Agenda item

 WrittenQuestion from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration  

“Buckinghamshire Council has set up a Sub-Group which includes Area Planning Committee Chairmen, Cabinet members and senior officers looking at the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire. Other Parish and Town Councils are drafting their own neighbourhood plans such as Chesham and Buckingham and will be going out to consultation on their plans with their constituents in the future. With the uncertainty, which still prevails on development housing numbers within Buckinghamshire and the questions around greenbelt protections, what work is being undertaken to engage and help guide and influence future local neighbourhood development plans for parish and town councils which will be funded through the town or parish precept, as well as guidance on the use and disparity between Section 106 agreements being used in the north of the Council area and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) being used in the south of the Council area to help facilitate infrastructure associated with growth?” 

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration  

“Neighbourhood Plans 

Buckinghamshire Council has set up a Sub-Group which includes Area Planning Committee Chairmen, Cabinet members and senior officers looking at the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire. Other Parish and Town Councils are drafting their own neighbourhood plans such as Chesham and Buckingham and will be going out to consultation on their plans with their constituents in the future. With the uncertainty, which still prevails on development housing numbers within Buckinghamshire and the questions around greenbelt protections, what work is being undertaken to engage and help guide and influence future local neighbourhood development plans for parish and town councils which will be funded through the town or parish precept, as well as guidance on the use and disparity between Section 106 agreements being used in the north of the Council area and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) being used in the south of the Council area to help facilitate infrastructure associated with growth?” 

RESPONSE from Councillor Strachan 

We are preparing the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire having regard to government planning policy in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).  This requires local plans to set out a housing requirement figure for each neighbourhood area that has been designated which reflects the overall strategy for the pattern and scale of development and any relevant housing allocations.  Once these strategic policies have been adopted, these housing figures should then not need re-testing at a neighbourhood plan examination unless there has been a significant change in circumstances that affects the requirement.   

We already provide significant advice and support to town and parish councils on the preparation of their neighbourhood plans and employ a dedicated Neighbourhood Planning Coordinator to assist with this.  As work on the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire progresses, we shall engage with the relevant town and parish councils about what an appropriate housing requirement figure might be for their area.   

In the meantime, where it is not possible to provide a housing requirement figure for a neighbourhood area, the NPPF advises the local planning authority to provide an indicative figure, if requested to do so by the neighbourhood planning body.  This figure should take into account factors such as the latest evidence of local housing need, the population of the neighbourhood area and the most recently available planning strategy of the local planning authority. 

Under provisions in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, the government intends to introduce a national Infrastructure Levy as a new mandatory charge on development to replace Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) in England.  Within this context, officers are considering whether to introduce CIL in the North and Central planning areas; whether to review the existing CIL charging schedules in operation in the South, East and West planning areas; and whether to commence work on a single CIL charging schedule for the whole of Buckinghamshire.  A review of CIL processes and allocations would then take place once the process for introducing and reviewing CIL in the County has been concluded.