Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Services

Presented by the Regeneration and Planning Portfolio Holder

The Regeneration and Planning Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members. He reminded Members that over the years the authority has struggled with good design and now the authority had done a 180 degree turn with the Local Plan in the last phase. He stated that there had been a change in the quality of design for housing and the developments were not just at the building for life standard but at national prize winning standard. He informed Members that the document had been out to consultation and highlighted that some developers were unsure of what was expected.

Councillor R Blunt thanked Councillor T J Pendleton and the staff in the planning service and the Urban Designer for the hard work that had been put into the design quality for the district and that he hoped that if developers wished to build in the district and move their applications swiftly, they would listen to what the authority expected.

It was moved by Councillor T J Pendleton, seconded by Councillor R Blunt and

RESOLVED THAT:

1.     The ‘Good Design for North West Leicestershire’ be adopted as a supplementary planning document.

2.     The difference between the District Council and County Council’s aspirations regarding the use of straighter streets and the potential implications for dealing with planning applications in the future be noted.

3.     The design expectations established within the SPD will also apply to any land disposed of or developed by the District Council.

4.     Authority be delegated to the Director of Services, in consultation with the Regeneration and Planning Portfolio Holder, responsibility to implement modifications to the document as detailed in appendix 2.

Reason for decision: By adopting the SPD, Cabinet will afford appropriate status to the document which will be a useful tool in pre-application negotiations. It will also provide a stronger policy basis on which to support decision making on planning applications and provide greater clarity and certainty to planning applicants.