Agenda and minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2018, previously circulated.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2018 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Business Manager Strategic Place and Principal Delivery Officer presented a report which detailed proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which were published on the 5 March.  The Principal Delivery Officer invited Members to comment on a draft which would inform the Council’s emerging response.  There was only a limited timeframe to respond and it was likely that the Council’s final response would be subject to significant change.  A further draft would be presented to Executive on 1 May setting out the update and revised response to meet the consultation deadline of 10 May 2018.

The current framework was introduced in 2012, as part of a bid to reform the planning system.  The Principal Delivery Officer outlined the main implications and stated that the proposed NPPF changes had a focus on boosting housing supply and the main implication of the changes would be around the delivery of new homes. 

The report outlined the key points which included:-

• Calculation of Housing Need
• Housing Delivery Test
• Five Year Housing Land Supply
• Explicit support for Joint Strategic Plans
• Introduction of more detailed Viability Guidance
• Development allocations of varying sizes and custom build implications
• Redefining Affordable Housing
• Providing high quality broadband 

The Principal Delivery Officer responded to Members’ enquiries and comments on the document: - 

·         Clarification was given over the impact of the housing delivery test.  Initial indications were that this would not have a significant bearing in Teignbridge in the early years, but this could change depending on the ongoing pace of development.

·         The proposed changes to the definition of deliverability would mean that evidence would be needed to include sites with outline planning permission as part of the Council’s five year housing land supply.  There should be a robust response to this.

·         Guidance on assessing development viability would be published alongside the NPPF.  It provided clearer guidance on land value expectations but it was commented that this could be strengthened and a more accurate approach to accounting for build cost should be firmly sought.

·         Again on viability, review mechanisms that capture increases in the value of a large of multi phased development should be strengthened, especially in an appreciating market.  It was recognised that this was a national issue rather than a Local Plan issue and one that presented challenges across the country.

·         Question 10 – There was a request to strengthen the need for planning conditions associated with matters like early infrastructure delivery to be in place before development commences.

·         Sustainable transport should be acknowledged amidst concern that some roads in the District were congested and no longer fit for purpose, but also the availability of other forms of transport including green modes of travel, with high quality cycling and local rail to be recognised.

·         A minor rewording to the responses in Question 23 and Question 24 was suggested. 

·         Question 28 – Members discussed the adequacy and dominance of parking arrangements on residential developments. (size of garaging provided) 

·         Question 30/31 - Members confirmed that greenbelt policies were not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 394.

The Business Manager Strategic Place and the Principal Policy Officer presented a report and sought the views of Members on the proposed consultation to review the Local Plan. The Teignbridge Local Plan was adopted on 6 May 2014 and the five years period was up in May 2019.  The Local Plan Review Issues report and supporting documents included the Teignbridge Draft Settlement Boundary Review, draft Statement of Community Involvement and Settlement Hierarchy Review Paper) and established the first stage of the preparation for the Local Plan to address current and emerging legislation and policy changes including the requirement for an up to date Plan.  The findings as a result of the consultation would inform the next stage of Local Plan preparations.

During discussion particular reference was made to :-

·      the length of time to review the Plan, which included a number of stages and also required an alignment with the policies of the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan.

·      data for mobile and broadband coverage reference in the Hierarchy Review Paper were obtained from Ofcom.

·      no sites had been identified for any new settlement.

·      the figure quoted in the numbers of people per household were from a national source.

A Member commented on the need to ensure that the Plan reflected the needs and desires of the community and he was concerned that members of the public might question why the Local Plan Review was taking place. It should be noted that this was a requirement by Government.

A Member made a plea to ensure that as many opportunities would be offered to Members to attend a consultation event.  The Principal Policy Officer said that consultation would be undertaken with Council Members, Parish and Town Councils, Neighbourhood Planning Groups, stakeholders and officers during the eight week consultation period.  The consultation would be expanded to include evening and Saturday workshops. In addition, he made an offer of one to one meetings with individual Members as well as within their political groups.  Members would have other opportunities to comment on the consultation which was scheduled for eight weeks between 21 May and 16 July 2018.

Resolved - Members considered the draft consultation documents circulated and the amendments made would be included, with a request for the document’s approval for consultation by Executive Committee on 1 May.

The Economy Manager presented a draft of the Teignbridge Economic Development Plan 2018 – 2023.  Following the introduction of the Council’s ten year strategy it was necessary to develop a new Economic Development Plan which was aligned to the ‘Going to Town’ and ‘Investing in Prosperity’ projects in the Strategy.  A copy of the updated Plan was circulated with the report and set out a vision for the local economy derived directly from the Council Strategy. It also included an Action Plan for the period with an approach of ‘5 years, 5 Ventures’ which included the following topic areas:-

·         Supporting and Networking

·         Driving Productivity

·         Building Partnerships

·         Catalysing Growths

·         Cooperative Services

An Engagement Strategy had been drawn up to establish which groups and individuals to target and seek feedback and this would include the Chamber of Commerce, business networking groups, Town and Parish Councils and neighbouring local authorities.

A Member thanked officers for the work, but wanted to ensure that schools and colleges were able to promote a more commercially strategic platform to create a skilled workforce with home grown skills. The Economy Manager thanked Members of the Economic Development Review Group and agreed it was important to identify and expand on the existing initiatives to make sure that the Council was able to influence and support business in the area.  A Member referred to the planned work and asked if support for the Dawlish and Teignmouth town centre manager should be included in the Plan. The same Member also asked for all town centres to be included in the regeneration work as part of the catalysing growth work.

A further report would be made to the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in September and would continue to be developed with the Economic Development Review Group.

Resolved - Members reviewed the draft Economic Development Plan 2018 – 2023 and recommended that it be presented to the Executive Committee and taken forward for public consultation.

The Chairman introduced the report which provided a progress report of the work of the cross party Car Park Review Group, which included an update of the work plan and a revision of its Terms of Reference.  The Car Park Review Group was formed to undertake a strategic review of the Council’s off-street parking policies to ensure that Teignbridge District Council’s parking policy and operations remained current and reflected the local need.  The opportunity for a more transparent approach and greater scrutiny was welcomed but a number of Members appreciated that whilst the working group was very valuable, they requested that the Portfolio Holder for Car Parking should not be the Chair of this topic group, as there might be a conflict of interest. The Chair thanked Members, but stated that there had been nothing in the constitution to preclude the Portfolio Holder’s involvement.  The Portfolio Holder for Car Parking thanked his colleagues for the efforts made by the Working Group and he hoped that it would continue to adopt a non-partisan approach. He also wished to place on record his thanks to Council staff who had recently dealt with a degree of damage and cleared a vast amount of rubbish from one of the District’s car parks following an illegal traveller encampment on the site.

The Chair called for Members to vote on the inclusion of the Portfolio Car Parking remaining as Chair of the Car Park Review Group. Members voted and the motion was carried for the Chair to be elected from amongst the existing political makeup of the Review Group.  Members of the Group included Councillors Jones, Nutley, Gribble, Jeffrey, Maye and Haines.

Resolved - The Committee noted the report and it was agreed that the Chairman of the Car Parking Review Group would be identified from within the membership of that Group.

Resolved - The Committee noted the Executive Forward Plan.

To identify any areas of work for future meetings of the Committee.

The Chairman advised that he would liaise with officers to ensure there were items for future meetings, the work programme for the remainder of the year was noted.