Agenda item

a)     To report to the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee the recommendations of the Planning Inspectors as to the ‘modifications’ required for Section 2 of the Council’s new Local Plan to meet the requirement for legal compliance and ‘soundness’; and

 

b)     To seek the Committee’s agreement to proceed to the next stage of the plan-making process which is to publish the modifications for six weeks public consultation.

 

Minutes:

During the consideration of this item, Councillor G V Guglielmi declared a personal interest insofar as he was Chairman of Essex County Council’s Development and Regulation Committee and also insofar as he was a Tendring District Council representative on the Tendring / Colchester Borders Garden Community Steering Group.

 

The Committee had before it a comprehensive report (and appendices) of the Assistant Director (Strategic Planning & Place) (A.1) which:-

 

a)      reported the recommendations of the Planning Inspectors as to the ‘modifications’ required for Section 2 of the Council’s new Local Plan in order to meet the requirement for legal compliance and ‘soundness’; and

 

b)      sought the Committee’s agreement to proceed to the next stage of the plan-making process which would be to publish the modifications for a six weeks public consultation.

 

Key Points

 

It was reported that, following virtual examination hearings in February and March 2021, the Government-appointed Planning Inspectors for Section 2 of the Council’s Local Plan had issued a letter confirming the recommended ‘main modifications’ required to make the plan both legally compliant and sound.

 

Members were informed that the majority of those modifications reflected, broadly, those already put forward by the Council itself in the run up to the examination hearings and those discussed during the hearing sessions themselves. All were aimed at improving the soundness of the plan, responding to representations received during the previous consultation and ensuring that the plan was kept up to date, reflecting the latest evidence.

 

The Committee was advised that there were no radical or unexpected changes of approach being introduced through the proposed modifications and, importantly, the Inspectors were not asking for any additional land to be allocated in the plan for housing.

 

Members were made aware that the ‘main modifications’ recommended by the Inspectors must be published for consultation before the Inspectors could write their final report and the Plan could be adopted. It was proposed that consequential changes to the Local Plan maps and ‘additional modifications’ of a minor/factual nature were also published for consultation. Progression to this next stage of the process would make it possible that the Council could be in a position to formally adopt the new Local Plan, in full, by the end of 2021.

 

Background

 

Members recalled that, in January 2021, the Council had formally adopted Section 1 of Local Plan which set out the overarching strategy for North Essex including policies setting the overall housing and employment requirements and the policies relating to the Tendring / Colchester Borders Garden Community. 

 

The Committee was aware that Section 2 of the Local Plan contained more specific local policies and proposals relevant and applicable only to the District of Tendring. Like Section 1, before Section 2 of the Local Plan could be formally adopted, it must first be examined by a Government-appointed Inspector whose job it was to check that: 1) the plan had been prepared in line with various legal requirements; and 2) that the policies and proposals in the plan complied with the ‘tests of soundness’ contained within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

 

Examination hearings for the Section 2 Plan had taken place in February and March 2021, ‘virtually’ via Microsoft Teams and the two appointed Inspectors had now written to the Council recommending a series of ‘main modifications’ that that were considered necessary to ensure Section 2 of the Plan was made ‘sound’ and for it to thereafter proceed towards formal adoption. Some of the notable modifications being proposed included a full update of the housing figures and protected employment sites, consequential adjustments to the settlement development boundaries to reflect grants of planning permission, the deletion of any unnecessary or redundant policies and the simplification of certain policies.

 

The Committee was advised that, as part of the statutory process, the ‘main modifications’ (which the Inspectors considered necessary to make the Local Plan sound) had to be published for six weeks consultation alongside an updated ‘Sustainability Appraisal’ and ‘Habitats Regulation Assessment’ for the Section 2 Local Plan. Modifications to the Local Plan Maps (most of which came as a consequence of main modifications or were otherwise consequential changes resulting from the grant of planning permission or physical changes on the ground) and a series of ‘additional modifications’ which were minor and factual in nature were also recommended, by Officers, for consultation alongside the Main Modifications, in the interest of transparency and completeness.

 

Next steps

 

It was suggested by Officers that the public consultation ran from mid-July 2021, which would allow the Inspectors time to see, and if necessary comment, on the updated Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulation Assessment that had been prepared.

 

Members were informed that, following the consultation, all the responses would be sent to the Inspectors who would then consider the need for any further changes before producing a final report confirming whether the Council could proceed to adopt Section 2 of the Local Plan. It was hoped that the Council could be in a position to adopt the Section 2 Plan by the end of 2021, possibly as early as the autumn.

 

The Committee also had before it an Update Sheet which had been circulated to Members prior to the commencement of the meeting. The Update Sheet contained a proposed sentence to be added into Main Modification MM33.1 in respect of paragraph 7.4.3. The wording of that proposed sentence had been agreed by Officers with the Inspectors.

 

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor White, present at the meeting in his capacity as Chairman of the Planning Committee, addressed Members and asked a question to which the Assistant Director (Strategic Planning & Place) responded.

 

Having duly considered and discussed the contents of the report and its appendices, together with the Update Sheet:-

 

It was moved by Councillor Turner, seconded by Councillor Fairley and:-

 

RESOLVED unanimously that the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee –

 

a)    notes the Planning Inspectors’ letter dated 19 May 2021 (attached as Appendix 1 to item A.1 of the Report of the Assistant Director (Strategic Planning & Place)); the recommended ‘Main Modifications’ (Appendix 2 to the aforesaid report); the ‘Additional Modifications’ (Appendix 3 to the aforementioned report); and the associated ‘Modifications to the Local Plan Maps’ (Appendix 4 to the above report), together with the Update Sheet;

 

b)    following agreement with the Leader of the Council, agrees that Officers can proceed to publish the Main Modifications (including the additional wording to Main Modification MM33.1 contained in the Update Sheet), Additional Modifications and Modifications to the Local Plan Maps for six weeks public consultation, alongside an updated Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulation Assessment, in accordance with Section 20 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) and for any responses to be forwarded to the Planning Inspectors to enable them to reach final conclusions on the legal compliance and soundness of Section 2 of the Local Plan; and

 

c)    authorises the Assistant Director (Strategic Planning and Place), in consultation with the Chairman of the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee and the Planning Inspectors, to decide the dates of the aforementioned public consultation period.

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents: