Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence for the meeting were received from Councillors S Carefoot, J Clark and B Holden.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interest in respect of matters contained in the agenda.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests.

There was no public participation.

Report of Director of Economic Development and Planning enclosed.

The Director of Economic Development and Planning submitted a report informing members of the updated Local Development Scheme (LDS) which sets out the anticipated timeframe for the Local Plan.

The LDS is a statutory document that the Council has to have in place and is a public statement of the programme that the Council intend to take forward to deliver the Local plan for the area.

The Core Strategy was formally adopted in December 2014 and the Housing and Economic Development – Development Plan Document (HED DPD) was adopted in October 2019. The Core Strategy reached its 5-year anniversary in December 2019 and the council undertook a review of the strategy and concluded that several policy areas needed to be updated. Work had commenced on this process but was stalled by the pandemic and the publication of the Government’s White Paper on the plan making system which means the programme is now almost 12 months behind schedule.

To ensure that the Local Plan updates remains on track for an updated plan to be in place by the end of 2023 it was important to move forward with the process as soon as possible.

The timetable to produce the plan was set out for members approval.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Authorise the Director of Economic Development and Planning to publish the Local Development Scheme and keep committee informed of progress.

Report of Director of Economic Development and Planning enclosed.

The Director of Economic Development and Planning submitted a report informing members of the Sustainability Appraisal process as part of the ongoing Ribble Valley Local Plan.

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires local authorities to carry out a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of proposals within a plan throughout its preparation. The role of the SA was to promote sustainable development by assessing the impacts of the plan on environmental, economic, and social sustainability objectives. The appraisal runs alongside the plan-making process.

The Council had commissioned work to JBA Consultants to undertake the SA process on behalf of the Council and they had prepared an initial scoping report as part of the SA which proposed and agreed the technical scope of the appraisal, the objectives against which the emerging plan would be measured against and the framework through which the appraisal would be undertaken.

The draft scoping report was subject to a consultation with the statutory consultation bodies and the comments received had been reviewed and the scope of the assessment revised where relevant.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Approve the publication of scoping report as part of the initial stage of the SA and invite comment as part of the evidence base for the Local Plan, and

2.    Agree that the Sustainability Appraisal of the Local Plan continues, and future outcomes reported to members where appropriate.

Report of Director of Economic Development and Planning enclosed.

The Director of Economic Development and Planning submitted a report asking committee to consider the consultation report on Strategy Matters and agree to undertake consultation in line with Regulation 18 as part of the ongoing Ribble Valley Local Plan .

Committee were informed that work was progressing on the production of the new local plan for the borough, and one of the key stages the council was required to carry out was to promote the opportunity to discuss and debate the key issues and options to be considered in forming its plan.

The proposed consultation on the document would generate stakeholder input to the plan making process and was intended as a vehicle upon which to base the engagement giving an opportunity to raise issues the council had not identified that they considered important.

Members were asked to consider the issues raised in the document which included strategic issues that would need to be tested and developed in order to inform the plan. The key issues related to the level of housing requirement, affordable housing issues to be considered and the approach to planning for employment and growth together with optiona for the Development Strategy.

The Head of Regeneration and Housing reported that to date the analysis indicated that based on the government’s Standard Methodology approach there was a very limited need to plan for additional housing over and above what was currently committed within the short term. However, there were some factors that needed to be tested in relation to the reality that commitments were being used up which may  drive a need for an early review or an option to make some additional but phased allocations as part of this plan to help smooth the transition from high housing numbers to a lower level of housing.

The key issue to be tested in relation to Employment and Jobs growth was the approach to supporting the local economy and planning for new land.

The consultation and subsequent reporting of the outcomes would demonstrate that the Council had provided the opportunity to have input to the plan and how it had responded. The consultation would run over a 6-week period from publication and would include a range of statutory consultees, neighbouring authorities under the duty to cooperate, parish councils and the public. It would be a digital based consultation through the website, but paper copies would also be made available.

A focused meeting would be held for the parish councils to ensure they had an opportunity to discuss issues in a forum setting. The proposed date for this was 6 June 2022.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Endorse the content of the Regulation 18 Strategic Matters Consultation Document and agree that the matters be published for 6 weeks statutory consultation and the Director of Economic Development and Planning be authorised to prepare the necessary consultation materials to satisfy the requirements for Regulation 18 of the Development Plan Regulations and to undertake appropriate stakeholder consultation, and

2.    Agree that the outcome of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

None.

There were no items under this heading.