Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting will be held in accordance with SI 2020/392. Link to the live stream is found here: https://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/livemeetings

Contact: Keith Durran  01255 686585

Items
No. Item

20.

Chairman's Opening Remarks

Minutes:

“Good Evening to all fellow Councillors; our Officers; and all who are listening. I have extra pleasure in welcoming the members of the Planning Committee tonight. They will be observers only. If they have any questions their Chairman, Councillor John White will be allowed to ask them. Before going to the vote I will ask for any comments and for our Officers to answer them.

 

As you can all see we have another daunting Agenda in front of us. All 610 pages of it. Despair not, we are not considering the RAMS (Agenda Item 6). That will be left for another meeting in October, giving us all time to read and digest a very lengthy item. We will be considering pages 1 to 16 and 495 to 610 being the legalities and minutes plus agenda items 7 and 8.

 

Since our last meeting much has moved on, not only locally but nationally. As we go through the Agenda, updates will be given so that we are all as fully informed as possible.”

21.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

An apology for absence was submitted on behalf of Councillor Chapman (with Councillor Steady substituting).

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Chapman (with Councillor Steady substituting), S Honeywood (with no substitute) and Newton (with no substitute).

22.

Minutes of the Last Meeting pdf icon PDF 142 KB

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on 15 July 2020.

Minutes:

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 15 July 2020 be approved as a correct record.

 

The Assistant Director (Strategic Planning & Place) updated the Committee on the latest position in respect of Section 1 of the Local Plan; the Colchester Tendring Borders Garden Community Development Plan Document; and NEGC Ltd. He then responded to questions put to him by Councillors Scott and Bush.

23.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

On a point of information for the public record Councillor G V Guglielmi reminded the Committee of his interest in any matter pertaining to the NEGC Ltd as he was, on behalf of the Council, an alternate Director of that company.

24.

Questions on Notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

Minutes:

On this occasion no Councillor had submitted notice of a question.

25.

Public Speaking pdf icon PDF 127 KB

The Council’s Public Speaking Scheme for the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee gives the opportunity for members of the public and other interested parties/stakeholders to speak to the Council’s elected members on the Local Plan Committee on any specific agenda item to be considered at that public meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no public speakers on this occasion.

26.

Report of the Corporate Director (Place and Economy) - A.1 - Essex Coast Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy (RAMS) consultation exercise, final SPD and Partnership Agreement pdf icon PDF 202 KB

To update the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee on the  outcome of public consultation on the Essex Coastal Recreational Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy (RAMS)  Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and to seek its agreement to forward the revised SPD and the associated RAMS Strategy document and Partnership Agreement to Cabinet for formal approval.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Committee (Councillor Turner) reminded the meeting that he had deferred the consideration of this item in order to allow Members more time to consider the considerable amount of paperwork associated with this item. He further informed Members that this item would now be considered at a meeting of the Committee to be held on Wednesday 14 October 2020 commencing at 6.00 p.m. Members were requested to keep their Agendas from this meeting as it was not intended to re-issue the Report and Appendices to the Committee.

 

The Committee noted the foregoing.

27.

Report of the Corporate Director (Place and Economy) - A.3 - Section 2 Local Plan: Preparations for the Examination Hearings pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To provide an update on preparations for the Examination of Section 2 of the Council’s emerging Local Plan following initial advice from the recently appointed Planning Inspectors.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a report (and appendices) of the Corporate Director (Place & Economy) which provided it with an update on preparations for the Examination of Section 2 of the Council’s emerging Local Plan following initial advice received from the recently appointed Planning Inspectors.

 

Key Points

 

Members were informed of the key points of the report as follows:

 

·      the Inspector’s Modifications to Section 1 of the Local Plan were currently out for public consultation and so attention had turned to the Examination of Section 2 of the Local Plan.

 

·      two different Inspectors had been appointed to oversee the Examination of each of Tendring, Braintree and Colchester Councils’ Section 2 Local Plans.

 

·      those Inspectors had issued some initial advice to Officers and had requested information that would enable them to consider the potential timetable for the examination and the key issues that might need to be covered.

 

·      they had also asked the Council to prepare for the possibility of the examination hearings being carried out face-to-face, ‘virtually’ or a combination of the two – depending on the status of COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time.

