Agenda item

This report seeks Cabinet approval of the Pre-submission Draft Placemaking Plan for public consultation prior to submission to the Secretary of State for examination.

NOTE: Given the large file size of the pre-submission draft B&NES Placemaking Plan it can be only viewed on Council’s website at http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/planning-and-building-control/planning-policy/placemaking-plan/placemaking-plan-pre.

Robin Kerr (Chairman of the Federation of Bath Residents’ Associations) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 6 and on the Council's website] highlighted the importance of the Placemaking Plan for Bath.

Councillor Karen Warrington said that she was here to represent residents from her Ward whose part of their land had been included in the Placemaking Plan for residential purposes.  Councillor Warrington asked for an amendment of the Plan in terms of the housing development boundaries in that area.

Caroline Kay (Bath Preservation Trust) said that the Trust welcomed the conclusion of the Placemaking Plan consultation and highlighted six overarching points with the Cabinet: the Trust welcomed inclusion of the policy for Bath Central Area; the Trust congratulated officers on progressing with conservation area appraisal for Bath; the Trust had asked that the building height strategy should be robust enough and had recommended an urgent adoption of the SPD status; site ownership in terms of sites owned by the Council; the Trust had felt there was a need for robust part of the plan addressing student housing challenges; and, the land value should reflect marketing value.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson commented that Westfield had not been mentioned in the Plan as a community on its own right.

Councillor Liz Richardson said that the Placemaking Plan would provide a district-wide suite of planning policies for B&NES, complementing the strategic framework in the Core Strategy.  The Core Strategy had formed Part 1 of the B&NES Local Plan and the draft Placemaking Plan would be Part 2.  The Plans had been combined for clarity but it was only the Placemaking Plan part which was the subject of this report. In a few instances, the Placemaking Plan contained a policy that was intended to supersede a policy or text in the Core Strategy.  The next step in the preparation process would be for the Council to comply with the statutory requirements concerning publication and receiving representations relating to the Draft Placemaking Plan (consultation would run from 16^th December until 3^rd February) and for Full Council to agree submission of the Draft Placemaking Plan for independent examination by an Inspector appointed on behalf of the Secretary of State. Also submitted alongside the Draft Placemaking Plan to the Secretary of State would be the schedule of public representations received by the Council. It would for the appointed examination Inspector to consider the issues raised in the public representations in their role to assess the soundness of the Draft Placemaking Plan as with the other requirements of S20 (5) of the 2004 Act.  As a result the Council would not be formally considering the representations received from the next stage.

Councillor Liz Richardson formally thanked to: officers for the detailed piece of work; Members of the Council for cross-party work within Local Development Framework; residents for their feedback so far; and, to number of organisations who contributed to the Plan with their feedback.  Liz Richardson also said that the Council had worked with both universities in terms of student accommodation though it has been difficult to exactly predict the number of students for each year.

Councillor Liz Richardson moved the recommendations.

Councillor Charles Gerrish seconded the motion by saying that the Placemaking Plan would provide a district-wide suite of planning policies for B&NES, complementing the strategic framework in the Core Strategy. The Core Strategy forms Part 1 of the B&NES Local Plan and the draft Placemaking Plan is Part 2.  The Plan would provide spatial frameworks for Bath, Keynsham, the Somer Valley & the Rural Areas.  The Plan allocated sites for development where these were necessary to deliver the strategy, setting out the required land-use mix and the development principles.  It also identified where we would need to protect valued assets, such as important open hillsides or Local Green Space, identifies schemes to be implemented such as road or cycleway improvements and would provide generic criteria-based planning policies.

Councillor Charles Gerrish also thanked everyone for their work on this Plan.

The Cabinet unanimously supported the motion from Councillor Richardson and acknowledged contribution from Parishes who had worked really hard on this Plan. 

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet:

1)  Approved the Pre-submission Draft Placemaking Plan for public consultation from 16^th December 2015 to 3^rd February 2016,

2)  Approved the Draft Placemaking Plan for Development Management purposes,

3)  Delegated authority to the Divisional Director for Development, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Homes & Planning, to make minor changes to the Draft Placemaking to correct errors and inconsistences to the Plan prior to publication,

4)  Recommended to Full Council that it resolves to submit the Draft Placemaking Plan, along with representations received through the public consultation, to the secretary of state for examination, and

5)  Agreed the public consultation arrangements as printed in the report.