Agenda and minutes

Extraordinary- Joint Core Strategy, Council - Thursday, 30th June, 2016 6.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Municipal Offices

Contact: Rosalind Reeves, Democratic Services Manager

Items

No.

Item

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Babbage

Moment of Reflection

The Mayor’s Chaplain, Reverend Tudor Griffiths.

The Mayor will ask for a one minute’s silence in memory of MP Jo Cox.

Minutes:

Canon Rev Dr Tudor Griffiths invited Members to take a moment of reflection

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillors Coleman, Fisher, Harman, Colin Hay, Sudbury and Wheeler all declared interests as members of Gloucestershire County Council and indicated that they had been granted dispensations from the Standards Committee to participate and vote in the meeting.

Councillor Savage declared an interest as a member of CPRE. Councillor Wilkinson declared an interest as an employee of a company working on a non-contract basis with a landowner affected by the JCS.

Councillor Ryder declared a personal and prejudicial interest as an owner of some white land in Leckhampton. She would not participate in the debate and would leave the chamber before the debate of the item.

Councillor Bickerton declared an interest as Chair of Leckhampton and Warden Hill Parish Council, Chair of the Neighbourhood Planning group, Chair of LEGLAG and member of CPRE.

Councillor Nelson declared an interest as a member of LEGLAG and member of the Leckhampton and Warden Hill Parish Council and member of the Neighbourhood forum.

Communications by the Mayor

Minutes:

The Mayor put on record her thanks to all those who had supported the launch of her charities, County and Community Projects and St Vincent’s and St George’s.

The Mayor advised Members that the 11th and 12th June saw much celebrations of the Queen’s birthday. She thanked her Chaplain for the well thought through service held at the Minster to commemorate the occasion.

She had recently returned from a visit to Annecy to celebrate Cheltenham being twinned with the town for 60 years. The party from Cheltenham had been given a wonderful reception and she was looking forward to welcoming dignitaries and twinning friends from Annecy to Cheltenham in July. The Mayor thanked everyone who had attended the commemoration event for the Battle of Jutland at the Minster. The Mayor advised that on the following day she would be representing Cheltenham at the Centenary Commemorations of the first day of the Battle of the Somme and invited Councillors to join her at the Pittville Pump Rooms at 3.30 pm. She concluded that she would now be handing over the chair to the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Sudbury.

Communications by the Leader of the Council

Minutes:

The Leader took the opportunity to comment on the outcome of the recent EU referendum and expected that members would wish to debate the implications at the Council meeting scheduled in July. He informed Members that a summit of key local companies was being set up to better understand any issues they have and how the council can help. Whilst the future was extremely uncertain he undertook to do the best he could to represent the views and interests of the people of Cheltenham in whatever comes next.

Public Questions PDF 130 KB

These must be received no later than 12 noon on Friday 24 June

Minutes:

1.	Question from Gary Eagger to the Leader, Councillor Steve Jordan
	Can you provide a summary of the process which you will go through to consider and approve or decline Elizabeth Ord's recommendations?”
	Response from the Leader
	The JCS councils have made no decisions in regards to modifications to the plan and this will be informed by the stage 4 JCS examination hearings scheduled 6 July, informed by the debate arising from council meetings scheduled 28^th and 30^th June. All the findings in the interim report are without prejudice to the Inspectors ultimate conclusions and will be reviewed in context of: upcoming stage 4 hearings where the JCS authorities will set out the consequences of the recommendations as agreed at Council meetings, and public consultation responses should the JCS authorities make main modifications to the plan in September Further Council meetings are scheduled in September to agree any main modifications to the plan. Communities and other stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide comments on the modifications through the consultation process that follows. Responses will then be collated by the JCS Authorities and passed to the Inspector for her consideration. At that stage the Inspector will consider objections to the modifications and make a decision whether any further information, hearings or revisions are required before concluding her Examination and submitting her Final Report to the JCS Authorities. Finally, the JCS Authorities will have a further decision to take as to whether they are happy to proceed on the basis of the Inspector’s Final Report and adopt the JCS as their plan. If they choose not to then the JCS would not be adopted and wouldn’t represent planning policy. In a supplementary question, Mr Eagger, referred to statements from Brandon Lewis, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning for the Department for Communities and Local Government, where he had said that Green Belt boundaries should only be changed under exceptional circumstances and with local support. What consultation has taken place with local residents in this case? The Leader advised that this was the Inspector’s view and not the council's plan. In his view there were limitations in the process the inspector was following and his personal aim would be to maximise the involvement of local residents in the process. He confirmed that the council would do all it could to involve the public in the JCS process going forward.
2.	Question from Alex Randall to the Leader, Councillor Steve Jordan (not present)
	First of all, I appreciate the effort that has gone into the Joint Core Strategy and the need to progress to a conclusion. I was though surprised to read in the Preliminary report that a number of Prestbury green belt areas have been proposed to lose their status in favour of development. In particular, the inspector commentary in paras 127 onwards suggests this was primarily based on a site visit, rather than based on balanced evidence or fair assessment. Will the council promise that a fair ... view the full minutes text for item 6.

