Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Development and Safety

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety introduced the reportand explained that all local authorities were under a statutory obligation to prepare a development plan. Cheltenham Borough Council had chosen to do this through the preparation of two main development plan documents; the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy (JCS) and the Cheltenham Plan. Together the two plans would provide the planning framework for the Borough until 2031, along with Gloucestershire minerals and waste plans and any neighbourhood plans made.

He explained that work to progress the development of the Cheltenham Plan had been underway since 2012. In summer 2013 consultation took place on the scope of the plan, the Council published the plan’s draft vision and objectives in February 2014 and consultation on Issues and Options took place in summer of 2015.

The Cabinet Member explained that the Cheltenham Plan project initiation document was agreed by the Planning and Liaison Member Working Group on the 15th of October 2014 and updated on 26th of July 2016.  It set the direction and timetable for development for the subsequent phases of the plan which would be delivered in sections called ‘parts’.   The first part of the Cheltenham Plan to be developed would deal primarily with policy relating to the development and protection of land for residential and employment use; the designation ‘Local Green Space’ for some green areas in Cheltenham; and the setting out of an economic strategy for the Borough.

This consultation document formed the ‘Preferred Options’ stage of part one. The results of the previous Issues and Options consultation have helped the Council to narrow down the alternatives available in meeting the Plan’s strategy. Having considered the relevant evidence, including sustainability appraisal and the findings of the ongoing JCS process, the Plan had become more focussed than before and clear spatial priorities have emerged.

The Cabinet Member went on to explain that this Preferred Options consultation was ‘non-statutory’ in that it was an additional stage that was being undertaken and could have been omitted prior to producing and undertaking statutory (regulation 19) consultation on the version to be submitted to examination (that is the Pre-Submission version).   The council, however, believed that community engagement was an essential part of plan preparation. This consultation would allow respondents to have their say on specific options whilst also allowing the Council enough time to take feedback into account before the plan reached its Pre-Submission version.

The Cabinet Member outlined the subheadings of the document as follows : Vision and Objectives, The Economy, The Economic Strategy of the Plan, Local Green Space, Development Proposals, Amendments to the Principal Urban Area, Permitted Development Rights and the Use of Article 4 Directions, Conservation Area Review 2016-18. He referred Members to the Preferred Options Proposals Map in the Plan.

The Cabinet Member believed that this was a coherent strategy to guide the development of the town for years to come. It sat below the JCS which would be consulted on at the start of February at the same time as the Plan.

The Leader believed that it was sensible to synchronise the Plan with the JCS and the publication of this Plan gave the public a head start in terms of being able to read it before the formal consultation.

A Member was keen for residents in the West of Cheltenham to have their say on the JCS. Equal access to the JCS process was vital. Another Member was pleased that the Local Green Space in Swindon Village had been secured in the Local Plan.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    That the Cheltenham Plan Part 1, Preferred Options document set out in Appendix 2, be approved for public consultation.

2.    authority be delegated to the Director of Planning, in consultation with the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, to make any minor amendments to the document prior to consultation.