Agenda item

Local Plan - Part 2 - Resourcing

The purpose of the report is to seek agreement for a supplementary estimate to fund the additional resources necessary to support the acceleration of the production of Part 2 of the Local Plan to achieve adoption by March 2019.

 

Recommendation

 

It is recommended to the Council that

 

1.         a supplementary estimate of £200,000 be approved to cover additional resources to deliver Part 2 of the Local Plan;

 

2.         the supplementary estimate be funded from the Revenue Reserve in the first instance and to be subject to a review of available resources within the Local Plan reserve in the Autumn; and

 

3.         authority be delegated to the Executive Director, in consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Planning and Finance, to proceed with the most cost effective option for securing the necessary resources.

 

Minutes:

62.1    Members will be aware that in addition to approval of the Local Plan for publication, the Council agreed an update to the Local Development Scheme on 19 July 2016.  This included the timeline for Part 2 of the Local Plan.  This represents an acceleration of the production of the Plan to achieve adoption by March 2019.

 

62.2    The table below sets out the estimated staffing resource requirements for each key stage of Part 2 of the Plan.

 

Stage

 

 

Time Period

 

Resources

Scoping the Plan and Sustainability Appraisal

 

Present to October 2016

 

Existing Team resources (including agency cover for current Principal Planning Officer vacancy)

 

Identifying and assessing options and producing preferred options

 

November 2016 – July 2017

 

Four additional Planners required could include two Principal Planners, one Senior Planner and a graduate trainee.

 

Consultation on preferred options and draft policies (Regulation 18)

 

Analysis of representations of pre?submission Plan

 

Publication of  Local Plan Part 2

Consultation on Presubmission Regulation 19

 

Submission to Secretary of State

 

 

August – September 2017

 

 

 

October 2017 – March 2018

 

 

April 2018

 

 

 

 

 

July 2018

 

As above although following completion of Local Part 1 work existing staff resources will become available to concentrate on Part 2  the need for additional posts will lessen.

Examination

 

Adoption

 

 

Date dependent on PINS

March 2019

 

Ditto

 

62.3    It is anticipated that Stage 1 of Part 2 (Scoping and Sustainability Appraisal) can be accommodated within the existing Team resources in addition to its Part 1 work.  The subsequent stage (Options) and possibly part of the next (Consultation) are likely to run partly in parallel with Local Plan examination timescale (date of examination depends on PINS).  Therefore, additional resources will be required in order to progress Part 2 in parallel with Part 1 during 2016 and 2017.

 

62.4    It is estimated that additional resources equivalent to four additional Planning Officers, at least three at a senior level, (total up to £200,000), would be required to deliver Part 2 in accordance with the Council’s approved Local Development Scheme timetable.  It should be noted that readjustment of the timetable to the position where Part 2 follows the completion of Part 1 could mean that Part 2 could be delivered within the current resource base. It should also be noted that the options for acquiring the required resources are currently being evaluated. The options include direct employment, external procurement or a mix of the two. A delegation is sought to progress the most cost effective option following evaluation. The Executive now

 

            RECOMMENDS that

 

51.       a supplementary estimate of £200,000 be approved to cover additional resources to deliver Part 2 of the Local Plan;

 

52.       the supplementary estimate be funded from the Revenue Reserve in the first instance and to be subject to a review of available resources within the Local Plan reserve in the Autumn; and

 

53.       authority be delegated to the Executive Director, in consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Planning and Finance, to proceed with the most cost effective option for securing the necessary resources.

 

[Reason: to seek agreement for a supplementary estimate to fund the additional resources necessary to support the acceleration of the production of Part 2 of the Local Plan to achieve adoption by March 2019].

 

 

 

Supporting documents: