Meeting documents

Councillor Mrs Paternoster

Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy

To consider the attached report.

(a)          Decision(s)

That Council be recommended to:-

(1)  Approve the proposed submission draft of the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan, as amended by the changes now agreed by Cabinet and itemised in the schedule attached as an Appendix to this Decision Notice, for the purposes of formally consulting for a statutory period of 6 weeks in accordance with Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, and as the version proposed to be submitted to the Secretary of State for examination in accordance with Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, subject to the recommendations contained in (2) and (3) below.

(2)  Delegate authority to the Assistant Director (Community Fulfilment), after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy, to make amendments to the final VALP document and maps to address typographical errors and improve clarity, provided that these amendments did not alter policies significantly or change the sense of the supporting text, prior to the start of the publication period.

(3)  Delegate authority to the Director with responsibility for planning, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy, to approve any modifications or other amendments which might arise during the Examination.

(b)          Reason(s) for Decision(s)

To enable the Authority to meet its statutory obligations with regard to the preparation of a Local Plan.

(c)        Alternative Options Considered

None, as referred to above all local planning authorities are under a statutory obligation to prepare a Local Plan.

(d)       Relevant Scrutiny Committee

VALP Scrutiny Committee.  That Committee had considered the Submission Draft at its meeting on 26 September and had made a number of suggestions concerning the text of the Submission Draft.  These were itemised in the Cabinet report and a schedule of suggested changes circulated at the meeting.  All of the suggested changes were discussed individually by Cabinet.  Those recommended for approval by Council are referred to in the attached Appendix.  The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee attended the Cabinet meeting and elaborated upon his Committee’s deliberations.  Cabinet asked for its thanks for the work undertaken by the Scrutiny Committee to be recorded formally.

For the sake of completeness within the context of this Decision Notice,  Cabinet heard statements from three members of the Public and three District Councillors.  The views expressed were dealt with during the debate.

Cabinet’s recommendations will now be submitted to full Council and as such, they are not subject to call-in.

(e)        Conflicts of Interest / Dispensation(s)

None.

All local planning authorities were under a statutory obligation to prepare a Local Plan.  The last adopted Local Plan for Aylesbury Vale dated from 2004 and therefore did not take account of recent changes in Government planning policy.  The Council had tried to prepare a replacement Plan on a number of occasions and the most recent attempt had been withdrawn following an examination in public in 2014.  Since then, the Council had been committed to delivering a new Local Plan and to ensuring that this met the Government’s expectation that Local Plans were produced as soon as practicable.

Cabinet received a report, submitted also to the VALP Scrutiny Committee on 26 September, 2017, setting out the background to the production of the Plan, as well as providing a summary of the contents.  All Members of the Council had received a copy of the submission draft document.  The Scrutiny Committee report had included a list of minor post-publication changes.  Paragraph 3.7 of the Scrutiny Committee report referred to evidence that supported VALP being attached as an Appendix.  However, in view of the significant number of documents that evidence had not been attached to the report.  Cabinet received a complete list of the supporting evidence for the Plan, which included links to the documents on the Council’s web site.

The VALP Scrutiny Committee had made a number of comments and suggestions.  The Cabinet report included a summary of both categories, broken down into specific changes that the Committee would like Cabinet to take into account, and general comments covering a range of issues within the consultation draft.  A schedule of all those items which Cabinet had been asked specifically to consider was circulated at the meeting. The Cabinet report (and the Scrutiny Committee report) also summarised the next stages in the process.

Before considering the schedule of proposed changes, Cabinet heard statements from three members of the public covering specifically the allocation of sites for gypsies and travellers, the need to reconsider the omission of a site at Shenley Park from the of the sites allocated for development and the percentage of affordable housing that should be required within new developments.

Cabinet then invited the Chairman of the VALP Scrutiny Committee to elaborate upon the deliberations of that Committee at its meeting on 26 September.  Cabinet placed on record its thanks to the Scrutiny Committee for its input to the whole of the Local Plan development process.

Lastly, Cabinet heard statements from three District Councillors covering specifically Neighbourhood Plans and site allocations, affordable housing provision and unmet housing need from other authorities after the adoption of VALP.

All of the issues raised by the speakers were dealt with by Cabinet during its discussions on the Submission Draft.

Cabinet then considered the schedule of proposed changes on an item by item basis, seeking clarification from officers that these would not alter significantly or change the sense of the supporting text.  Of all the changes suggested by the VALP Scrutiny Committee,  Cabinet felt unable to agree two of them, specifically the rewording of Policy H1 relating to the number of affordable homes to be provided on sites allocated within a Neighbourhood Plan, and Policy NE7 relating to the use of local green space, which if approved would be contrary to the guidance contained within the NPPF.  Otherwise, all of the other changes suggested by the Scrutiny Committee were approved for onward transmission to Council.

RESOLVED –

That Council be recommended to:-

(1)       Approve the proposed submission draft of the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan, as amended by the changes now agreed by Cabinet and itemised in the schedule attached as an Appendix to these Minutes, for the purposes of formally consulting for a statutory period of 6 weeks in accordance with Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, and as the version proposed to be submitted to the Secretary of State for examination in accordance with Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, subject to the recommendations contained in (2) and (3) below.

(2)       Delegate authority to the Assistant Director (Community Fulfilment), after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy, to make amendments to the final VALP document and maps to address typographical errors and improve clarity, provided that these amendments did not alter policies significantly or change the sense of the supporting text, prior to the start of the publication period.

(3)       Delegate authority to the Director with responsibility for planning, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy, to approve any modifications or other amendments which might arise during the Examination.