Agenda item

Lisa Bartlett will provide verbal updates on:

(A)Planning Applications Chair Referral - Clarification of Reasons for Request from Parish or Town Councils (5 minutes)

(B)Local  Development Scheme (15 minutes)

Council in November will be considering a report on the programme for the preparation of Planning  Policy documents (the Local Development Scheme). This will include

·  The Placemaking Plan- Draft plan to be considered by B&NES Cabinet on 4^th November 2015 for formal public consultation

·  Neighbourhood Planning- an update on progress with Neighbourhood Plans

(C)Planning Training and Support (10 minutes)

Three workshops have been organised to provide planning training and support for town and parish councils. These will cover Planning Policy, Development Management and Planning Enforcement. A workshop on Planning Enforcement is to be held on 5^th November.

(D)West of England Joint Spatial Plan (10 minutes) - To update on the Issues and Options document which was agreed on 2^nd October 2015 for Community Engagement; engagement is due to begin in November 2015

(E)  West of England: Update on Gypsy and Traveller work (5 minutes)

Planning Applications – Referral to Chair of Development Management Committee

Mark Reynolds gave a presentation. A copy of his PowerPoint slides is attached to these minutes as Appendix 1. Mark emphasised that applications where a parish had disagreed with the officer’s recommendation would only be referred to the Chair if planning reasons were given. It was therefore important for parishes to ensure that they related their comments to the Council’s statutory plans.

In response to questions Mark said:

• as soon as the Chair made a decision, this should be posted on the Council’s website and the relevant  parish would be informed; parishes should let him know of instances where this had not happened

• there was no statutory requirement to consult when applicants revised their plans after discussions with officers, but officers would consult where significant changes were made the Chair would be aware from the report and file whether a parish’s comments were based on the original or revised plans

The Chair urged the planning officers to ensure that Chair’s decisions were always reported back to the parish. Mark said he would remind his colleagues that this should be done as a matter of course

Local Development Scheme

Lisa Bartlett updated the meeting.

Placemaking Plan. The Draft Plan would be considered by Cabinet in December in order for a consultation exercise to begin. It was based on national policy and guidance. Some of the Council’s existing plans had been in place for some years and needed updating. Any responses to the consultation would be directed to the Planning Inspector.

Neighbourhood Plans. She thanked all those who had input to the development of these Plans. The current situation re Neighbourhood Plans can be summarised as follows. 12 areas now designated as Neighbourhood Planning areas – progress as follows:

·  Stowey Sutton Plan has been made by the Council (September)

·  Freshford & Limpley Stoke Neighbourhood Plan and Clutton neighbourhood Plan passed their respective referendum in September. The Plans are both due to be made by Cabinet in November

·  Englishcombe is anticipated to submit its draft Plan to the Council in November

·  Chew Valley area and Midsomer Norton are still anticipated to reach draft Plan stage towards the end of the year (Nov/Dec 2015)

·  Stanton Drew are working on their options and are going out for community consultation in November

·  Whitchurch, Westfield , Timsbury, Publow with Pensford & Batheaston are at the initial evidence gathering stage of Neighbourhood Plan preparation

Planning Training and Support

Mark Reynolds made a presentation. His PowerPoint slides are included in Appendix 1. He said that he hoped parishes had received emails about training workshops, the first of which take place the following Monday in Keynsham.

Councillor Veal suggested that parishes should invite their ward councillors to attend the workshops.

WoE Joint Spatial Plan

Lisa Bartlett gave a presentation on the Joint Spatial Plan. A copy of her slides is attached as Appendix 2 to these minutes.

The Chair asked who determined the amount of rented housing. Lisa said that at the moment affordable housing was provided on the basis of the Councils adopted planning policies and the details of the type and tenure was guided by advice from housing colleagues.  Affordable housing was generally rented accommodation.  The Government planned to extend the right to buy to affordable housing, but the regulations had not yet been made.

West of England: Update on Gypsy and Traveller Work

Lisa Bartlett said the Bath and North East Somerset continued to work with its partners in the West of England. Main issues for B&NES are  the large proportion of land in the Green Belt (and to allocate a site in the Green Belt, exceptional circumstances need to be made to justify such an allocation) and the lack of suitable located, available, developable and deliverable non-Green Belt sites.

Partners were reviewing their  areas but early consultations had indicated that there was no capacity in the other areas for travellers from Bath and North East Somerset. It was not possible for a local authority to allocate sites in its area for travellers from another area, which meant that travellers from other areas could not be allocated sites within B&NES. Recent  changes to government legislation gives  greater protection for the Green Belt and greater protection for the countryside in general.

Councillor Veal asked if the traditional routes of gypsies and travellers were known, and. He also said that river travellers needed to be taken into consideration. Lisa replied that she had no information on the traditional routes of travellers in B&NES. An assessment of river travellers was being undertaken.