Issue - meetings

Planning and Economic Development Portfolio

To consider report PES/427 of the Head of Economy and Planning, which was referred to the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission on 30 January 2023.

RESOLVED

That the Cabinet:

a)         delegates the following authority to the Head of Economy and Planning in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development (Generic Delegation 5 will be used to enact these recommendations):

          i.             factual amendments and minor modifications to the Local Plan necessary in accordance with national policy and updated evidence for the purposes of clarity and accuracy.

         ii.             To approval of updates or additions to the supporting documents for the Local Plan and technical evidence base documents to support the Local Plan through Examination.

b)         requests that the Full Council to approve:

          i.             the submission draft Local Plan for Publication consultation (a statutory six-week period of public consultation), commencing 9 May 2023.

         ii.             the submission draft Local Plan for Submission to the Secretary of State for Examination by an independent Planning Inspector, subject to minor amendments deemed necessary following the above consultation for the purposes of clarity and accuracy.

        iii.             publication and submission of the supporting documents for the Local Plan: the Local Plan Map; the Sustainability Appraisal; the Habitats Regulations Assessment; the Consultation Statement; and the detailed technical evidence base documents necessary for supporting the Local Plan through Examination.

Reasons for the Recommendations

National Government guidance expects local planning authorities to produce up-to-date Local Plans for their areas, setting out the strategic priorities for the area over a 15-year timescale and showing how development needs will be met. The Crawley Borough Local Plan was adopted by Full Council on 16 December 2015. It covers the period 2015 – 2030 and provides the borough’s full planning policies for the purposes of development management decisions.

A full Local Plan Review is being undertaken to ensure the borough maintains up to date planning policies. A draft Local Plan has been considered and approved by the Council previously at the meetings of the Full Council held on 16 December 2019 and 16 December 2020. It had to be considered a second time in December 2020 due to advice relating to the government’s aviation policy, which required us to reinstate most of the land safeguarded for an additional runway to the south of Gatwick Airport.

Unexpected critical legal matters relating to water supply and its potential impacts on internationally protected habitat sites have caused additional work and substantial delays to the progression of the Local Plan whilst being resolved. However, there is now sufficient information available to address these concerns through the Local Plan Review. As a consequence, Cabinet approval is being sought to refer the revised Local Plan and supporting documentation to Full Council, seeking approval to undertake a further period of Regulation 19 consultation prior to submission of the final draft Plan to an Inspector for examination in public.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development presented report PES/427 of the Head of Economy and Planning. The new Crawley Local Plan had been prepared based on the outcomes of monitoring the implementation of the 2015 adopted Local Plan, feedback from previous stages of formal public consultations and updated from the supporting technical evidence base. Following Full Council held on 16 December 2020 which approved the Draft Local Plan for Publication and Submission, formal public consultation took place from early January until the end of June 2021.

Progression of the Local Plan to Submission was subsequently delayed due to the work required in order to meet the Habitats Regulations specifically in relation to water supply constraints. Due to this, a number of key changes, which account for the impact of “water neutrality” and associated time delay, had been made to the draft Local Plan. On this basis, the amended draft Plan will be considered again at Full Council.

Following this, a further stage of Regulation 19 Publication Consultation will take place. It is supported by a number of statutory supporting documents (a Local Plan Map, a Sustainability Appraisal, a Habitats Regulations Assessment and a Consultation Statement).

The report requested Cabinet to recommend to Full Council approval of the submission draft Local Plan for public consultation (a statutory six-week period of), commencing 9 May 2023. In addition, was the recommendation to Full Council to approve the submission draft Local Plan for Submission to the Secretary of State for Examination by an independent Planning Inspector, subject to minor amendments deemed necessary following consultation for the purposes of clarity, together with the recommendation to Full Council for approval of the publication and submission of the supporting documents for the Local Plan.  These included the Local Plan Map; the Sustainability Appraisal; the Habitats Regulations Assessment; the Consultation Statement; and the detailed technical evidence base documents necessary for supporting the Local Plan through Examination.

Councillor T Belben presented the Overview and Scrutiny Commission’s comments on the report OSC/308 to the Cabinet following consideration of the matter at its meeting on 30 January 2023.

RESOLVED

That the Cabinet:

a)         delegates the following authority to the Head of Economy and Planning in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development

(Generic Delegation 5 will be used to enact these recommendations):

i         factual amendments and minor modifications to the Local Plan necessary in accordance with national policy and updated evidence for the purposes of clarity and accuracy.

ii        to approval of updates or additions to the supporting documents for the Local Plan and technical evidence base documents to support the Local Plan through Examination.

b)         requests that the Full Council to approve:

i         the submission draft Local Plan for Publication consultation (a statutory six-week period of public consultation), commencing 9 May 2023.

ii        the submission draft Local Plan for Submission to the Secretary of State for Examination by an independent Planning Inspector, subject to minor amendments deemed necessary following the above consultation for the purposes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5

To consider report PES/427 of the Head of Economy and Planning.

The Commission considered report PES/427 of the Head of Economy and Planning. The report requested Full Council to approve the submission draft Local Plan for Publication consultation (a statutory six-week period of public consultation), commencing 9 May 2023. It also requested Full Council to agree the submission draft Local Plan for Submission to the Secretary of State for Examination by an independent Planning Inspector, subject to minor amendments deemed necessary following consultation for the purposes of clarity, together with the approval of the publication and submission of the supporting documents for the Local Plan.

Throughout the discussion with the Head of Economy and Planning, Strategic Planning Manager, Planning Policy Manager and Senior Planning Officer. During the discussion,Councillors made the following comments:

·         Recognition that a full Local Plan Review was being undertaken to ensure the borough maintained up to date planning policies.  Much of the Local Plan remained as it was previously considered by Full Council in December 2020 (following advice relating to the government’s aviation policy) and published for formal consultation in January to June 2021. Unexpected critical legal matters relating to water supply had subsequently followed and its potential impact on internationally protected habitat sites had caused additional work and substantial delays to the progression of the Local Plan whilst being resolved. There was now sufficient information available to address these concerns through the Local Plan Review and approval was sought to undertake a further period of Regulation 19 consultation prior to submission of the final draft Plan to an Inspector for examination in public. The Local Development Scheme had recently been published confirming the timetable.

·         Acknowledgement that the public consultation would commence on 9 May and extend over a 6 week period. It was a formal consultation, with all representation received being submitted alongside the Local Plan to the Inspector for their consideration as part of the Examination.

·         It was confirmed that the adopted Local Plan was subject to a 5-year Policy Review by Full Council decision, which confirmed the policies remained up to date for the purposes of Development Management decisions and ensured the Council was not placed in a vulnerable position. The requirement to review the Local Plan every five years and ensure it is up to date triggered the need to assess the existing policies against the revised national planning policy requirements and provided the opportunity to strengthen key policy areas.

·         Acknowledgement that delays to neighbouring local authorities’ Local Plans and concerns with their housing supply could have implications across the housing market area.  There was recognition of the clear position on the benefits of maintaining an up to date Local Plan and that the ‘duty to co-operate’, had to be demonstrated when the Plan was submitted.  Local Plans were judged on their own merit and whilst there were benefits in the timetables of neighbouring authorities’ Plans aligning, this was not a requirement, noting that it was helpful previously to have Crawley’s housing requirement figure set first, prior to the Examination of neighbouring Plans.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4