Minutes:
The Full Council considered report PES/427of the Head of Economy and Planning. The Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development presented the report. The new Crawley Local Plan had been prepared based on the outcomes of monitoring the implementation of the 2015 adopted Local Plan and 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 required further consideration by the Full Council.
The report sought Full Council’s approval of the submission draft Local Plan for Regulation 19 Publication Consultation (a statutory six-week period of), commencing 9 May 2023 and approval that the submission draft Local Plan be submitted 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.
The item had been previously considered at the Overview and Scrutiny Commission and Cabinet meetings on 30 January 2023 and 1 February 2023 respectively. Councillor Nawaz moved the recommendation which was seconded and supported by Councillor Jones.
Councillor Burrett then moved and presented Amendment 1 to Recommendation 2 (as shown in the Supplementary Agenda Order Paper on page 25). The amendment was seconded by Councillor Belben who also spoke on the item.
Following the conclusion of the debate, the Mayor announced that she planned to hold recorded votes for both the amendment and the substantive recommendation. The Mayor invited the Democracy and Data Manager to commence the recorded voting process.
For the Amendment: Councillors Belben, Bounds, Burgess, Burrett, Crow, Hellier, Jaggard, McCarthy, Morris, Mwagale, Peck, Pendlington and Piggott (13)
Against the Amendment: Councillors Ayling, Buck, Hart, Irvine, Jhans, K Khan, Y Khan, Jones, Lamb, Lanzer, Lunnon, Malik, Millar-Smith, C Mullins, S Mullins, Nawaz, Pritchard, Raja, Rana and Sivarajah (21)
Abstentions: None (0)
The Mayor declared that the proposed amendment had fallen – votes in favour 13, and votes against 21 with 0 abstentions.
For the Recommendation: Councillors Ayling, Belben, Bounds, Buck, Crow, Hart, Hellier, Irvine, Jaggard, Jhans, K Khan, Y Khan, Jones, Lamb, Lanzer, Lunnon, Malik, Millar-Smith, C Mullins, S Mullins, Nawaz, Pendlington, Piggott, Pritchard, Raja, Rana and Sivarajah (28)
Against the Recommendation: Councillors Burgess, Burrett, McCarthy, Morris, Mwagale and Peck (6)
Abstentions: None (0)
The Mayor declared the recommendation was carried – votes in favour 28, and votes against 6 with 0 abstentions.
RESOLVED
That Full Council approves:
a) the submission draft Local Plan for Publication consultation (a statutory six-week period of public consultation), commencing 9 May 2023, as shown within presented report PES/427
b) 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.
c) 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.