Agenda and minutes

Opening Remarks

“Good evening fellow Councillors, Officers and members of the public, welcome to the first Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee of this new Council. I would like to thank the new Administration for their allowing me to continue in my role as your Chairman. It is an honour and one I do not take lightly.

I would also like to thank and welcome the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing, Councillor Andy Baker, and the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Councillor Maria Fowler, for attending our meeting. I will ask each of them for their comments before each vote is taken.”

Report A.1 – Introductory Remarks

“We have before us this evening the last three of our 20 conservation area appraisals. Ardleigh, Great Holland and Tendring village. The recommendation is on page 13 of our Agenda.

The report shows that living in conservation areas adds to the health and wellbeing of the residents. The residents also have certain permitted development rights removed. This we explained in a leaflet that went out with this year’s rates demand.

The twenty conservation areas (CAs) are important to Tendring on various levels but in particular, to helping to maintain and enhance the communities they are sited in. The rateable value is often higher. Yet the Council offers no extras. To keep a pleasant place to live, one is in fact penalised through paying higher rates and having more restrictions imposed upon them.

Turning to the appraisals themselves, there appears to be a lack of joined up working between Place Services, Town & Parish and District. I draw our attention to pages 100 & 129 of the Great Holland CA. This is where Place Services consider that two large new dwellings are shown to have a negative effect. Yet both the Frinton & Walton Town Council and this Council approved. No comments are recorded from Essex County Council on that application, except Highways. I do hope that our recommendations will help to close and rectify these anomalies.

Far too often we find glaring loopholes. I have two such in my Ward at present. Both very different and both upsetting to the neighbours and both detracting from the CA by reducing the value of the street scene and the health and wellbeing of the residents.

There could be a mechanism to address this. It is an Article 4 Direction. This has to be specific and local. It cannot be a general blanket policy. Before we met, I spoke with Gary about these very annoying loopholes and his Team will prepare a paper for us in the not too distant feature identifying those Conservation Areas where an Article 4 Direction could be beneficial and what restrictions those Directions could put in place. This is where we Councillors together with Parish & Town Councils can bring local knowledge to bear and see if we cannot rid our CAs of these annoying, detracting and reducing carbuncles.

We also have the timeline of these appraisals and management recommendations that we agree. It seems  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Lennard and Thompson (with no substitutes).

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests or Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

In respect of Item 7 on the Agenda (Report of the Director (Planning), report A.2 – Norwich to Tilbury Second Non-Statutory Consultation), Councillor Fairley declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and a Non-Registerable Interest in relation to land owned and farmed by her husband as well as other family and friends’ farms which might be affected by the construction of sub/connector stations and/or cable routes, along the currently proposed, preferred routes for both North Falls and Five Estuaries, which were the routes published within their respective consultation documents.

Councillor Fairley further informed the Committee that a dispensation had been granted to her by the Council’s Monitoring Officer both in relation to the DPI and the Non-Registerable Interest regarding family interests, in order for her to be able to participate in debates, votes and to remain in Council meetings, on the subject matter of National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade and any wind farm developments, which came forward, where National Grid had offered connection to GGUNT (formerly EAG) at Little Bromley.  Those currently included Five Estuaries, North Falls and, more recently, Tarchon Interconnector.

The Dispensation had been granted pursuant to the criteria of Section 33(2)(c) of the Localism Act 2011. The Monitoring Officer’s reason for granting the dispensation was as follows:-

“The reason for the decision is on the grounds that it is in the interests of persons living in the authority’s area for the dispensation to be granted.  Councillor Fairley is the sole ward Councillor for the area and the Council is not the decision maker regarding the proposals, although it has an opportunity to voice its residents’ and businesses’ concerns, and act in the best interests of the District.  The land area to be impacted within the District of Tendring is vast, although acknowledging some family members own land within the area.”

Also in relation to Agenda Item 7, Councillor Turner declared for the public record that he was the Ward Member for Frinton-on-Sea, which would be affected by the cable routes coming ashore from the proposed off-shore windfarms.

