Agenda and minutes

To receive and note any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor R D Bayliss.

Under the Code of Conduct members are reminded that in declaring disclosable interests you should make clear the nature of that interest and whether it is pecuniary or non-pecuniary.

There were no interests declared.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016.

It was moved by Councillor J Legrys, seconded by Councillor V Richichi and

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Terms of Reference attached.

RESOLVED THAT:

The Terms of Reference be noted.

Report of the Director of Services.

An update regarding an additional consultation response was circulated to Members at the meeting.

The Director of Services presented the report.  He explained that the issues not dealt with at the previous meeting in March were addressed within the report and referred Members to the number of tables that accompanied the report which were available to view online.  The tables detailed all consultation responses and the recommendations to address them.  He stressed that the housing requirement figure was a critical part of the plan and was set at a higher level to take account of the potential impact of the then proposed Roxhill development on the number of jobs in the district compared to those assumed in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA).  He confirmed that as this was now a consented scheme it was required to show the impact and therefore an independent consultant who worked on the SHMA had been commissioned to undertake the additional work on providing evidence of the impact; this work had not yet been completed. He added that if the result of this additional work meant significant changes then it would affect the plan and could mean another round of consultation but this could not be confirmed at this stage.

Members were informed that some of the other local authorities had concerns regarding the level of housing requirement.  The principal concern related to the risk to other authorities as a result of North West Leicestershire District Council’s Local Plan deviating away from the SHMA and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  It had been suggested that the next stage of the Local Plan should be delayed to await the outcome of the recently commissioned Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA); however this work was unlikely to be concluded until late 2016.  The Director of Services reported that delaying the Local Plan would make its adoption prior to the Government’s deadline very difficult to achieve and so could leave the Council open to significant risks and appeals.  Also, it would mean the Council could be penalised by the loss of the New Homes Bonus.  Members were informed that officers had received advice from a number of sources and the advice was to proceed as quickly as possible and not to delay, therefore a report would be considered by Cabinet on 3 May to relay the advice received and to ask for a decision on how to proceed.  The Director of Services was currently working to present the draft Local Plan to Council on 28 June.

At this point the Chairman stated that if the Committee decided to agree with officers recommendations but Cabinet went against officer’s recommendations when considered in May, he would like members to be aware of the difference in opinion when the Draft Local Plan was presented to Council in June.

Councillor J Legrys, on behalf of the Labour Group, thanked the Planning Policy Team Manager and his team for the hard work undertaken so far.  He went on to ask  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.