Agenda item

         Report by Alistair Cunningham, Corporate Director

Please that we will not start this item until 10:30am.

Councillor Toby Sturgis presented the report which: provided an update to Cabinet on the outcome of the formal consultation on the ‘Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan - Pre-submission draft plan (June 2017); sought Cabinet’s recommendation to Council that the Plan, together with a schedule of Proposed Changes, should be approved for the purposes of submission to the Secretary of State and commencement of the independent Examination process; and sought delegated authority to make appropriate arrangements for

submitting the prescribed documents and supporting materials to the Secretary of State; and respond to any consequential actions as directed by the Inspector relating to the Examination.

 

In moving his proposal, Councillor Sturgis referred to the Addendum that had been prepared following the deferral of the item from Cabinet of 15 May 2018 and proposed further proposed changes be made to respond to the issues raised by the community through the consultation withWiltshire Councillors and town and parish councils on the proposed changes to the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan 15th May -11th June 2018, that:

 

(a)   Policy 1 to delete site allocations H1.2, H1.3 and H1.4 in relation to Market Lavington and delete section on Devizes Community Area at paragraphs 5.22 to 5.37,

 

(b)   Amend Policy H2 to delete site allocation H2.13 in relation to Crudwell and delete section on Malmesbury Community area at paragraphs 5.111 to 5.114,

 

(c)    Amend Proposed Change 39 (site allocation H2.2, land off the A363 at White Horse Business Park, Trowbridge) to reduce the proposed dwelling increase by 50 dwellings,

 

(d)   Add to Proposed Change 69 (site allocation H2.12, East of Farrells Field, Yatton Keynell) to delete the words “Access will be taken from Farrell Fields” from paragraph 5.110.

 

Councillor Sturgis also proposed that there were some technical amendments to the overall wording of the proposal.

 

In justifying the further proposed changes, Cllr Sturgis referred to the addendum, and provided clarification as follows: progress had been made with the Market Lavington Neighbourhood Plan and there was a good supply of housing in the Eastern Housing Market Area; housing has been permitted in the Malmesbury Community Area to bolster the housing numbers and the Crudwell Neighbourhood Plan had made good progress; and the reduction in the increase in housing numbers on site H2.2 would provide for landscape buffer for North Bradley.

 

Matters highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that the documents had been prepared to ensure that an up to date development plan was in place; the importance of having a sufficient housing land to meet demand to mitigate against developer led planning; that all the comments received on the consultation would be sent to the Secretary of State and an Inspector who then decides what they want to look at before making their recommendation through the examination process; the relationship of the plan to the core strategy adopted by Wiltshire Council; the overall level of growth allocated in the proposed plan and the need to plan in excess of need; how the soundness of the plan is assessed; how the competing needs of communities are balanced; how the changes to planning policy are taken into account; the need to make a proposal based on the most up to date information; how brownfield sites are taken account of in the plan, and the impact of the assessment of deliverability of these compared to greenfield sites; the views of the inspector taken from the Chippenham Site Allocations Plan regarding the Council’s approach to assessing the viability of brownfield sites; the changes proposed as part of the consultation; and the desire to work further with neighbourhood plan groups.

 

Councillor Matt Deane, Chairman of the Environment Select Committee, stated that the committee acknowledged the complexity of the process set out by central government, and that they were broadly satisfied that the process had been undertaken properly by the Council.

 

The Leader noted that the following people had submitted questions and that the responses to these had been published in the agenda supplement: Graham Hill, Michael Roberts, Norman Swanney, Geoff Whiffen, Steve Wylie, Rachel Hunt, Julie Baptista, Tristan Stevens.

 

In response to a supplementary question from Geoff Whiffen relating to Trowbridge, officers from Democratic Services stated that they would investigate why a petition received had not been acknowledged in the report.

 

In response to concerns raised by David Feather that insufficient weight had been given to North Bradley’s Neighbourhood Plan, Councillor Sturgis stated that other neighbourhood plans were further forward, and could therefore be given greater weight. Councillor Sturgis went on to say that: he hoped that the proposed amendments to the White Horse business park site would go some way to maintaining a gap between North Bradley and Trowbridge; and that Wiltshire Council would continue to work to support the North Bradley neighbourhood plan so that it would be better progressed by the time of the examination in public.

 

In response to concerns raised by George Bunting that issues raised in Trowbridge had not been adequately addressed, the Leader stated that she personally, and other Councillors and officers, had met to discuss issues raised in the Trowbridge Committee, and with specific reference to the issue of the Queen Elizabeth playing field, that she was now satisfied that the proposals were appropriate.

