Issue - meetings

Report of the Strategic Director of Place.

The Planning Policy Team Leader presented the report to members, highlighting the purpose of the SHELAA and the process for identifying and including sites in the document.  He explained that the SHELAA was not a policy document and was essentially a long list of potential sites that could be considered for development, if and when they were required.  He added that inclusion of a site in the SHELAA did not give any indication of its acceptability for development, and did not mean that any application would be approved.  He explained that an exercise calling for sites had been undertaken and all sites submitted had been assessed.  A total of 18 new potential employment sites and 40 new potential housing sites had been submitted. 

The Planning Policy Team Leader gave a presentation detailing each new site which had been submitted through the call for sites exercise. 

Councillor L Legrys referred to the planned railhead to be constructed at Sinope for the construction of HS2, and expressed concerns that infrastructure should to be planned in conjunction with the Planning Policy Team and needed to accord with the work on the SHELAA.  He asked how these processes could be better explained to the public given the sensitivities of these issues. 

The Planning Policy Team Leader acknowledged that the process was not easy to explain to local communities.  He added that a press release could be issued via the Communications Team.  He suggested writing to all parish and town councils to explain some of the information set out in the report. 

RESOLVED THAT:

(i)            The new sites to be included in the 2019 update of the SHELAA be noted;

(ii)           The intention to commission evidence to assess the potential implications of the three mixed use sites highlighted at paragraph 4.3 of this report be noted.