The Chairman of the Committee (Councillor Guglielmi) made the following opening remarks:-

“Good evening, Members, Officers, members of the public, and everyone joining us online. Welcome to this meeting of the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee on Tuesday, 25^th August 2026, held in Clacton Town Hall Committee Room. I am pleased to open the meeting and thank you all for your attendance.

I have a few words that I would like to say before we go to the actual agenda itself. The work of this Committee has been pivotal to defining how our communities will grow and change, and I would like to once again thank our officers for the sterling work undertaken in preparing the reports and supporting papers, and the excellent quality of the maps that have been produced.

I would also like to thank all those who have so far engaged and contributed to the consultation whose views have helped to inform and shape the progress of our Local Plan.

The Committee is this evening asked to endorse the final draft of the Local Plan and to recommend a six-week public consultation. Because of the introduction of mandatory and unprecedented housebuilding targets by the Government in 2024, forced upon the Council and our communities, the overall scale of additional housing growth set out in the Local Plan,1069 new homes per year, will no doubt attract further objections. But let me assure everyone that we all agree that these figures are unrealistic, unachievable, and incredibly difficult to plan for.

Our Officers have therefore worked wonders to accommodate this requirement. Although the Submission Version contains notable changes that should address some of the previous objections, it still contains some unpopular policies and proposals needed to achieve the number of dwellings forced upon us.

On this very topic, I feel that a word of warning is due to all of us to resist any further changes that may be suggested, simply because at this very late and crucial stage, any alteration to what we are considering this evening will create delay.

Anyone who strongly disagrees with what has been produced so far, can argue their case when the plan will be heard in public in the new year, and of course during the next round of public consultation that will soon get under way.

It is absolutely crucial that we meet the end of December 2026 deadline and submit the Plan to the Planning Inspectorate to be independently examined; if we don’t, the risk is to be having to restart the whole process under a new planning system, and I think I am right in saying that we all understand the consequences of that, and the “free for all” regime that it will generate.

When we come to the appropriate stage of the agenda, I would very much like Officers to explain in more details the full meaning of recommendation D on page 51, which asks the Committee to: note that the submission of the Local Plan to the Secretary of State will need to happen before 31^st December 2026 or else the Council will need to begin the Local Plan review from scratch under a new system.

On pages 60 and 61 the report talks about the number of uncoordinated, unwanted, and unplanned speculative proposals, totalling 1600 new homes, that have already come forward, so it is imperative that we have our Local Plan in place as soon as possible.

Now, before we begin, I ask everyone present to ensure that mobile telephones are switched to silent. For the benefit of the public record and those following the meeting remotely, Members should please use their microphones and speak clearly. If anyone needs to leave the chamber, please do so with as little disruption as possible.

With these brief remarks, I formally open the meeting, and we will now proceed to the first item on the agenda.”