Agenda item

Following the public participation period, because of reporting timescales and limited scope of changes proposed, this report recommends member agreement (i.e. adoption) of the focused changes in the SPD update, should only minor changes be received from any representations.

          The Chair advised the Committee that the recommendation in the report has been amended to specify a date that the Supplementary Design Guide is agreed (adopted) on 20 February 2024. The reason for this is that adoption must be after a period of four weeks from the date the Consultation Statement is made available. The Consultation statement was made available on Tuesday 23 January.

          The recommendation had been amended to the following:

The Chair advised the Committee that the recommendation in the report has been amended to specify a date that the Supplementary Design Guide is agreed (adopted) on 20 February 2024. The reason for this is that adoption must be after a period of four weeks from the date the Consultation Statement is made available. The Consultation statement was made available on Tuesday 23 January.

          The recommendation had been amended to the following:

That the Design Guide Update Supplementary Planning Document is agreed (adopted) on the 20 February 2024.

The Chair invited the Planning Policy & Conservation Manager to present the report to the Committee.  Following the Committee’s agreement to progress to the Public Participation stage of the Supplementary Design Guide update, the consultation period had run from 4 December 2023 to 12 January 2024.  He reported that following assessment of the responses received only minor changes to the document had been necessary and therefore the Supplementary Design Statement was being recommended to the Committee for approval on 20 February 2024.

The amended recommendation was proposed by Councillor Tandy and seconded by Councillor Yeates.

The Chair invited questions or comment from Members.  Discussion took place around cycling infrastructure provision at the Ford SDL and connectivity to the wider network .

·       The Planning Policy & Conservation Manager confirmed that the SPD only applied to negotiating cycling infrastructure following the submission of a planning application, with the update relating to cycling provision in particular.

·       Comment was made that whilst the infrastructure provision was welcomed, more should be done to extend the requirement to outside the red line planning application boundaries.  More could be done by the council to fullfill its obligations or its Sustainability Policy TDM1.  An example of where there was strong evidence of this was the Ford Airfield development, where despite its close proximity to Ford Railway Station there was no provision to provide  a cycle route.

·       The Planning Policy & Conservation Manager provided details of the Arun Active Travel Study published in 2022 that looked at existing strategic development and what was happening to link the sites up. Some of these requirements would require Section 106 agreement provision, but only for onsite, and so CIL provision would be required instead where offsite.  A member commented that he was aware that currently none of the recommendations in the report had been delivered and said he would welcome some action.

·       The Director of Growth and Interim Chief Executive, advised Councillor McAuliffe that he would provide further information regarding the Ford Airfield development and cycling, as the situation was broader than suggested, outside of the meeting.

·       The Director of Growth and Interim Chief Executive, updated members on the situation regarding the creation of a footpath from Arundel along the River Arun to Littlehampton.  The proposal had been part of  round 2 of the Levelling Up Grant bid that included a range of cycling facilities but had been unsuccessful.  This was disappointing, as it was considered it had been a good high quality bid that would have been good for Arundel and Littlehampton resident and those using Ford Railway Station.

The Committee

          RESOLVED

That the Design Guide Update Supplementary Planning Document is agreed (adopted) on the 20 February 2024.