In respect of Agenda Item 6 – Report of the Director (Planning) – A.1 – Conservation Area Character Appraisals and Management Plans for Ardleigh, Great Holland and Tendring Village, Councillor Fairley declared for the public record that she was the Ward Member for Ardleigh.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on Tuesday 18 April 2023.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Tuesday 18 April 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

In relation to Minute 35, the Director (Planning) informed the Committee that the Regulation 19 public consultation on the DPD Submission Version for the Garden Community had now closed. The Authorities were now considering the representations received with a view to submitting them to the Secretary of State during September 2023. The Secretary of State would then appoint a Planning Inspector to carry out an Examination-in-Public of the DPD in due course. It would be for the Planning Inspector to set the agenda for that Examination.

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.

No questions on notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38 had been submitted on this occasion.

The Council’s Public Speaking Scheme for the Planning Policy & 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 Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee on any specific reports to be considered at that public meeting.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Council’s public speaking scheme for the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee, no member of the public had registered to ask at this meeting a question regarding the matters contained in the report of the Director (Planning).

Bill Marshall, a member of the public, attended the meeting and made, at the appropriate juncture, the following statement on the matters contained in the report of the Director (Planning), item A.2 – Norwich to Tilbury Second Non-Statutory Consultation.

“I note that there seems to be no public engagement with this important development for Tendring. The climate around the UK’s power generation supply and network distribution is ever changing and seems to be currently in a state of flux. Secretary of State Michael Gove MP’s recent statements on the NMPF, and the national infrastructure projects and their funding, indicate that this project (the Norwich to Tilbury power lines) will not take place as proposed. I recommend that Officers do not use too much resource on this at the detriment of other important local projects. Thank you.”

To report to the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee the final set of ‘Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plans’ prepared for the Council by Essex Place Services, and for the Committee to agree a recommendation to Cabinet that they be published for consultation.

Earlier on in the meeting, as detailed under Minute 3 above, Councillor Fairley had declared for the public record that she was the Ward Member for Ardleigh.

The Committee considered a comprehensive report of the Director (Planning) (A.1) which reported to it the Ardleigh, Great Holland and Tendring Conservation Area Appraisals and Management Plans prepared for the Council by Essex Place Services, and requested that the Committee agreed a recommendation to Cabinet that they be published for consultation purposes.

Alterations to Boundaries

Ardleigh

It was proposed to revise the boundary to remove the modern residential developments including Picotts Place and other modern dwellings constructed in the land formerly occupied by Ardleigh Hall. The Limes, Church View, Chapel Croft and Forge Court were also proposed for removal from the Conservation Area boundary as they were of low historic interest and made a limited contribution to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.

It was further proposed to extend the boundary to include the Ardleigh Studios (former goods sheds) located to the south of the railway line. Those buildings appeared to be mid-late nineteenth century in origin and contributed positively to the architectural interest and industrial history of the Conservation Area.

Minor alterations were also proposed to rationalise the Conservation Area boundary against existing plot boundaries.

Great Holland

The war memorial on Rectory Road had not been included within the previous boundary. A small extension was therefore recommended to include the monument. It was an unusual memorial, being built of brick and tile, and originally functioned as a drinking fountain. The memorial made a beneficial contribution to the character of the area and had communal, historic and aesthetic value.

The 1981 boundary had terminated at the Saltings (number 30 Manor Road). A second extension was recommended to the south-western end of the boundary on Manor Road, to include the Village Hall and the dwelling at number 25 Manor Road. The Village Hall had been constructed in 1909 and historic photographs showed it was a rendered building with a louvered cupola, arch headed windows, a central clock on the main façade and iron brackets supporting the guttering. The building had undergone unsympathetic alterations over the decades, with the tops of the arched window openings being infilled to form square openings, the replacement of the original windows with uPVC and the building finished with pebble-dash render. The original form of the windows was still visible within the render. The iron brackets supporting the guttering still remained, as did the clock, whilst the cupola had been reinstated in 2012. The building had historic and communal value and had a prominent presence in the street scene when looking west down Manor Road from the area in front of the Ship Inn, or from outside the Conservation Area looking east.

Opposite the Village Hall was the dwelling at number 25. This was a distinctive, late Victorian detached house, which had its original windows and decorative joinery above ground floor level. It was understood to have been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To seek the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee’s comments on revised proposals from the National Grid for the ‘Norwich to Tilbury’ (formerly East Anglia GREEN) and a draft response from Tendring District Council to the current, second non-statutory consultation exercise.

