Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

Members were asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they might have in respect of the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Local Plan Working Group held on 23 January 2018.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2018 be approved as a correct record and then signed by the Chair.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak, regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the remit of the Working Group, may do so.  The deadline for registering is 5.00pm on Tuesday 1 May 2018.

Filming or Recording Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be filmed and webcast, or recorded, including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. This broadcast can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting e.g. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officers (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/11406/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings_20160809.pdf

It was reported that there had been two registrations to speak on item 4 (City of York Local Plan Submission) under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Cllr David Carr read out a statement on behalf of Cllr Suzie Mercer, Ward Councillor for Wheldrake Ward, who was not able to attend the meeting. In her statement she expressed her dismay at the draft local plan which she didn’t believe reflected the submissions made by residents over several consultations and should therefore not be described as a local plan. She expressed concern that despite many suggestions from residents and developers, very few modifications had been made and many questions had gone unanswered and the concerns of residents and developers had gone unheeded for many of the larger sites around York. She referred specifically to concerns around sites ST15 (known as Whinthorpe or Langwith) and site SP1 The Stables, Elvington (the showpersons site) in Wheldrake Ward. 

Mr Nick Love then addressed the Committee on behalf of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). He stated that given the importance of York’s pubs and their profile in the local economy, he was shocked at the absence of reference to pubs in the local plan. He stated that, in the past, the Executive had passed a resolution for the formation of pub friendly planning law in the local plan and expressed dismay that this seemed to have been ignored and the draft local plan did not reflect importance of public houses to people in York. He requested that public houses be added to the list of other community facilities to be protected, listed on page 122 of the report.

This report updates Members on the responses received to the Publication Draft Local Plan Consultation (Regulation 19) and asks Members to recommend that Full Council approve the Submission Draft (the Publication Draft) together with representations received thereon, for submission for Examination.

Note: Annexes A, B and I to this report have been made available online only and are not included in the printed agenda pack.  Should Members require a printed copy of any of these documents, they are requested to contact the report author.

Members considered a report which set out the responses received to the Publication Draft Local Plan Consultation (Regulation 19) and asked them to recommend that Full Council approval of the Submission Draft (the Publication Draft) together with representations received thereon for submission for Examination.

The Forward Planning Team Manager provided an update to Members. She advised that recomendation (ii) in paragraph 2 of the report be amended to include reference to the Schedule of minor modifications as attached as Annex G so that it read:

Recommend to Full Council that the Submission Draft Local Plan (Publication Draft) as attached at Annex A to this report, the Policies Map as attached at Annex B to this report and the Schedule of minor modifications as attached as Annex G to this report be approved for submission to the Secretary of State for examination.

She also advised that paragraph 71 of the report should be amended to replace the reference to Annex D with Annex G and to remove the reference to Option 1 so that it read:

“If it is considered that, having taken into consideration the representations made, the appropriate option is to approve the Submission Version of the Local Plan (Annex A), the Policies Map (Annex B) and the Scheudle of minor modifications (Annex G) and allow it to be submitted for examination as per recomendation (ii), this would allow the Council to meet the required published timetable for submission by 31 May 2018.”

The Assistant Director for Planning and Public Protection advised Members that the only decision for Executive on 8 May and Full Council on 17 May was whether to submit the local plan for examination. He confirmed that officers’ recomendation was that the plan was ready for submission. He warned that if a decision was made, by Executive or Council, not to submit the local plan but to revise it, then this would lead to the need for further consulation and months of delay and there was a likelihood that this would lead to government intervention. He drew Members attention to paragraphs 30-43 of the report which listed the important reasons and benefits toYork of having an up to date local plan. 

In response to Member questions, officers provided the following information:

·        although the main report only included a short summary of consultation responses, Annex C contained more detail with a summary for each of the policy areas.

·        If the plan was submitted for examination, a full copy of all representations would be included and made available online.

·        Many comments made at Reg 19 stage were very similar to those made at Reg 18 stage.

·        The local plan was a strategic document. Supplementary Planning Documents which looked at issues such as transport and air quality were not prepared at this stage. They would add further details to strategic policies and follow on from plan production.

·        Modifications had been made to the plan throughout the representation process and officers believed that the plan was in the best possible  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.