Issue - meetings

This report updates Members in respect of the Local Plan submission to the Secretary of State in January and preparing for the Examination.

(Report of Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health)

The report provided an update in respect of the Local Plan submission to the Secretary of State in January and advised of preparations for the Examination.

Following consideration by the Planning and Transportation Advisory Board, the Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure resolved that:

(1)         the content of the report be noted; and

(2)         the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Leader, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure, be given delegated authority to liaise with the Local Plan Inspectors and undertake any activity necessary to comply with their requirements and requests. 

Decision Notice 190030MEM

The Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health provided an update in respect of the Local Plan submission to the Secretary of State in January and advised of preparations for the Examination.

It was reported that the Planning Inspectorate had confirmed receipt of the submission and advised of the appointment of two Planning Inspectors, who would consider all of the submitted documents before liaising with the Local Planning Authority (LPA) in preparation for the Local Plan Examination.   It was expected that this would take place later this year based on current practice.

Members were advised that continuous dialogue between the LPA and the Inspectors was extremely important and considered best practice.   It was noted that the Inspectors might take the opportunity to ask questions of the LPA in advance of setting out the matters that would be considered at the Examination.  This had been evidenced in a recent letter received from the Inspector and published to the website.  To avoid confusion, it was explained that this was to clarify some points regarding the submission and did not mean that the submission was unacceptable.  This was part of the usual activity during the examination phase of plan making. 

Good progress had been made on redacting personal information from the responses made during the Regulation 19 public consultation and the first tranche had been published to the website.  It was hoped that the remaining responses would be available on the website by the end of March 2019. 

All information related to the Local Plan Examination would be published to the Borough Council’s website as it became available.  The Examination documents, including the Inspectors letter, could be found on:  www.tmbc.gov.uk/lpexamdocs; whilst the Regulation 19 representations were available on www.tmbc.gov.uk/reg19reps 

Finally, the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health indicated that Members would be notified when anything significant was published to the Local Plan webpages so that the correct context could be provided. 

RECOMMENDED:  That

(1)             the content of the report be noted; and

(2)            the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Leader, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure, be given delegated authority to liaise with the Local Plan Inspectors and undertake any activity necessary to comply with their requirements and requests.