Issue - meetings

Report of Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control

RESOLVED THAT: 

1.    the Nature Recovery Supplementary Planning Document (Appendix 4) is approved for adoption;

2.    authority is delegated to the Director of Planning and Building Control, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control, to make any necessary minor amendments or corrections to the document prior to adoption.        

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control began by thanking the officer team who have produced this excellent piece of work, which contains a whole host of useful and relevant information.  It provides clear guidance to ensure development in the borough protects and enhances biodiversity, in line with the Environment Act 2021, and is a material consideration for all proposals affecting biodiversity, trees, or green infrastructure, in support of the council’s Key Priority 3. It establishes that early ecological assessment and nature-led design are essential and biodiversity net gain should be delivered on-site wherever feasible, with off-site provision only where clearly justified.  It identifies long-term habitat management as critical to securing durable ecological outcomes, and concludes that integrating green and blue infrastructure offers a practical and achievable way for all scales of development to contribute to nature recovery. Finally, the SPD highlights that strengthened monitoring, reporting and enforcement are necessary to ensure that commitments made through the planning process are delivered in practice.

Members made the following comments:

-       encouraging biodiversity net gain on site is very reassuring, as trees and planting in places where people live is one of things that makes Cheltenham such a good place to reside, as well as helping with well-balanced nature recovery;

-       the recently-approved tree strategy has identified areas of Cheltenham without many trees and proposed an action plan to remedy this;

-       although the SPD is only guidance, it will, like the Climate Change SPD, raise awareness amongst developers and applicants,  giving them ideas about what to include in their applications to make them more climate and nature friendly and diverse.  It is a good way to raise the bar and encourage people to do more than the minimum they have to do.  Congratulations to all those involved on a really comprehensive piece of work.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control welcomed these positive and supportive comments, and agreed that the SPD will reinforce that  developers, like the council, have a role to play in enhancing biodiversity.

RESOLVED THAT: 

1.    the Nature Recovery Supplementary Planning Document (Appendix 4) is approved for adoption;

2.    authority is delegated to the Director of Planning and Building Control, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control, to make any necessary minor amendments or corrections to the document prior to adoption.