Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the ensuing municipal year.

It was moved by Councillor M Specht, seconded by Councillor J Legrys and

RESOLVED THAT:

Councillor J Bridges be elected as Chairman for the forthcoming municipal year. 

Councillor J Bridges took the chair.  He thanked all members for their co-operation over the last year and he particularly thanked Councillor J Legrys for his kind words at Council.  He felt that the Local Plan Advisory Committee was a testimony for collaborative cross party working and he hoped this could spread across the Council.

To elect a Deputy Chairman for the ensuing municipal year.

It was moved by Councillor J Bridges, seconded by Councillor J Cotterill and

RESOLVED THAT:

Councillor J Legrys be appointed as Deputy Chairman for the forthcoming municipal year.

To receive and note any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Johnson.

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 18 April 2016.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2016.

It was moved by Councillor J Legrys, seconded by Councillor R D Bayliss and

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Terms of Reference attached.

Noted.

Report of the Director of Services.

The Director of Services presented the report to members, reminding them that the intent was to produce a Gypsy and Traveller Site Allocation Development Plan Document, not least because the Council had a duty to meet the needs of the members of those communities, but also the preparation of the development plan document would help support the Local Plan.  He advised that the purpose of the report was to provide members with an update on progress and to consider the next steps.  He highlighted section 2 of the report which outlined the strategic approach in the Local Plan, which set out how the Council would consider proposed sites in policy H7 of the Local Plan.  He added that specific site allocations were not made in the Local Plan, as this was the intent in producing the Development Plan Document.  He drew members’ attention to paragraph 2.2 of the report which referred to the situation at Maldon District Council and the approach being taken as a result whereby the Council was ensuring that good progress was being made and demonstrating that the needs of the community could be met, albeit in a separate document.  He advised that it was imperative that the Council was making good progress in identifying and meeting those needs.  He added that the progression so far had been good and it was anticipated that this would continue, however he emphasised that any delay in progress would become a risk to the Council and the Local Plan.

The Director of Services made reference to section 3 of the report which provided an update on the needs assessment.  He advised that the existing needs assessment upon which the that Local Plan policy was based showed that the overall need for the period up to 2031 was a total of 68 permanent pitches, 20 transit pitches and 9 pitches for travelling showpeople.  He advised that the Council was working jointly with other authorities in the housing market area to update the needs assessment.  He believed that given the level of need in the district, there would be a need for this Council to identify some appropriate sites and it was upon that basis which work had progressed so far.  He reminded members of the consultation process which had been conducted earlier in the year to call for sites and unfortunately there were no sites suggested to us as part of that process.  He added however that the Council still had an obligation to try and find some sites, and consequently the Planning Policy team had been looking at other sources of sites including land owned by the Council, land in other public sector ownership, and other sites that the Council may have considered as part of planning applications either not implemented or refused in the past.  He explained that there were no sites for members to consider at this meeting as the Council was not yet in a position to release this information in the public domain as no  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.