Issue - meetings

The Committee is asked to review and agree to the publication of the Draft Infrastructure Delivery Plan and recommend to Strategy & Resources Committee that the Kiln Lane Link be removed from the Infrastructure Delivery Plan.

The Committee:

(1)            Approved the content of the Draft Infrastructure Delivery Plan and;

(2)            Did not recommend to the Strategy and Resources Committee that the Kiln Lane Link be removed from the Infrastructure Delivery Plan.

The Committee was informed that the Draft Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) provided an assessment of the additional provision and improvements in infrastructure required to support future planned-for growth across the Borough. It was emphasized that in its current format the IDP was a live document.   In that role it sought to identify rather than prioritize potential infrastructure schemes.   It provided a snapshot (as of late 2018) that would require modification as the Local Plan progressed – specifically once the Borough Council had confirmed the scale of growth that the Local Plan would delivery and the sites that needed to come forward to enable that development.

It was confirmed that the plan was based on the latest population census figure of 75,102 and the projected infrastructure requirements were founded on the estimated population increase from delivering an objectively assessed housing need of 579 homes per annum.

The IDP takes account of supporting evidence.  This includes a Borough-wide assessment of existing transport infrastructure capacity.   The study has highlighted that some highway junctions within the borough were operating at above their designed capacity.  It was noted that whilst alternative modes of transport would be investigated as part of the infrastructure plan, constrained capacity on the roads would not be a factor that could be used to influence the scale of the Borough’s future housing reqirement.

The Committee was informed that the Kiln Lane link highway improvement scheme had not been included in the plan as it was no longer considered deliverable.  This was in part due to the considerable cost of the scheme outweighing the anticipated benefits.  However it was pointed out that whilst accessible sources of funding were not currently available to progress the project, there was a possibility that alternative sources could be secured in the future.  Subsequently the Committee voted to delete recommendation 2 in the report ‘Recommendation to the Strategy and Resources Committee that the Kiln Lane Link be removed from the Infrastructure Delivery plan.

Having deliberated the plan, the Committee approved the Draft Infrastructure Delivery plan subject to the reinstatement of the Kiln Lane Link.