 

·      it was anticipated that the examination hearings would take place in early 2021 in order to allow time for the Section 1 Local Plan process to be completed and for preparations for Section 2 to progress.

 

Members were informed that Mr. Jameson Bridgwater and Ms. Anne Jordan had been appointed by the Secretary of State to conduct the examination of Tendring, Braintree and Colchester Councils’ Section 2 Local Plans. On 20 August 2020, they had issued advice on how to approach the examination process and Officers had been undertaking work in line with their advice. The work being carried out included the following:

 

·      a new set of pages on the Council’s website were being prepared, dedicated specifically to the Section 2 Examination and in a format that was broadly consistent with that of Colchester and Braintree Councils.

 

·      an up-to-date library of all the evidence the Council would be relying on for the examination was being organised; with the documents arranged to correspond with the structure and policy order of the Plan and placed on the new webpages. This would include the new Employment Land Review; updates to the Council’s Retail Study; and the latest Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA).

 

·      copies of all the relevant representations received in response to the Local Plan consultation in 2017 were being arranged to correspond with the structure and policy order of the Plan and would also be placed on the new webpages. 

 

·      a comprehensive set of schedules was being compiled that would: 1) summarise the various comments raised by different stakeholders; 2) provide a brief response to the points raised; and 3) set out any suggested amendments to the Plan aimed at addressing objections or otherwise updating, improving or correcting the Plan. These would include the suggested amendments considered and agreed by the Committee at recent meetings.

 

·      a shorter schedule would be prepared to identify the ‘key  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

28.

Report of the Corporate Director (Place and Economy) - A.2 -The Planning White Paper - 'Planning for the Future' pdf icon PDF 152 KB

The purpose of the report set out before the Committee is to:

a)    draw the attention of Members to the recently published planning White Paper consultation – ‘Planning for the Future’ (see Appendix 1),

b)    allow Members to consider and agree the draft response to the consultation set out at Appendix 2 for recommendation to Cabinet.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a report (and appendices) of the Corporate Director (Place & Economy) (A.2) which informed it of the recently published Government White Paper titled ‘Planning for the Future’. The report also Members’ agreement for a draft formal response to the Government’s consultation to be submitted to the Cabinet for its final approval and submission to the Government.

 

Key Points

 

The Committee was informed of the key points of the report as follows:-

 

·      on 6 August 2020, the Government had published a White Paper entitled ‘Planning for the Future’ which set out proposals aimed at radically reforming the national planning system.

 

·      that Paper had included proposals for the streamlining of process for the preparation of Local Plans; simplifying the process for making planning decisions; placing greater emphasis on high quality and ‘beautiful design’; and introducing a new ‘Infrastructure Levy’ to fund infrastructure and affordable housing.

 

·      the consultation paper contained 26 questions and responses needed to be submitted by 29 October 2020.

 

·      Officers, in liaison with the Chairman of the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee, had drafted responses to those questions and the Committee’s comments and agreement was now sought for onward recommendation to the Cabinet.

 

It was reported that those draft responses aimed to support the principle of simplifying and speeding up the planning system but objected to any changes that might: a) hand too much power to unelected Planning Inspectors; b) force housing targets on Councils without any opportunity for challenge; c) undermine local democracy; or d) unintentionally bring about more bureaucracy and delay.

 

Members were made aware that the White Paper divided its proposed reforms into three broad themes, or “pillars” and set out how the changes could be delivered in varying levels of detail. The Paper also detailed a number of alternate options which were also set out in the Officer report. The three “pillars” were:-

 

Pillar One: Planning for Development (A New Role for Local Plans)

Pillar Two: Planning for Beautiful and Sustainable Places

Pillar Three: Planning for Infrastructure and Connected Places.

 

Members congratulated the Chairman (Councillor Turner) and the Assistant Director (Strategic Planning & Place) (Gary Guiver) on the robustness and challenging nature of the draft responses to the Government’s consultation document. Councillor Turner and Mr Guiver undertook to take into consideration the comments made by Members in submitting the draft responses to Cabinet.

 

Having duly considered and discussed the contents of the report and its appendices:-

 

It was moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor Fairley and:-

 

RESOLVED that the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee agrees the draft responses (as set out in Appendix 2 to item A.2 of the Report of the Corporate Director (Place & Economy)) for their onward recommendation to the Cabinet.