Agenda item

That the justification for an additional consultation under Regulation 18 be noted, and approve it being incorporated into the revised timetable for the Local Plan and other updates to the Local Development Scheme appended to this report and delegate authority to the Assistant Director- Planning, Development and Regeneration to make any final minor editorial and typographical revisions to the document including any necessary to reflect the Cabinet’s discussions and decision.

Decision

That the justification for an additional consultation under Regulation 18 be noted, and approve it being incorporated into the revised timetable for the Local Plan and other updates to the Local Development Scheme appended to this report and delegate authority to the Assistant Director- Planning, Development and Regeneration to make any final minor editorial and typographical revisions to the document including any necessary to reflect the Cabinet’s discussions and decision.

Corporate objectives

The Council’s Local Plan helps support all 5 corporate objectives:

·         Safe and clean environment: e.g. contains policies relating to the design and layout of new development that promote security and safe access;

·         Community Capacity: e.g. provide a framework for local communities to prepare area-specific guidance such as Neighbourhood Plans, Town / Village Plans etc.;

·         Affordable housing: e.g. sets the Borough’s overall housing target and the proportion of new homes that must be affordable;

·         Dacorum delivers: e.g. provides a clear framework upon which planning decisions can be made; and

·         Regeneration: e.g. sets the planning framework for key regeneration projects, such as Hemel Hempstead town centre and the Maylands Business Park.

Deputy Monitoring Officer:  

Further to section 15 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 local planning authorities must prepare and maintain a Local Development Scheme which must set out the documents that the Council will prepare as local development documents and the timetable for their preparation.  Publishing a revised LDS as proposed in this report will satisfy this duty.

Deputy S.151 Officer

The changes to the local plan completion proposed are not expected to have a financial implication, and the local plan will be delivered within the existing funding envelope provided.

Advice

Councillor G Sutton introduced the report to members and said the purpose of the report was to consider the revised local development scheme including a revised timetable for the preparation of a new local plan. The progress of submitting a new local plan has not been smooth and has been difficult at times and so the department have sought counsel’s advice.

J Doe said the team are learning lessons from other council’s and regulation 18 should help to make the process more robust.

Councillor Birnie referred to page 41, paragraph 10 and the infrastructure shortcomings. He asked what these shortcomings are and said this information should be made available to the Local Plan Task and Finish Group and SPAE OSC.
J Doe said there was a shortfall in the information needed to understand the requirement. Further information is required from HCC on education and there is additional transport work to be completed. The whole notion of this report is to make sure that when we reach the publication stage in early summer 2021, the work is complete and robust. He said he was confident that enough information will be available for members to consider the draft local plan in November. The task and finish group are being kept updated on the progress of the infrastructure delivery plan which must be ready at the time of publication in June 2021.
Councillor Birnie sought assurance that the SPAE OSC would be kept up to date.
J Doe confirmed that a draft plan will go to SPAE OSC at their September meeting and then to Cabinet in October.

Councillor Williams commented that he accepted the need for the additional revision of the timetable and the insertion of regulation 18 but expressed his concern about the length of the process. His previous experience made him slightly nervous that there could be limited time between regulation 18 and regulation 19 consultations. He asked officers if they were confident they could meet these deadlines and said he would be disappointed if weren’t able to keep to the timetable.
J Doe said he understood his concerns. The issues and options consultation asked the community for their opinions on the borough and produced a wide range of views. There will be a specific set of proposals in the draft local plan so the consultation will be more focussed. There will be a large level of public interest and the team have learnt lessons on how to process the comments received. He said he was confident that the work can be turned around in the timescales provided.

Recommendations agreed.