Agenda item

J Doe presented the report.

J Doe explained that the report his was presenting was short due to the fact that the work on the plan is ongoing. He said that the five South West Herts authorities plus the County Council are all involved.

J Doe spoke about the strategic plan for the long-term that is being developed – planning for growth in a more co-ordinated and long-term way. Each district and borough would continue to work on their own local plans under the strategic guidance of the joint strategic plan.  Funding for infrastructure was also discussed and J Doe said that Oxfordshire was a County that had been very successful at this as the councils had collaborated, giving investors confidence to bring the money in. He added that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the six partners last January, and that a grant of £300,000 had been secured from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government under the Planning Delivery Fund.  There is now a dedicated director in post.

Cllr Birnie asked if POS Enterprises were doing the transport study. He added that he had a figure of £242,000 as opposed to the £300,000 in the report, and asked if that had been spent on the officer now in post.

J Doe replied that the transport study was being done by a company called ITP who worked closely with David Locke Associates on the growth study. POS Enterprises are a non-profit organisation with an advisory arm which is open to local councils.  J Doe explained that the overall grant was £300,000 and the £242,000 related to one of the financial years and that the money, together with top up money from each of the councils,  was paying for the officer in post and also a lot of the study work referred to in the report.  He added that the money will not deliver the plan in full and the next step would be for the member councils to agree whether they want to commit more resources to take the plan onto its next stages of development. He confirmed that another report to the Committee would be made once further decisions were made.

Cllr Ransley asked what would happen in one of the councils decide that it is too expensive to continue.

J Doe said that the study is based on all five being involved, it would be possible to continue with a smaller number but some of the evidence would have to be re-cast to ensure that the right information is available. 

Cllr Timmis asked how the approach to water would work as there would be a much greater demand on water if more houses are being built.

Cllr Birnie raised the point that this would also impinge on the Local Plan.

J Doe confirmed that there would need to be a report into water if the project moves further forward, at the moment the priority is to look at where the growth locations might be and see what the area can physically accommodate. J Doe agreed that it would affect the Local Plan and it is subject to the Hertfordshire Water Study which is yet to be finalised, the early indications are that there are not any obvious concerns regarding the supply up to 2036 but it was being kept under review.

Cllr Wyatt-Lowe said that Water Companies do not appear to do enough to harvest and protect the water that they collect and they should be encouraged perhaps by financial penalties to be more vigilant.  Cllr Wyatt-Lowe added that as commercial enterprises they want to expand their markets and one of the ways that they could do this is to transport water from those areas that have surplus to those that need more.

Cllr Birnie said that there had been an article in the papers regarding the water regulator who is taking a tough line with the Water Companies regarding seepage and leakage, and is considering financial penalties.

Cllr Timmis asked whether the Green Belt would be protected and if the CPRE were involved.

J Doe said that these areas need to be taken very much into account and this would be across the whole area. J Doe added that the intention was always to preserve and conserve those areas while balancing this with the development pressures. At the moment the plan is very much about evidence gathering and if it moves forward into a draft plan there would be consultation with a variety of bodies including the CPRE.

Cllr Barrett asked what the extent of the funding for infrastructure from Government might be, and by having a strategic plan for all the areas was there more chance of getting a bigger figure?

J Doe said that was the idea, with the strategic plan giving confidence to the government.- They cannot put a figure on it at present, but the aim would be go get forward funding wherever possible.

Cllr Stevens asked J Doe when the paragraph regarding issues and options in the report would be coming into play.

J Doe replied that this was a hard question to answer because no time table has been set by the group.  He said the earliest it could happen would be 2021 but that is just an estimate as there would need to be a discussion with the public giving them the options and asking for their thoughts. J Doe added that just as we do for the Local Plan, for this procedure a local development scheme would have to be published setting out the published timescale for all the statutory stages and all the issues and options.

Cllr Birnie said the he noticed overlap in a lot of the items that the Committee are looking at. He added that he thought something like fibre to premises as detailed in the next report would be something that would certainly be more successful if it were approached on a joint basis rather than just by one Council alone.

The report was noted.