Verbal Report of Place and Strategy Lead Specialist and lead Hub Committee Members
Minutes:
*O&S(E) 17
The Place and Strategy Lead Specialist and lead Hub Committee Member provided a verbal update on the Joint Local Plan. In so doing, the following points were raised:-
- Members noted that progress continued to be swift and the Council was currently midway through the consultation exercise (deadline being 12 August 2016). In respect of the consultation process, public meetings had already been held in Okehampton and Tavistock and the Locality Officers were raising awareness in the rural areas.
- To date, it was noted that 108 comments had been received by the Council that related to either West Devon or South Hams from 93 respondents, with only a few of these raising outright objections to the proposals. Of particular interest in these responses, Tavistock Town Council had expressed its concerns over the continued reliance on the sites at Callington Road and Plymouth Road. The lead Hub Committee Member informed that he too shared some of these concerns and officers were currently looking into this matter.
Several objections were raised by landowners who had wished to promote their own sites as an alternative and each of these would be discussed with the relevant local ward Member(s). Finally, a number of concerns had been raised from Okehampton and the overriding concerns were related to the scale of proposed development in the town. However, a number of sites had been allocated via the adopted Core Strategy and planning permissions already granted;
- For clarity, it was noted that reference in the initial published consultation document to the New Launceston Road site was an error. In apologising for the confusion arising from this mistake, the lead Hub Committee Member confirmed that the consultation documents had been updated and all relevant parties notified accordingly;
- Since this was the last Committee meeting before the Place and Strategy Lead Specialist left the employ of the Council, the Lead Hub Committee Member confirmed the transitional arrangements that were in place and proceeded to thank the officer for his exemplary service and wished him every success for the future. On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman endorsed these sentiments.
In the ensuing debate, reference was made to:-
(a) housing needs evidence. With regard to housing needs evidence being required by Neighbourhood Planning Groups, officers agreed to circulate a link to the consultants’ report to the wider membership. Furthermore, it was agreed that a copy of the proposed timetable for the Joint Local Plan would also be circulated to all Members;
(b) allocating housing in villages. The lead Member informed that a decision was still to be made in relation to how housing would be specifically allocated to villages. It was noted that the Council could either leave the villages themselves to determine how the total allocation was divided or they could be specifically allocated via the Joint Local Plan. Whilst there were advantages and disadvantages to both options, Members were advised that a decision had yet to be reached;
(c) the merits of adopting a Neighbourhood Plan. When questioned, the lead Member stated that the Council would work with Neighbourhood Planning Groups to ensure that there was commonality and close linkages with the contents of the Joint Local Plan. In respect of those parishes without a Neighbourhood Plan, it was confirmed that the Council would leave the option available for them to produce a Development Plan Document in the future (if they so wished);
(d) the predominantly IT based consultation exercise. Whilst some concerns were raised that there was too great an emphasis on IT during the consultation process, other Members were of the view that it was appropriate in this instance.