Agenda item

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 agenda item to be considered at that public meeting.

Minutes:

The Chairman invited the following persons to address the Committee:

 

Bill Marshall, a resident of the District, made a statement relating to item A.1 of the report of the Corporate Director (Planning and Regeneration) in which he urged Councillors not to approve the recommendations in that report.  He referenced the publication of the report and appendices on 25 July and considered that there was too much information to digest in too short a period.  He invited Members to delay, defer and reconsider the detail in the report.  He expressed the view that residents had been excluded from the proposals and those residents did not want the proposed Garden Communities.  He drew attention to the £2 billion borrowing and that this would, in his view, burden local residents for generations.  As an alternative, Members were advised that he had submitted a proposal which he referenced as being DRPP, which had then been identified as Alternative 7 and E4 in the Assessment.  He also drew attention to a model he had displayed at the meeting of a rapid transport floating train.

 

Ted Gittens, a resident of the District, made a statement relating to item A.1 of the report of the Corporate Director (Planning and Regeneration) in which he considered that the Local Plan process was at a crucial point and he referenced the words of the Local Plan Inspector on the issue of promoting all three Garden Communities across North Essex at the same time and the difficulties with justification for this simultaneous development the Inspector had outlined.  He considered the west-Tendring Garden Community was little more than a Colchester overspill with transport links westward rather than into the rest of Tendring.  Instead he spoke in support of development in the area where the A120 and A133 diverge of which he described as Tendring central and linked it to the Metro Plan proposal referenced in the report.  This he considered would redistribute development eastward and be more sustainable for the District.

 

Carol Bannister, a resident of the District, made statements relating to items A.1, A.2 and A.3 of the Report of the Corporate Director (Planning and Regeneration) in which she outlined that she supported Garden Communities, although not on the scale proposed.  She described the District of Tendring as being a rural, tourist and retirement area and she spoke strongly about the need to retain this character.  She did not believe organisations such as CAUSE represented the views of local people in Tendring.  She was of the view that the Metro Plan proposal referenced in the report would destroy the villages identified in that proposal due to the huge growth the proposal envisaged.  In respect of the report at A2, she advised the Committee that she considered the housing supply proposals should be accepted.  She also spoke on the report at A3, and referenced her support for measures to protect local habitats and, in this regard, quoted Weeley Wood.

 

The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee, thanked the above persons for their input, views and considerations.

 

Supporting documents: