Agenda item

Simon de Beer (Group Manager – Policy & Environment) will give a presentation.

To include:

[The Chair agreed that this should be taken as the first item of business.]

Simon de Beer, Group Manager - Policy & Environment, updated the meeting. A copy of his presentation is attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes.

Simon said that the Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) is a high-level plan produced by the four West of England authorities which will set out the requirements for housing, the economy and employment up to 2036. It was now at a crucial stage. Following two initial consultations a draft plan is being prepared, which will go out to consultation this summer. The JSP will set the context for the next local plan and neighbourhood plans, so the JSP will carry significant weight in the planning system. Standing alongside the JSP is the Joint Transport Plan, which focuses on the linkage between transport and new development, to ensure that development is properly aligned with transport infrastructure. In addition a new Local Plan for B&NES is being prepared.

B&NES had significantly improved housing delivery, but overall capacity is down, largely because brownfield sites in the city no longer have the necessary capacity. Brownfield sites are the most difficult, but most new housing is on brownfield sites. Unless some greenfield sites are released, there will be insufficient capacity.The delivery of affordable housing is erratic, but on average accounts for 27% of new housing. The target is for 105,000 new homes in the West of England by 2036. The orange circles on slide 11 show the target areas for new housing. In B&NES there would potentially 3,500 new homes in Whitchurch and 1,100 north of Keynsham. Significant new transport infrastructure is required to support these new homes as shown on slide 12. A statistical summary for B&NES is shown in the table on slide 13.

There is continuing pressure from the Government to deliver housing targets, because of the housing crisis.

It was proposed to have a workshop on the Local Plan, to which parishes would be invited.

In reply to questions from delegates Simon said

·  B&NES has no need of additional sites and so is in a strong position to resist inappropriate development

·  funding sources include regional funding under the devolution deal, strong council tax receipts from some locations, and dedicated funding for the Joint Transport Strategy

·  Paragraph 216 of the National Planning Policy Framework lays down that decisions makers may give weight to relevant policies in emerging plans unless other material considerations indicate otherwise; there is no immediate danger that new JSP will suddenly having greater weight than the existing Local Plan

·  the Joint Transport Strategy was underpinned by a number of studies; further information could be found at https://www.jointplanningwofe.org.uk/consult.ti

Duncan Hounsell (Saltford PC) made the following statement on behalf of the parishes:

We all want there to be maximum public engagement in the WEP Joint Spatial Plan and Transport Vision in the consultation on the final draft due this summer.

Will B&NES Council and the West of England Partnership be learning from the experiences of the public consultation on the initial draft held before Christmas?

Please consider the need for:

• A longer time for the public to respond than the statutory minimum.
• An awareness that many Parish councils do not meet in August.
• Better on-line questionnaires which allow for nuanced responses. The questions in the first consultation were often vague, hard to understand, and only really geared towards an all or nothing agreement by the responder
• A consultation which allows the public to have a say on the sequencing and priority of proposed projects particularly transport.
• A consultation email address and a postal address to be published in all public material, on the website and in the printed brochures etc.
• Materials to be made available for the public to use to respond at any public exhibition static display site such as in Keynsham Library
• Any on-line questionnaire should allow for people to save answers and add to them later. There needs to be an appreciation of the problem of being timed-out for those in rural areas with slow broadband.
• A dedicated IT help-line for anyone experiencing technical issues