Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Derek Adams and Anne Clarke.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business to be considered at the meeting.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

Members were requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or other interests, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 4^th November 2020.

Moved by Councillor Nick Clarke and seconded by Councillor Janet Tait  

RESOLVED - that the minutes of a meeting of the Planning Committee held on 4th November 2020 be approved as a true and correct record.

Committee considered the report which set out an update on housing land supply and sought approval for the publication of the Council’s Annual Position Statement on Five Year Housing Land Supply for 2020.

The report stated that Councils were required to plan to meet their local housing need through Local Plans and to monitor the delivery of their housing land supply.  This monitoring duty must be published on an annual basis and must outline the supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide a minimum of five years’ worth of housing against the requirement set out in their Local Plan.  This annual publication was commonly described as a Council’s Five Year Housing Land Supply.

The Principal Planning Officer highlighted that the 2020 assessment had identified that the Council could show just over 10 years of deliverable supply for the period 2020/21 to 2024/25.  Based on this assessment the Council was able to demonstrate that is had a Five Year Housing Land Supply as required by the National Planning Policy Framework.

Appendix A to the report set out the Council’s annual position statement of its Five Year Housing Land Supply.  Appendix B to the report set out a full list of major development sites and their contribution to the Council’s Give Year Housing Land Supply.

Moved by Councillor Graham Parkin and seconded by Councillor Nick Clarke.

RESOLVED – That Planning Committee:

(1)          notes the detailed issues set out in the report.

(2)          approves the assessment of the Council’s Annual Position Statement of Five Year Housing Land Supply as set out at Appendix A.

(3)          authorises the publications of the Annual Position Statement of Five Year Housing Land Supply (Appendix A) and List of Major Development Sites and their contribution to the Council’s Five Year Housing Land Supply (Appendix B) on the Council’s website.

(4)          grant delegated authority to the Assistant Director of Development in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of Planning Committee to make any minor changes to the text or information referred to in (3) above prior to publication.

Committee considered a report which outlined the requirements of the Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 in relation to Annual Infrastructure Funding Statements.  The report also sought approval for the format and content of the Council’s Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2019/20 and to endorse the decision to publish the Statement in December 2020.  The report also updated the Committee on the proposed changes to the Section 106 Agreement reporting schedule and the proposed internal monitoring arrangements to respond to the new national monitoring requirements.

The report stated that in order for the Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement to be properly informative for members of the public a summary report had also been prepared to provide a more ‘plain English’ way of understanding the key information contained within the required Statement.  The Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2019/20 Summary Report was attached to the report at Appendix A.  The Summary Report had been published on 23^rd December 2020, in consultation with the Chair of the Planning Committee and the Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Planning.  The Committee was asked to endorse this publication.

The report also stated that as part of the review of the Council’s current informal Section 106 Agreement monitoring regime in readiness for the introduction of new national monitoring, it was proposed to report updates on Section 106 Agreement monitoring to the Committee on a quarterly basis.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Nick Clarke

RESOLVED – that the Committee:

(1)          note the requirements of the Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 in relation to Annual Infrastructure Funding Statements;

(2)          approve the format and content of the Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2019/20 Summary Report and endorse the decision to publish it in December 2020 to comply with the regulations;

(3)          note the proposed changes to the Section 106 Agreement reporting schedule for Planning Committee and the proposed internal monitoring arrangements to respond to the new national monitoring requirements.

Committee considered the report of the Planning Manager (Development Control) on the Planning Service’s performance against the Government’s quality of decision making targets.

During the 6 months since the last monitoring period, the Council had no appeals on major applications determined and no appeals against enforcement notices.  The Council had had only one appeal on non-major applications determined and this appeal had been allowed.  This equated to only 0.54% of the number of non-major applications determined within the period.  The Council was therefore still exceeding its appeal decision targets.

The Planning Manager (Development Control) gave a presentative outlining details of the one appeal decision had had been allowed during July to December 2020.  The appeal that had been allowed related to a new pitched roof with decorative roof finial.  The appeal decision had been a judgement about the impact of a proposal on the character and appearance of the building and the Conservation Area and the setting of Adjacent Listed Buildings rather than testing a Local Plan Policy. 

Moved by Councillor Tom Munro and seconded by Councillor Duncan McGregor

RESOLVED – that the report be noted and that appeal decisions continue to be reported to Committee every 6 months.