Agenda item

1.

Question from Mr Adrian Kingsbury to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

Cheltenham Local Plan – Preferred Options – West Cheltenham

The plan as presented to the Cabinet shows little definition of the plans for the area known as West Cheltenham, other than to refer back to the JCS and reference strategic allocation. There is considerable local opposition to the JCS as currently drafted, so would it be preferable for the Local Plan to utilise the preliminary JCS position of the land remaining safe-guarded until 2031, thus allowing a likely smoother route to local acceptance and be representative of the local resident’s requirements?

Response from Cabinet Member

The Cheltenham Plan draft mapping shows shading at West Cheltenham to reflect the JCS as it was agreed by Council on October the 18^th 2016 for main modifications consultation. The Cheltenham Plan in this case is just reflecting the current state of play in the JCS document.

The separate Main Modifications consultation on the Joint Core Strategy scheduled for early 2017 will provide an opportunity for local people to make representations on that Plan. The JCS consultation is the right place to make representations concerning West Cheltenham, as it is that document, rather than the Cheltenham Plan, which will determine the status of the site. All consultation responses made as part of the JCS consultation will be provided in full to the JCS Inspector, who has said that she will hold hearings on this in the New Year to allow respondents to attend.

2.

Question from Mr Adrian Kingsbury to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, Councillor Andrew McKinlay

Can the Cabinet please explain/clarify how the JCS, Local and Neighbourhood plans integrate, and what would be the status of the Local Plan should the JCS not be adopted?

Response from Cabinet Member

The JCS provides the higher level or strategic part of the development plan for the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury area. More detailed; locally-specific planning policies are set out in the Cheltenham Plan (also sometimes referred to as the ‘local plan’) including local allocations of land for development and policies to guide decisions on planning applications.

Neighbourhood Plans can be produced by Parishes and other designated communities. They must be in general conformity to the strategic policies in the JCS and the Cheltenham Plan.

The Cheltenham Plan is being developed alongside the JCS for adoption shortly after it. If the JCS were not to progress, further consultation would need to be undertaken to make significant changes to the Draft Cheltenham Plan in order to address the elements of plan making currently covered by the JCS. These changes would not reduce the need to develop sufficient sites to meet our housing and economic requirements and would also mean continuing to work with Tewkesbury and Gloucester Councils as well as others through the duty to cooperate.

In a supplementary question Mr Kingsbury asked whether the Local Plan was subject to the same process as the Joint Core Strategy and if this was not the case whether the economic forecasts could be revised.

In response the Cabinet Member Development and Safety was hopeful that the current problems with the Joint Core Strategy could be resolved. In the unlikely event that this did not happen he said the Cheltenham Plan would need to be changed to incorporate the Cheltenham elements of the core strategy. He emphasised that there was the assumption that the joint development growth figures would not change. The Leader confirmed that the approval of the Cheltenham Plan was a separate process but identical in nature.