Agenda item

To inform the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee of the outcome of the public consultation exercise carried out in relation to the draft Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) and that Officers have made a number of minor modifications to the SCI in response to those consultation responses.

To seek the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee’s endorsement of the SCI, as amended, as well as its approval that the SCI be submitted to the Council's Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning for their formal decision to formally adopt the SCI on behalf of the Council.

The Committee considered a report of the Director (Planning) (A.1) which:-

(i)     informed it of the outcome of the public consultation exercise carried out in relation to the draft Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) and that Officers had made a number of minor modifications to the SCI in response to those consultation responses; and

(ii)    sought its endorsement of the SCI, as amended, as well as its approval that the SCI be submitted to the Council's Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning for their formal decision to formally adopt the SCI on behalf of the Council.

The Committee recalled that the SCI was designed to set out how the Council would involve the community and other stakeholders in the planning process, in particular, when it came to public consultation on the Local Plan and other planning policy documents. It also explained how the Council would consult communities and other stakeholders on Planning Applications and advised developers how best to undertake early community engagement prior to submitting their applications.

Members were aware that the Council was currently undertaking the process of reviewing the Local Plan for the District, which would guide new development in Tendring until 2041. The updated SCI would guide public engagement throughout this process, and compliance with the SCI was a legal requirement that would be considered when the Local Plan was examined by a Government appointed Inspector.

A six-week public consultation had been held between 22^nd January and 4^th March 2024 to give the community and other stakeholders the opportunity to comment on the consultation methods proposed. A small number of consultation responses had been received by the Council.

It was reported that the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) had prepared a detailed representation setting out the services they provided and had also provided general comments on their involvement in the plan-making system. Specific mention had been made to those instances when EEAST should be consulted at each stage. The SCI had been amended (at Appendix 1) to ensure that this stakeholder was specifically mentioned.

The Committee was informed that Section 2 of the SCI set out the process for preparing and updating a Local Plan, and the engagement that would be expected at each stage. The initial scoping stage of preparing the Local Plan had not been included in this table, and it had now been added to this final version – reflecting the engagement techniques that were listed for the comparable stage of DPD preparation at section 4 of the SCI.

Members were made aware that Officers within the Development Management team had provided further advice on a number of aspects of public consultation undertaken for Planning Applications and pre-application enquires. The resulting changes to the SCI included detailing how planning applications were advertised; clarifying demolition in conservation areas; and pre-application advice. Those comments had been reflected in the amended SCI.

A full list of representations and what changes were proposed to be made to the SCI were included in Appendix B to the Officer report (A.1).

Having duly taken all of the above information into account and having discussed the matter:-

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

RESOLVED that the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee –

(a)    notes the responses received to the public consultation exercise;

(b)    endorses the contents of the final version of the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI); and

(c)    recommends to the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning that he makes an executive decision under his delegated powers to formally adopt the SCI on behalf of the Council.