Agenda item

Report of the Leader

The Leader introduced the report as follows:

-       it has been brought to Council for Members to approve CBC’s commitment to joint working with Gloucester and Tewkesbury; cross-boundary work is always a challenge, and she thanked Gloucester and Tewkesbury Members for their input;

-       by reviewing collectively our strategic and local planning policies, we can look at efficiencies in plan making and provide our communities, wider stakeholders and the development industry with a clear, single point of reference to the planning policies important to our areas.  The government is aware of this approach, and the Planning Advisory Service is providing support, recognising the value of three councils working collaboratively in plan-making;

-       Regulation 18 is a technical term, drawn from planning regulations, for the stage that presents a draft plan for review.  As reviewing planning documents can be time- consuming and challenging, we have introduced a two-stage Regulation 18 process and are consulting on Stage 1 now.  It sets out a vision worked upon by the Member working groups across the three councils, together with earlier engagement on the review of the JCS.  It introduces the key issues and priorities and tests these through the consultation to ensure they are in line with our Local Development Scheme (that sets the key milestones for plan preparation of the Strategic and Local Plan);

-       Stage 2 of Regulation 18 will be presented in early 2025, by which time we will have the appropriate evidence base, built-in comments and recommendations arising from the Stage 1 consultation, and continued active engagement with all on key issues.  We recognise that local communities have invested a lot of time previously in the JCS and the Cheltenham Plan, and it is our intention to build upon the strengths of our local policies. Engagement is key as is the value of people getting involved via a package of consultation mechanisms from face-to-face, online and social media. Members should remember that we are all ambassadors to push out the message and encourage engagement;

-       we are particularly keen to connect with younger people, who will be most affected by the plans we put in place now, and within the context of building on the quality of our heritage and wider built and green environments.  Also, as a council, we are clear that climate change and nature recovery are key drivers and will push sustainability policies to drive significant policy change;

-       thanks to the Planning Liaison Member Working Group for their work on the preparation of the SLP and their activity within the wider joint Member working group that has supported the preparation of the consultation document;

-       thanks also to the officer teams across the three authorities for their investment of time and positive challenge.  This will continue to be an important working group as we move through the phases of plan preparation.

In response to a question raised before the meeting concerning the length and detail of the consultation, she said the Citizen Lab platform being procured to manage the consultation is interactive and will allow people to respond to as much or as little of the consultation as they wish.  She added that the Regulation 18 consultation can be broken down so that readers can easily navigate to different parts of the consultation depending on their interest. 

The Leader provided the following responses to Members’ questions:

-       the council has clear statements in respect of safeguarding the urban greenspace policies set out in the Local Plan and JCS, but as we will have to prepare evidence for future examination in public, all possible development sites will need to be reviewed to demonstrate to the Inspector that we have left no stone unturned.  However, the clear principles and justification around our established local green spaces which will be a very important factor in any testing;

-       any items attached to CBC within our borough will be entirely our decision – each council will have sovereignty over what happens within its boundary though there will need to be cross-boundary work to make sure we get the best for our residents;

-       she recognised the need to protect, enhance and strengthen key flagship policies attached to the current Local Plan (such as climate change policies and SPD, our successful target of 40% affordable housing, and the greenbelt border at Hatherley and Hesters Way) which residents would expect to have been protected to 2031. She said we are clear as an authority about what we want and have fought for, but these issues have to be included in the consultation; the outcomes will affect what the council does going forward, and it is important to recognise the need for change;

-       she was not aware that the responses of people outside the borough are given any less weight than those of people whose lives will be directly affected as a result of the policies, although those from outside the area are more likely to be developers.

In debate, Members made the following comments:

-       the consultation is long and very thorough;  thanks to the Leader for confirming that people can give feedback and make comments on their particular areas of interest and do not need to complete the whole document;

-       the word deprivation is mentioned once in the document. The CBC Overview and Scrutiny task group recently looked into how to tackle areas of multiple deprivation in the town, and it would be good to work collaboratively with Gloucester and Tewkesbury, seeking more information about health and wellbeing, social value, what residents feel we could do to increase equal opportunities, improve healthy lifestyles and their economic health;

-       thanks to the Leader for her exceptional work – aligning the values of different councils is an immense business. From a climate change perspective, the opportunity for a combined planning strategy is exciting – the impact of climate change on biodiversity, farming, flood defences doesn’t stop at boundaries.  It is important to work with the partners on our boundaries, particularly where sites are at risk, and the opportunity to share policies as set out in our SPD will be welcomed;

-       Gloucestershire has large areas of deprivation which need commercial and housing development to thrive, rather than just concentrating on the three main urban areas, which results in additional pressure on infrastructure and schools and adding to the number of commuters.  Most rural areas would take more housing – we need to look at the broader picture;

-       there is a lot of talk about new development and resilient, healthy communities, but we should not forget existing communities, make sure that any infrastructure for new development is actually delivered, and doesn’t result in existing development being disadvantaged;

-       Cheltenham and Gloucester are predominantly urban areas but much of Tewkesbury is more rural.  We need to make sure that what are delivering works for our communities but also protects rural communities;

-       In view of the housing crisis and the increasing number of homeless people, it is important that hard-to-reach groups, especially young people, take part in the consultation and share their priorities.  The new plan will hopefully be part of the solution to the housing crisis;

-       There is an emerging consensus that the actual consultation document isn’t perfect - largely due to combining the needs of other councils and councillors – but while Citizen Lab will provide a broader means of consulting, it is important to acknowledge the drawbacks in the document, such as recognising nature recovery as an urgent priority but not mentioning it in the vision and objectives in the Regulation 18 document, and mixing up climate mitigation and adaptation, which are different concepts;

-        housing options needs to be addressed through supply – a list of pros and cons isn’t normal in a consultation document – and while intensifying housing in city and town centres is welcome, more modest and small-scale development will help support rural communities.  It seems that the list of cons outweighs the list of pros which gives a misleading impression about where the council is coming from;

-       The consultation document is problematic, but the actual drafts of the Strategic and Local Plan will be a significant improvement on this.

In summing up, the Leader said she had heard all the very valid points and agreed that this is not a perfect document, but it is important that we see it as an opportunity to make our thoughts known.  As Members, we are all ambassadors of our communities and can encourage and support residents to express their views. She said a summary will be produced, and it is all about effective communication.  She added that the health and well-being aspect missing from the consultation is already being looked at – the council is engaged by the Health and Wellbeing Board, drawing in the NHS and Public Health.

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The Strategic and Local Plan Consultation Document (Appendix 1) is approved for consultation under Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012;

2.    Authority is delegated to the Director of Communities & Economic Development, in consultation with the Leader, to prepare visual representations to illustrate the general location of development options for inclusion in the consultation document, and to make any other necessary minor amendments, corrections and additions to the document prior to publication for consultation;

3.    The update provided at appendix 3 in respect of the Honeybourne Line extension debated at Council on 19th June 2023 is noted.