 

In response to an issue raised by Councillor Ian Thorn, Councillor Sturgis stated that he had been in discussion with agents and owners regarding the Bowyers site and was keen to see the site progress, but that the cost of remediation work required on the site was one of the reasons that it had not. He also stated that whilst there is a role for Area Boards to help promote consultation on spatial planning, that Councillors had to be mindful of not appearing to fetter their decision making.

 

Councillor Sturgis, in summing up, emphasised the importance, in the next Local Plan, of identifying sites large enough to bring the contributions that would pay for the infrastructure needs of the growing communities.

 

Councillor Darren Henry, Portfolio Holder for Spatial Planning, arranged to meet any members of the public after the meeting who wished to discuss further issues arising from the discussion.

 

In response to an issue raised by Councillor Steve Oldrieve, Councillor Sturgis reiterated the point that the inspector, when considering the Chippenham Site Allocation plan, had supported the Council’s approach to the assessment of brownfield sites in Chippenham, and that the Council had continued to take a realistic view on the deliverability of brownfield sites.

 

In response to issues raised by Roger Williams, Councillor Sturgis stated that issues such as access and the location of housing within a site are matters that can be determined as part of individual planning applications.

 

In response to issues raised by Councillor Brian Dalton, Councillor Sturgis stated that he understood the concerns raised about the impact of developments on traffic but that he trusted the professionalism of the officers and have confidence in their advice. Furthermore, he had not seen alternative sites presented with better evidence to support them.

 

The Leader thanked all the officers and Councillors for their hard work in putting the plan together and for working hard to address the issues raised by the community.

 

Resolved

 

That having considered the outcome of the formal consultation, Cabinet:

 

(i)       Endorses the draft Plan as sound and legally compliant, as set out in Appendix 1;

 

(ii)      Endorses the schedule of Proposed Changes to the draft Plan in Appendix 1, as set out in Appendix 2 subject to the additional proposed changes in the Addendum to the Cabinet report and further additional proposed changes set out below, for submission to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to inform and assist the Examination process:

 

(a)   Policy 1 to delete site allocations H1.2, H1.3 and H1.4 in relation to Market Lavington and delete section on Devizes Community Area at paragraphs 5.22 to 5.37,

 

(b)   Amend Policy H2 to delete site allocation H2.13 in relation to Crudwell and delete section on Malmesbury Community area at paragraphs 5.111 to 5.114,

 

(c)    Amend Proposed Change 39 (site allocation H2.2, land off the A363 at White Horse Business Park, Trowbridge) to reduce the proposed dwelling increase by 50 dwellings,

 

(d)   Add to Proposed Change 69 (site allocation H2.12, East of Farrells Field, Yatton Keynell) to delete the words “Access will be taken from Farrell Fields” from paragraph 5.110;

 

(iii)     Recommends that Council approves the draft Plan as set out at (i) together with the Schedule of Proposed Changes as set out at (ii) and supporting information for submission to the Secretary of State to commence the independent Examination process subject to amendment in (iv);

 

(iv)     Authorises the Director of Economic Development and Planning in consultation with the Director of Legal and Democratic Services and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Strategic Asset Management to:

 

(a)  make any necessary changes to the Plan and supporting documents in the interests of clarity and accuracy before it is submitted to the Secretary of State;

 

(b)  approve the detail of any additional or updated technical document or supporting evidence before it is submitted to the Secretary of State;

 

(c)  make appropriate arrangements for submission of all documents relating to the Plan, including the supporting evidence (including the Equalities Impact Assessment required by Section 149 of the Equalities Act 2010 at Appendix 6), to the Secretary of State;

 

(d)  make all the necessary arrangements for Examination including - the appointment of a Programme Officer, the undertaking and/or commissioning of other work necessary to prepare for and participate at the Examination; and the delegation to officers and other commissioned experts to prepare and submit evidence to the Examination and where necessary, appear at any hearing sessions and represent the Council;

 

(e)  authorise that officers request that the Secretary of State recommends modifications to make the Plan sound in accordance with Section 20 (7C) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended); and

 

(f)    implement any consequential actions as directed by the Inspector relating to the Examination, including undertaking any consultation where necessary, in order to respond to matters raised through the Examination.

 

Reasons for Decision:

 

To ensure that progress continues to be made on maintaining an up-to-date development plan for Wiltshire, in line with the timetable set out in the Council’s Local Development Scheme and statutory requirements.

 

In accordance with legislative requirements, the proposed resolution enables the submission of a sound Plan. The Council will need to approve the submission of the Plan to the Secretary of State for Examination.