Issue - meetings

This report seeks the views of the Panel on the forthcoming consultation on the West of England Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) and Joint Transport Study (JTS) document entitled “Towards the Emerging Spatial Strategy”.  The consultation is due to take place across the West of England from 7th November to 19th December 2016.

The Chairman had invited members of the Communities, Transport & Environment Panel to be present for this item and contribute to the debate. Councillors Gilchrist, Simmons and Butters were in attendance.

The Divisional Director for Development introduced this item to the Panel. She explained that the forthcoming consultation on the draft West of England Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) and Joint Transport Study (JTS) document entitled “Towards the Emerging Spatial Strategy” had been designed to start a conversation following on from the work undertaken between November 2015 and January 2016 (Issues and Options consultation).

She said that the consultation was due to take place across the West of England from 7th November to 19th December 2016.

She stated that the JSP will be a statutory Development Plan Document and will therefore need to be prepared in accordance with local plan regulations and national policy to ensure it is a ‘sound’ document supported by technical evidence. She added that the selection of development locations will need to be clearly justified and that at this stage no final decisions have been made and the spatial strategy is not fixed. She said that responses to this next stage of consultation will help to inform the Plan as it progresses.

She informed them that the Transport Vision is very ambitious, representing a total of around £7.5 billion of investment in multi-modal packages, for delivery across the West of England over the next 20 years.

She said the approach to formulating the spatial strategy had sought to adhere to sustainability principles, including a focus on developing in main urban centres and making the best use of urban land; seeking to locate development outside of the Green Belt as far as possible; and consideration of Green Belt locations only where there is strong justification and evidence of exceptional circumstances.

She stated that the current evidence identifies a need for 102,200 homes to be developed during 2016-2036 across the four local authorities although the JSP will test for up to 105,000 homes during 2016-2036. This is a working number until the evidence to support the publication plan is finalised in Summer 2017.

She added that a significant proportion of the overall Housing Target would need to be delivered as affordable housing in light of the identified level of need. She said that it will not be able to fully meet the affordable housing need over the plan period through the planning system alone. Instead the JSP recognises that a proportion of the overall affordable housing need could be delivered through the planning system.

She said that around 66,800 dwellings are committed across the West of England in the form of permissions, local plan allocations or future small windfall sites and that the JSP prioritises the need to maximise the use of brownfield sites, particularly within existing urban areas, and 14,600 dwellings are identified from this source – primarily in Bristol.  This leaves up to 23,600 dwellings to be identified through the JSP.

The Group Manager for Planning Policy & Transport  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33