Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor D Bigby.

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

There were no interests declared.

To receive questions from members of the public under rule no.10 of the Council Procedure Rules.

There were no questions.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2020.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2020.

It was moved by Councillor D Harrison, seconded by Councillor J Legrys and

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2020 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman advised Members that Councillor J Legrys had submitted the following question:-

‘Changes to the Use Classes Order 

 HMG published the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020. These came in to force on 1 September 2020.  

Use classes A, B and D no longer exist. A new class E (commercial, business and service) has been created. This subsumes A1 (shops), A2 (financial and professional services), A3 (restaurants and cafes) and B1 (business). Other parts of Class B –(B2) Industrial processes other than those falling with use Class B1, and (B8) Storage and Distribution – remain unchanged.  

• I ask if the current Local Plan remains in force until the Partial Review Inspector makes any changes? 
• If the Amendment Order of 1^st September 2020 demands class changes from that date; What transitional arrangements to the current Local Plan are being made?  
• How will the Planning Class changes affect planning decisions made by Committee/Officers but not yet been given formal Planning Approval/Notice?’

The Chairman thanked Councillor J Legrys for submitting the question and invited officers to respond.

The Planning Policy Team Manager advised that the Local Plan was unchanged, but the changes to the Use Classes Order would override anything in the Local Plan, as they were national regulations. The Local Plan review would need to address any changes arising from the revised Use classes Order and indeed the Inspector at the Partial Review Examination had asked a question about this, but at this time, there was only a limited need for any changes. 

The Head of Planning and Infrastructure advised that there were no applications reported to Planning Committee waiting for a decision where a condition on restricting changes of use under the Use Classes Order was recommended. If there were any delegated decisions or S106 agreements affected, officers would assess any decision before issue to make sure there were no previously unforeseen impacts in terms of permitted development changes of use, new under Class E.

He also advised that the updated When is planning permission required?guidance included several new paragraphs, including the new paragraph 021b which was titled: Do the changes made to the Use Classes Order in September 2020 cut across the requirements of pre-existing planning conditions or pre-existing planning obligations?

He noted that the guidance said that the "recent regulations do not override any existing planning conditions or planning obligation which specifically prohibits a new use. However, in considering an application for the discharge, modification or removal of conditions limiting changes of use within any of the expanded classes of use, the local planning authority should have regard to the new regulations and the advice in this guidance.

Councillor J Legrys  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Report of the Head of Planning and Infrastructure

Before presenting the report the Planning Policy Team Manager provided members with an update on the Local Plan Partial Review Examination that been held the previous week.

The Planning Policy Team Manager presented the report to the committee. He presented each of the four main proposals set out in the consultation document one by one taking questions after each one.

Proposal 1: Changes to the Standard Method for Assessing Local Housing Need

Councillor M B Wyatt noted that any increase in housing would be bad for North West Leicestershire and that the public did not want any more development. He stated that the authority needed to take those comments on board and tell National Government that the district had had enough and to stop destroying the countryside and green wedges.

Councillor J Legrys thanked officers for an excellent, honest and straightforward report. He was concerned at the increase in house numbers and asked what methodology MHCLG had used to come up with the figures for NWL. He noted that it had been proven that the country needed an additional 4.8m homes over the next 30 years and an increase in the number of homes being suggested for the district. He sought clarification if it was a political decision to increase the figures or if there had been a genuine well-researched academic explanation as to why the additional homes were needed.

The Planning Policy Team Manager referred to paragraph 2.8 of the report that set out the methodology that was used and when working through the calculations the requirement was 1,153 homes within the district.

Councillor N Smith stated that residents he had spoken to were fed up of expanding villages and settlements through development that would lead to the joining up of separate areas within the district. He felt it would be better to set out a completely new settlement in the northern parishes, where employment was, and condition that sufficient low cost housing was included to support those on low incomes.

The Planning Policy Team Manager advised that the creation of a new settlement was a serious option that was on the table and would be explored. He clarified that the table on page 13 of the report set out what the figures might mean for the district but not what it would mean, this would be addressed through the Local Plan review.

Councillor R Boam felt that more houses should be built, as there was a requirement for them, adding that it had to be the right houses in the right places.

Councillor T Saffell noted that he had suggested and identified a location and developers to build a new settlement over a year ago and felt that it needed to be investigated as soon as possible.

Councillor J Geary noted that residents did not want any further development, however in the real world, it was not the case and the authority needed to start controlling what was required. He felt that many developments appeared to be ad  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Councillor M B Wyatt left the meeting at 6.48pm.

Councillor T Saffell left the meeting at 6.53pm.