Member Questions PDF 63 KB

These must be received no later than 12 noon on Friday 24 June

Minutes:

1.	Question from Councillor John Payne to the Leader , Councillor Steve Jordan
	On the 7th of June this year Brandon Lewis, Minister of State for Housing and Planning wrote a letter to all Members of Parliament stressing and restating the Government's position on development in the Green Belt, that "development may only be allowed where exceptional circumstances exist". Could you please detail the specific circumstances that justify the destruction of most of the Green Belt in Prestbury?
	Response from Cabinet Member
	Government policy and statements both reinforce that Green Belt boundaries should only be changed where exceptional circumstances exist. The exceptional circumstances case for release of Green Belt can be made depending on the need for release, the sensitivity of the Green Belt in that location, and the potential for a suitable new green belt boundary to be created. These principles have been demonstrated through previous examinations and through case law. The Inspector’s role is to examine whether the JCS is “sound”, based on four tests. These tests set out that the plan should seek to meet requirements for delivery of housing and infrastructure in line with national policy. If the Inspector has identified that needs are not being met, then she has the power to examine and recommend alternative sites and locations where the need could be delivered; taking into account the evidence she has heard on the social, environmental and economic principles of sustainability. While the Inspector cannot compel the authorities to make the modifications she recommends to make the plan sound, the authorities cannot legally adopt or implement the plan if it has not been found to be sound through examination. As Cllr Payne will be aware, after having evaluated evidence on these principles and requirements the inspector writes: ‘The removal of Leckhampton as a strategic allocation and the reduction of housing numbers at North West Cheltenham leaves Cheltenham with a need to find alternative housing capacity. The newly proposed strategic allocation of West Cheltenham will go part way to doing this, although a deficit still remains. In my judgement there is additional potential capacity in non-strategic Green Belt sites, which could significantly increase Cheltenham’s district capacity and which could be allocated in the emerging Cheltenham Local Plan. Releasing these areas of Green Belt now within the JCS would facilitate these sites coming forward and contributing to Cheltenham’s five year housing land supply. Following this approach should also enable Cheltenham’s housing requirements for the Plan period to be met in full’ On pages 28 – 30 of the Inspector’s report she gives reasons why, in her view, the exceptional circumstances test is met for release of Green Belt land in each of the locations described to the North of Cheltenham – based on the principles above. Through the Joint Core Strategy the authorities have sought to alter green belt boundaries at urban extensions to allow for the sustainable development of Cheltenham and Gloucester. Tewkesbury’s strategic allocations around Tewkesbury town ... view the full minutes text for item 7.

Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy : Inspector's Interim Report PDF 97 KB

Report of the Leader

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Chair of Council, Councillor Klara Sudbury took the Chair for this agenda item.

The Leader introduced his report regarding the Inspector’s interim report on the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy. The report explained that the JCS was the strategic planning document being prepared jointly by Gloucester City, Cheltenham Borough and Tewkesbury Borough Councils to provide a framework for meeting the development needs of the area over the plan period from 2011 to 2031.

The report summarised the Inspector’s Interim Report, received on 31st May 2016, following the extensive examination of the JCS that had taken place since its submission to the Secretary of State in November 2014. The Interim Report made recommendations on main modifications to the JCS on issues that had not been resolved during the examination to date. In general it did not cover proposed main modifications that had already been discussed and proposed through the hearing sessions.

The report set out the proposed response to enable further discussion on the consequences of the Interim Report. The main body of this report was contained in Appendix A, with the recommended JCS response set out at section 4 of this appendix. This would allow JCS officers to set out the specific consequences and key points arising from the Inspector’s recommendations. The report therefore sought Council approval to accept this proposed response and present these to the Inspector at further hearing sessions to take place on 6th and 7th July 2016.

He was confident that the joint working between Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury was still the right approach in the long term for this area. He thanked all the contributors to the Inspector’s process which had taken a lot longer than expected. He was concerned that the JCS was “morphing” into the Inspector’s plan rather than the three council’s own plan developed over a long period of time.

He referred to Appendix A which set out the three councils’ responses to the Inspector's report and talked through each of the issues in detail.

Finally he referred to the additional bullet point in the recommendations which had been circulated in Members’ places. The additional point “welcomed the Inspector's use of the Local Green Space review in Swindon Village and Leckhampton and requests a similar review be urgently undertaken in areas in West and North Cheltenham which she is now suggesting should be taken out of Green Belt.

The Deputy-Mayor invited Members to ask questions on the report and these were responded to by the Leader with support from the Director of Planning, Tracey Crews, where appropriate.

Would the Leader agree that the people of Prestbury had been let down by the attack on the Green Belt?
- The Leader responded that this was a fair point regarding any area which had now come into the equation.
A Member referred to the Leckhampton SD2 development for 377 houses which had been found to be unsound on appeal. If the Judicial Review was won by Leglag and the decision ... view the full minutes text for item 8.

Notices of Motion

Proposed by Councillor Clucas, seconded by Councillor Fisher

“That this Council, mindful of Inspector Ord's Interim Findings in relation to the JCS, welcomes the specific finding that the case for a Local Green Space in Swindon Village, which conserves the historic setting for the village, has been made. Council also welcomes the fact that the finding will be further recognised and developed through the Cheltenham Plan.”

Minutes:

Proposed by Councillor Clucas, seconded by Councillor Fisher

"That this Council, mindful of Inspector Ord's Interim Findings in relation to the JCS, welcomes the specific finding that the case for a Local Green Space in Swindon Village, which conserves the historic setting for the village, has been made. Council also welcomes the fact that the finding will be further recognised and developed through the Cheltenham Plan."

In proposing the motion Councillor Clucas thanked colleagues for their support in relation to the use of the Local Green Space Review in Swindon Village. She said that, as the JCS had not been approved, it was important to give a message to developers on the Inspector’s finding which would be developed further through the Local Plan. She wished to place on record her thanks to all those residents who had contributed to the work undertaken.

In seconding the motion Councillor Fisher took the opportunity to thank Martin Horwood for his contributions on the National Planning Policy Framework.

RESOLVED THAT

"this Council, mindful of Inspector Ord's Interim Findings in relation to the JCS, welcomes the specific finding that the case for a Local Green Space in Swindon Village, which conserves the historic setting for the village, has been made. Council also welcomes the fact that the finding will be further recognised and developed through the Cheltenham Plan."