Issue - meetings

This report seeks the agreement of Cabinet to delegate authority to officers to revise the Bath & North East Somerset Local Development Scheme (LDS) in order to establish the priorities for the preparation of Planning Policy documents for the period 2020-2023 and enable a review of the Council’s planning policies to respond to the Climate and Nature emergency.

Councillor Tim Ball introduced the report by saying that every Local Authority was required by statute to maintain Local Development Scheme (LDS), which is the programme for the preparation of planning policies that ensure that every Unitary Authority (UA) has an up-to-date planning policy framework.  The withdrawal of the Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) has prompted the need for the B&NES LDS to be reviewed, and to facilitate the delivery of the Council’s Corporate Strategy priorities.  Whilst the LDS did not require public consultation, the LDS would entail working with local communities as part of its preparation.  It would be crucial that the Council has an up-to-date planning policy framework which would enable delivery of its Corporate Strategy and its key policy objectives, particularly on the Climate and Nature emergency.

Councillor Ball also said that the report set out the key issues that the revised LDS would need to address and delegates to officers the task of preparing a Local Development Scheme to be presented to Cabinet at a subsequent meeting for adoption.  The LDS would set out the scope and timetable of the new Local Plan, sub-regional working arrangements, Supplementary Planning Documents and other necessary strategies and guidance notes.

Councillor Tim Ball moved the recommendations.

Councillor Joanna Wright seconded the motion by reminding the Cabinet that the Council had declared a Climate Emergency, and that the revised LDS would be in line with its key objectives.

Councillor Paul Crossley supported the motion by adding that it would be really important for the community to understand why the Planning Department was not able to prevent loss of family homes due to the continued rise of HMOs.  Family homes would need to be protected; after all they would pay Council Tax.  Councillor Crossley also expressed his concern at the continued rise of Airbnb in the city and its impact on the decline in family dwellings in the city, and also that purpose-built student accommodations were used as HMOs or Airbnb.  For those reasons Councillor Crossley urged the Cabinet to consider revised LDS as soon as possible.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

2.1 Agree the key priorities for the preparation and review of Planning Policies in B&NES as summarised in para 3.2 of this report, and

2.2 Delegate to the Director of Development and Public Protection (in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning, and Economic Development) the task of preparing a revised Local Development Scheme to reflect those priorities. The revised scheme would then be presented to Cabinet at a subsequent meeting for consideration with a view to bringing it into effect.