Issue - meetings

The report of the Planning Policy and Land Charges Team Manager

The report was presented by the Principal Planning Policy Officer and the Planning Policy and Land Charges Team Manager. During the presentation, a Councillor requested an explanation of regulations 18 and 19 for members of the public to understand.

The meeting was adjourned at 7pm and resumed at 7.11pm

A discussion about Key Service Centres between Councillors and the Planning Policy and Land Charges Team Manager ensued. A member sought clarification due to concerns about changes to school plans in Ashby Town. This was addressed by the Planning Policy and Land Charges Team Manager, who informed the Committee that the Regulation 19 plan will address all requirements as they stand at that point in time. It was suggested that this would be further discussed at a later time at a future meeting of the Committee.

Concerns were raised about the Plan not meeting its submission date and the impact upon the present and future Council. The Planning Policy and Land Charges Team Manager advised that if the Committee made decisions at this meeting, the Plan had a good chance at being able to be submitted on time. Transport modelling was acknowledged to be the biggest risk to submission due to the time required to resolve. If the plan was not submitted by the government deadline of December  2026, then the Council would not have an up to date plan and the district could be without a 5-year housing land supply, resulting in development proposals becoming difficult to resist.

The discussion moved to Local Service Centres, with a Councillor highlighting that the Plan’s proposals for development in Measham were met with opposition by many residents. They expressed concerns for their residents including traffic risks, transport planning, sink holes, the impact upon local services and the changes made to house allocations from Option 7b, referred to in the report. It was explained that distribution changes were made, compared to Option 7b due to the Plan period extending, leading to an increase in housing requirements but also because the amount of development anticipated from Isley Woodhouse in the plan period was less than previously expected.. A request for additional monies from a Councillor to improve on local services was added.

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The discussion transitioned to Sustainable Villages. A Councillor contributed their support of the allocated land in Oakthorpe being used to support sewage problems from heavy rain in developing areas.

Before voting, Councillors requested clarification on moving amendments to the recommendations and the order of discussion. Following this, Councillors raised further concerns about recommendations being voted against. The Planning Policy and Land Charges Team Manager asserted that the Plan would not meet its deadline should recommendations not be approved, that the work to reallocate housing distributions would require further consultations and this would further delay the lengthy transport modelling work. In addition to this, Officers could not provide a Plan B until they knew what was being agreed.

Members contributed that as Coalville did not have more land to build, allocations were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41