Agenda item

The Site Allocations Policies Document identifies and allocates the land needed to: deliver our Green Infrastructure and Heritage Assets Strategies; meet our future commercial needs; secure key pieces of community infrastructure; and deliver the Kiln Lane Link.

Following public consultation, a draft version of the Site Allocations Policies Document has been prepared for the purposes of further public consultation prior to Submission to the Secretary of State for examination.

The Committee was asked to consider the Site Allocations Policies Document Pre-Submission Draft, and subject to any amendments or additions, it be approved for a six week public consultation during Winter 2015, and that following the conclusion of the consultation, the document be submitted to the Secretary of State for Examination in Public.

It was noted that the Council’s Site Allocations Policies Document identified and allocated the land needed to: deliver the Borough’s Green Infrastructure and Heritage Assets Strategies; meet the Borough’s future commercial needs; secure key pieces of community infrastructure; and deliver the Kiln Lane Link.  By facilitating the development of these sites the Council would meet many of the strategic objectives set out in the Core Strategy. The Site Allocations Policies Document was principally comprised of new policies that identified and allocated sites either in their existing uses or for comprehensive redevelopment for the uses specified above.  In addition to these site specific policies, this document also sets out the Council’s Spatial Strategies for the Green Infrastructure and Heritage Asset networks.

Work on the Site Allocations Policies Document had been underway since 2007.  During that time the Council had sought comments from local communities on site allocation options.  The most recent of these being a consultation exercise that ran for ten weeks between October 2013 until January 2014.  The consultation exercise also included a workshop session that was open to all Members.  The outputs from that consultation exercise and subsequent workshop session have informed the preparation of the Pre-Submission Draft.

Members discussed the document, when the following points were noted:-

·         Page 14 – footnote – “off-site” would replace “on-site”.

·         Page 15 – footnote – the Planning and Policy Sub-Committee was the predecessor of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee.

·         The preferred sites could come forward for consideration under Core Strategy Policy CS8. The primary purpose of such a supplementary planning document would be to underpin the Council’s housing trajectory contained within the Council’s Annual Monitoring Report, which demonstrated how the Council would deliver the current housing target.

·         Officers had prepared a Proposals Map that sets out the Council’s Green Infrastructure assets.

·         The Landscape Character Study (2015) had been prepared for the Surrey local authorities by Surrey County Council and was available on the Council’s website.

·         Green infrastructure was an important component of the local economy and by making a contribution to the Borough’s visual character and appearance it helped to attract new businesses. The Strategic Housing Assessment did take into account employment and commuting patterns.

·         The Key Diagram referred to in paragraph 2.14 would be amended to include the major highway network. It was pointed out that this additional work would result in a slight delay to the proposed consultation process.

·         The extent of the Longmead & Nonsuch Employment Areas was shown on the Proposals Map.

·         Out-of-centre retail facilities included Petrol Filling Stations that incorporated retail.

Accordingly, it was agreed that the Site Allocations Policies Document Pre-Submission Draft, subject to the amendments and comments set out above, be approved for a six week public consultation during Winter 2015, and that following conclusion of the consultation, the Document be submitted to the Secretary of State for Examination in Public.