Issue - meetings

This report sets out notices of motions ruled in order and provides an update on the Local Plan Examination.

Following consideration, the Committee resolved that the recommendations of the motion were NOT agreed.

The votes on the recommendations were as follows:

With 4 votes for the recommendation, 5 votes against the recommendation and the Chair not voting the following recommendation was NOT agreed:

2)    Withdraw delegation of authority item P7:

‘To propose changes and corrections to the Local Plan (2022-2040) and supporting documents, including policy updates, editorial, typographical and grammatical errors, during and following the publicity period, plan submission and during examination.’

With 4 votes for the recommendations, 5 votes against the recommendations and the Chair not voting the following recommendations were NOT agreed:

1)    The LPPC will ensure that all development plan documents to be submitted to the Inspector, including but not limited to amendments to development plan documents and addendums to development plan documents, are reviewed and approved for release by the LPPC, in compliance with PaCPA para 20 and the committee’s Terms of Reference, prior to submission to the Inspector.

Further to ensure that, where such document are required to be approved by Full Council under the terms of the constitution, that this approval is also first obtained prior to submission to the Inspector.

3)    Documents COUD_020 and COUD_021 will be presented to the LPPC by the Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development as soon as possible, for its review, challenge and approval for submission to the Inspector, subject to any amendments deemed appropriate and necessary by the committee.

If, as expected, amendments result from the review, revised versions of COUD_020 and COUD_021 will be submitted to the Inspector, together with a covering letter explaining the need for the changes and setting out the proposed next steps to progress the Local Plan in a timely manner. A draft covering letter will therefore also be presented to LPPC by the Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development, at the same meeting, for review and approval.

4)    The committee will, prior to submission of the specific documents required by the Inspector in her letter of 12 February 2026:

i.  Having considered the updated content of COUD_020 and COUD_021 resulting from item 3, above, the LPPC will determine and agree which additional urban and Green Belt sites, if any, the council intends to recommend for inclusion in the Local Plan. These decisions will be made with full consideration of, and alignment with, the council’s overarching strategy and objectives for the Local Plan.

ii. Direct officers to prepare revised versions of the following documents in accordance with the decision made in i), above:

a. Housing trajectory and 5-year supply position

a. Sustainability Appraisal

a. Habitats Regulations Assessment

a. Transport Assessment

a. Infrastructure Delivery Plan

a. Any other documents required to be updated to take into account the council’s conclusions on which urban and Green Belt sites they propose to allocate within the Local Plan

iii.          Review the revised documents prepared under ii), above, and approve submission versions.

iv.          For items ii) a), b) and c), consider and recommend the  ...  view the full decision text for item 38

The Committee received a verbal update from the Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development on the current stage of the Local Plan examination.

The update included the following key points:

·                     The Local Plan had been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 10 March 2025, at which point the examination stage commenced and control of the process passed to the appointed Planning Inspector.

·                     Additional work had been undertaken at the direction of the Inspector, including:

o   Review of Green Belt topic paper methodology and assessments

o   Reassessment of specific urban sites in the land availability assessment

o   Identification of potentially suitable sites to address unmet housing need

·                     A number of supporting evidence documents had been produced, including and submitted in April 2026:

o   Sustainability Appraisal Addendum

o   Habitats Regulations Assessment Addendum

o   Transport Assessment Addendum

o   Infrastructure Delivery Plan Addendum

·                     A non-statutory public consultation on these documents commenced on 11 May 2026 and would close on 15 June 2026.

·                     A further hearing session was scheduled for 2 July 2026.

·                     The Inspector would subsequently determine whether:

o   The plan could proceed with main modifications, or

o   The plan should be withdrawn.

The Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development confirmed that no changes had been made to the submitted Local Plan itself, and that only the Inspector could introduce modifications.

The following matters were considered:

·                     Councillor Persand proposed that the motion was deferred to a meeting at a later date when a legal officer is present.

Councillor Freeman seconded the proposed motion.

The Committee voted (4 for and 6 against) on the proposed motion and the motion was lost.

a)            Legal Advice. Some Members of the Committee raised their concerns and disappointment that the motion to defer the meeting until a legal officer is present was lost. They expressed that a legal officer must be present to give advice to Members. A Member raised that they had only been informed that a legal officer would not be present at 4pm on the day of the meeting. The Chair explained that legal advice had been provided by the Monitoring Officer prior to the Committee Meeting, and it had been confirmed that the Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development had complied with the delegated authority granted to him in carrying out the work requested by the Inspector.

b)            Adjournment. The Chair adjourned the meeting, at 20.10, in order to attempt to contact the Council’s Monitoring Officer to obtain clarification on legal matters raised. The meeting was then reconvened at 20.27. Following contact with the Monitoring Officer, the Chair confirmed that where a specific request for legal advice was received in advance of the meeting, that this had already been provided to the Member prior to the meeting and reiterated that the matters raised were not relevant to the motion under consideration. A Member raised that legal advice had not been shared with all Committee Members prior to the Committee Meeting, and it could not be reasonably expected for other Members to understand  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38