Agenda item

To make comment on the LPP1 review.  

Andrew Longley and Matt Ellis attended for this item. Members were reminded that Local Plan Part 1 (LPP1) was adopted in February 2018. There is a statutory requirement to review LPP1 within five years from its adoption (i.e., by the end of February 2023) to decide if an update to the Plan is required.

The Committee were given an update on the need to carry out a review and develop a scoping document with recommendations as to how much of the plan needs updating.  It was highlighted that greater clarity was needed on the proposed national government planning reforms as this was likely to impact on the level of update needed.

Members raised concerns that the report was misleading as it gave a perception that LPP1 needed a full update and that it should be made clear this was not the case and the scoping exercise would provide the evidence of how much or how little needed updating. Some members felt that LPP1 needed no update and was fine as it was, however, officers advised that if full council decided not to update at all they would need to provide substantial reasons why not.

The Members also enquired what the costs would be to carry out this work and were advised there was an indicative cost of £850k which had been budgeted for.

Members raised concern that if a full update was suggested that this would indicate that LPP1 was not fit for purpose and would then give developers ammunition to claim there was evidence that further housing supply was needed.  It was explained that whilst a review and update was taking place the current LPP1 and NHP’s statuses would still remain.

Cllr David Beaman had registered to speak and read out a prepared statement (attached to minutes) highlighting his concerns.

Cllr Jerry Hyman had registered to speak and highlighted the responses from other Local Planning Authorities and the risk of Waverley being forced to take on some of their housing need allocation as has already happened with Woking. He also raised the need to ensure we comply with the habitats regulations.

Recommendations:

The Services O&S Committee recommend to the Executive and Full Council that:

1. Having undertaken a review of LPP1 in accordance with regulation 10A of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended), the Council resolves that LPP1 requires updating to a greater or lesser extent. However, the Local Plan as a whole continues to provide an up-to-date statutory development plan for Waverley, which must remain the starting point for decisions on planning applications while an update is brought forward.

2. A further report on the detailed scope of the update and the timetable for its preparation is prepared for consideration by the Executive when the implications of a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the emerging Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill are better understood.

3. Budgetary provision is made to enable technical work on an updated evidence base to commence during 2023/24.

4. There is a clear alignment between the work to be carried out as set out in the report at 10.1.3 and the budget provision being proposed.

5. . A report on the detailed scope of the proposed update process is considered by Overview & Scrutiny to allow comments and recommendations to be made prior to the presentation to Executive and Full Council.

6. The mention of a ‘full’ update of LPP1 be removed throughout the document until such time as the scope is available to view and comment so as not to predetermine the scale of the update.

7. Clarity be given on the governance journey for the update process.