Local Development Scheme prior to publication.
Councillor Bower then alerted Members to the next recommendation at Minute 5 [Statement of Community Involvement] and he explained that the Council was obliged to produce details outlining and confirming how it would involve the community in consultation exercises relating to any planning matters over the foreseeable future. Councillor Bower then formally proposed the recommendations which were then seconded by Councillor Charles.
In discussing this item, some clarification was sought in relation to Recommendation (2) in terms of the authority to be delegated to the Group Head of Planning. The recommendation stated that this would be in consultation with the Chairman and the Planning Portfolio Holder to agree. The question asked was whether this meant the Chairman of the Council or the Chairman of the Sub-Committee. Although, Councillor Bower was able to confirm that this was the Chairman of the Sub-Committee, for clarity purposes, it was agreed to slightly amend this recommendation to confirm that this would be the Chairman of the Sub-Committee.
The Council, then
RESOLVED – That
(1) the Statement of Community Involvement, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, be adopted; and
(2) authority be delegated to the Group Head of Planning, in consultation with the Chairman of the Sub-Committee and the Planning Portfolio Holder, to agree minor editorial changes prior to publication.
Councillor Oppler then confirmed that he wished to ask some questions in relation to Minute 6 [Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Evidence Base and Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule] in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.1. Councillor Oppler outlined that he had attended the Member Briefing on CIL held on 4 December 2018 but still had a great sense of unease and had difficulty accepting what the Council could decide was an acceptable CIL rate to charge for new development. It was Councillor Oppler’s view that the £15,000 per property charge could be ‘nudged’ up a notch further as the Council should be squeezing as much as it could from developers for reinvestment back into infrastructure for the community. He asked if the Council, under a new administration, would be able to revisit its CIL rates?
Councillor Oppler’s question resulted in several Councillors expressing views on this matter. There was some concern that any increase in this levy would not just affect developers but future homeowners in the District too. Many Councillors outlined that the Briefing had made it very clear about the levels that should be set. The point was made that if CIL charges were increased significantly, then properties could become so expensive that this would then affect the people the Council was targeting for housing. The issue of CIL charging therefore needed to be critically considered in any future debate on CIL charges.
In response, Councillor Bower confirmed that there were CIL regulations that the Council had to follow, it could not use CIL regulations to control the pace of development. The Council’s recently adopted Local Plan had a five year land supply attached to it which the Council had to maintain, otherwise it would be penalised by the Government. Councillor Bower reminded Councillor Oppler that the preliminary draft charging schedule was still out for consultation and the responses from this consultation were still to be received.
The Cabinet Member for Planning, Councillor Charles, reconfirmed this point and reassured Members that the results of the consultation would be reported to the next meeting of the Planning Policy Sub-Committee on 27 February 2019. In response to questions asked earlier in this discussion, he confirmed that the Council could amend its CIL charging schedule at any time as part of a review.