Earlier on in the meeting, as detailed under Minute 3 above, Councillor Fairley had declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and a Non-Registerable Interest in relation to this item. Councillor Fairley had further informed the Committee that a Dispensation had been granted to her by the Council’s Monitoring Officer both in relation to the DPI and the Non-Registerable Interest pursuant to the criteria of Section 33(2)(c) of the Localism Act 2011.

In addition, Councillor Turner had declared for the public record that he was the Ward Member for Frinton-on-Sea, which would be affected by the cable routes coming ashore from the proposed off shore windfarms.

The Committee considered a report of the Director (Planning) (A.2),  which sought its comments on revised proposals from the National Grid for the ‘Norwich to Tilbury’ (formerly East Anglia GREEN) and also in relation to a draft response from Tendring District Council to the current, second non-statutory consultation exercise.

Members were aware that the UK Government was committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.  Consequently, the way electricity was generated in the UK was changing rapidly. New offshore windfarms had a key part to play in the transition to cheaper, greener more secure sources of energy.  This was the second round of non-statutory consultation by the National Grid on the proposed upgrade to the transmission network between Norwich and Tilbury.  The purpose of this consultation was to present revised proposals having assessed feedback received at the initial consultation in spring 2022, and to seek comments on those revisions.  

The Committee was reminded that in order to ensure the power network had the capacity to accommodate a projected increase in demand for electricity generated from renewable means, National Grid was proposing the ‘Norwich to Tilbury’ project. This involved:

•    A new 400kV powerline between Norwich and Bramford (near Ipswich);

•    A new 400kV powerline between Bramford and Tilbury; and

•    A new 400kV substation - the East Anglian Connection Node (EACN) in the Tendring District area to facilitate the connection to the proposed North Falls Offshore Windfarm, Five Estuaries Offshore Windfarm – both of which were to be located off the Tendring District coast, and a 1400MW interconnector between the UK and Germany being developed by Tarchon Energy.

It was reported that as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), the planning process would be overseen by central Government and a specialist unit within the Planning Inspectorate. National Grid would be seeking a ‘Development Consent Order’ (DCO) from Government, as opposed to planning permission from the local authority – however local authorities like Tendring District Council would be consultees in the process.

Members were aware that the project was currently at its second, non-statutory consultation where National Grid were inviting comments on its revised proposals.  It had commenced on Tuesday 27th June 2023 and would close on Monday 21st August 2023.  National Grid had a programme of briefing sessions for stakeholders, communities and other interested parties – some of which had already taken  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Committee will receive a verbal update from the Director (Planning) on the review of the Local Plan.

The Committee received a verbal update from the Director (Planning) (Gary Guiver) on the review of the Local Plan in which he informed Members that Officers were already reviewing the Local Plan especially its policies and the supporting technical evidence. There was a requirement under the Regulations that the Local Plan be updated every five years but given that this process could take a number of years it was important to start as early as practicable. Otherwise, if the Plan was to elapse then the Council would, once more, face the spectre of ‘speculative development’.

Mr Guiver informed Members that the current Local Plan would form the basis of the review with an intention to extend it into the 2040s. The aim was to strengthen the existing Plan policies rather than start again from scratch. Factors that would need to be taken into account included:-

(i)      Central Government changes to the planning system especially in relation to the Plan making process and national planning policy frameworks;

(ii)     the projected Housing Need for the District; and

(iii)   this Council’s relationship with Colchester City Council and whether there was an appetite for a ‘joint plan approach’.

The public would be consulted on putting forward ‘reasonable options’ and a ‘call for sites’.

Other matters that would need to be taken into account included:-

·      the implications arising from Freeport East;

·      whether to pursue a greater range of smaller developments;

·      the Community Infrastructure Levy;

·      access to public transport;

·      community led projects; and

·      the role of neighbourhood plans.

Mr Guiver reported that areas that had already been identified as being in need of strengthening included policies relating to:-

vclimate change amelioration;

vaffordability;

vwildlife and bio-diversity net gain;

vopen spaces; and

vholiday parks.

Members were made aware that reports on all of the above would be submitted to the Committee in due course.

The Committee noted the foregoing.