Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Planning and Infrastructure

Officers presented the report which considered responses to consultation received between January and March 2022 and which looked at the strategic issues to be addressed in the plan.

Members queried the decision to decide all recommendations as one vote as they felt that some were acceptable whilst they did not agree with others and requested that recommendations be voted upon individually as opposed to en bloc. The Chair noted the comments however advised that all recommendations would be voted for as one.

Officers set out the Local Plan objectives, highlighting that the objectives were overarching statements, fairly general in nature, and would be a framework for the policies, not the policies themselves. It was noted that overall, the consultation reflected a good level of support for the objectives. As a result of the consultation, it was agreed that changes, as detailed within the report, be made to the wording of some of the objectives as this would add more accuracy or detail.

Members requested clarification on the figures presented with regard to a petition which had been put forward, as it was felt that in some instances individual signatures had been overlooked and considered per household,  rather than per signatory. Officers agreed that this would be clarified   in the minutes and would be corrected. Subsequently officers confirmed that there were 323 signatories on the tear off slips.

Members raised concerns that the Coalville Special Expenses Working Party had not been part of the consultation despite this being a forum to discuss issues which would be heavily focused on the Coalville urbanised area and requested that this be noted.

A member queried a change in the recommendations, specifically Objective 4, and it was agreed to rephrase this to read “including by private car”.

Officers provided members with details in regard to the Settlement Hierarchy section of the report, and noted that, whilst the proposed hierarchy would remain roughly the same as in the existing Local plan,  some of the more rural settlements would be moved to a different tier. Local Housing Needs  Villages, was outlined and the controls in these locations were described.

Officers informed members of the development strategy options for housing, specifically how much and where it should be located. It was noted that there had been a good spread of responses from individuals, developers and landowners.

Members noted that there had been a government announcement that there would be an intention to end the “Duty to Co-operate” however officers advised that at present this remained a requirement and therefore the authority remained under the obligation to meet Leicester’s unmet housing need.

Members addressed the numbers contained within the Statement of Common Ground and raised a concern that the authority had been asked to provide a disproportionately large percentage of Leicester’s unmet housing needs. It was argued that in order to promote growth and prosperity in the region, it would be necessary to provide more homes, which would in turn equate to more residents and more trade for local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10