Agenda and minutes

The Committee is required to elect, from amongst its appointed membership, the Chairman of the Committee to serve in that office for the remainder of the 2023/2024 Municipal Year.

NOTES:

(1)    The office of Chairman of the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee is currently vacant due to the fact that Councillor N W Turner, the previous Chairman, is no longer a serving member of the Committee.

(2)    The newly elected Chairman will also automatically become a Tendring District Council appointed member of the Tendring / Colchester Borders Garden Community Joint Committee.

(3)    If the current Vice-Chairman of the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee (Councillor M Bush) is elect to be Chairman, then the Committee will be requested to appoint one of its members to fill that vacant office of Vice-Chairman.

In the light of the fact that the office of Chairman of the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee was currently vacant, due to the fact that Councillor N W Turner, the previous Chairman, was no longer a serving member of the Committee, the Committee was required to elect, from amongst its appointed membership, the Chairman of the Committee to serve in that office for the remainder of the 2023/2024 Municipal Year.

Members were aware that the newly elected Chairman would also automatically become a Tendring District Council appointed member of the Tendring / Colchester Borders Garden Community Joint Committee.

It was moved by Councillor Bush, seconded by Councillor Chapman BEM and:-

RESOLVED that Councillor Guglielmi be elected Chairman of the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee for the remainder of the 2023/2024 Municipal Year.

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

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Scott (with Councillor Wiggins substituting) and Baker (the Housing & Planning Portfolio Holder, who had a standing invitation to attend the meetings of this Committee but had been unable to do so on this occasion due to illness).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on Thursday 27 July 2023.

It was moved by Councillor M Cossens, seconded by Councillor Skeels and:-

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Thursday 27 July 2023, be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

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

There were no declarations of interest made by Members on this occasion.

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 Local Plan Committee on any specific agenda item 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 or to make a statement regarding the matters contained in the report of the Director (Planning).

To invite the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee’s comments on the Draft Jaywick Sands Place Plan and to seek its recommendation to Cabinet, that the document be published for consultation with the public and other interested parties.

The Committee considered a detailed report of the Director (Planning) (A.1) which invited its comments on the Draft Jaywick Sands Place Plan and sought its recommendation to Cabinet, that the document be published for consultation with the public and other interested parties.

Members were aware that Jaywick Sands had been identified as a Priority Area for Regeneration in the Tendring Local Plan. The purpose of the Place Plan was to provide a long-term strategy for the regeneration of Jaywick Sands with the main objectives being to:

•    Transform housing quality and the built environment; 

•    Ensure long term flood resilience;

•    Create greater connectivity to neighbouring areas;

•    Attract commerce & new economic opportunities; and

•    Improve people's life chances, access to public services & health & wellbeing.

In order to achieve this, the Place Plan proposed a number interventions including:-

•    Flood defence and seafront public realm improvements;

•    Improvements to residential areas (including replacement dwellings);

•    Creating space for business, tourism and local services;

•    Improvements to public open space;

•    Increased accessibility and connectivity;

•    Drainage infrastructure; and

•    Ongoing community engagement and stewardship.

It was reported that those interventions were, in combination, intended to elevate Jaywick Sands from the bottom of the English Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The Committee was informed that realising that vision would necessitate significant funding in excess of £120million for which there was no available budget at present. It did, however provide, for the first time, a costed plan containing tangible proposals that could form the basis for discussions with the Government; the Council’s partners and other potential funders; and to support future bids for external funding. The full implementation of the strategy detailed in the Place Plan was expected to span a period of 20 years and any improvements were most likely to be achieved in manageable phases.

Members were reminded that the proposals in the Draft Place Plan formed part of an overarching strategy, which had been informed by previous public consultation and community engagement – including that undertaken in Autumn 2022. It represented an approach that that had, to date, been developed with the community with a view to delivery with strong community stewardship; whereas previous unsuccessful ideas for the regeneration of Jaywick Sands had met with local objection as they had been seen as being imposed upon the community against their wishes. Officers were hopeful therefore that this Place Plan (which ruled out extreme, unpopular and undeliverable options) would meet with constructive feedback and local support.

Hana Loftus, HAT Projects gave a comprehensive presentation to the Committee regarding the Jaywick Sands Place Plan, which covered the following matters:-

(a)    Regeneration Objectives for Jaywick Sands;

(b)    Why develop a Place Plan;

(c)    Work done to date;

(d)    What is the Place Plan;

(e)    Place Plan Vision;

(f)     How the Draft Place Plan is meeting Tendring District Council’s objectives;

(g)    Spatial Framework;

(h)    Flood Defences & Seafront Public Realm;

(1)    ‘Nationally Preferred Option’ (Flood Defences);

(2)    Place Plan Preferred Design Framework (Brooklands);

(3)    Place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.