Agenda and decisions

To take any questions or statements from members of the Public.

Members are asked to declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in respect of any item of business to be considered at the meeting.

The Committee is asked to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 26 September 2023 (attached) and to authorise the Chair to sign them.

The Committee confirmed as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 26 September 2023 and authorised the Chair to sign them, subject to the following amendment italicised below;

“Minute 42,

q)       Upcoming Work on the Local Plan. A Member of the Committee asked if it would be possible to get a list of criteria and priorities of the coming work on the Local Plan over the next few months. The Planning Policy Manager responded to say that they would question what those would be without unpausing the Local Plan first. A Member of the Committee commented that once the Local Plan was unpaused it should come back to the Committee where an outline strategy for the development of the Local plan in the coming months should be agreed and set.”

The purpose of this report is to seek approval to publish the Draft Epsom Town Centre Masterplan for public consultation for a period of four weeks commencing on the 24 November 2023.

The then emerging Epsom Town Centre Masterplan informed draft allocations SA1 – SA4 detailed in the Draft Epsom and Ewell Local Plan (2022-2040) that was consulted on between 1 February and 19 March 2023.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Approve the publication of the Draft Epsom Town Centre Masterplan for public consultation for a period of four weeks to commence on the Friday 24 November 2023 at noon and conclude on Friday 22 December at midnight.  

The Local Development Scheme (LDS) is a project plan that sets out the timetable to produce new or revised Development Plan Documents which will form the Council’s Local Development Plan. 

This LDS supersedes the version approved by the Committee on 21 November 2022 and sets out a planning work programme for the Council over a three-year period to 2026. The revised timetable will delay consultation on the Proposed Submission Local Plan (Regulation 19) Consultation by approximately eleven months. This is a direct result of the pause on the Local Plan that applied between 22 March and 24 October 2023.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Consider and approve the revised Local Development Scheme (November 2023) at Appendix 1.

The report provides an updated financial position regarding progressing the Epsom and Ewell Local Plan (2022-2040) towards submission and subsequent adoption in accordance with the timescales defined in the Local Development Scheme (November 2023) that is being considered by this committee.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Note the financial update position with regards to the Local Plan and Planning Policy staff funding.

(2)      Report the estimated shortfall in funding for completing the Local Plan to the Strategy and Resources Committee with a request to secure funding for the £629,000 shortfall.

The report sets out the estimated level of income from planning-related fees that the Council can expect to receive and the required level of resource to maintain an effective help inform 2024/25 budget setting and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2024-28.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Note the current and predicted adverse variance in planning-related fees and the measures taken to address this, and the limited opportunities for mitigation for income that is market led.

(2)      Agree that the estimated budgeted income for planning related fees, which takes into account estimates from officers relating to market conditions, planning fees and the future pipeline of likely planning applications, provides a reasonable framework for budget setting.

(3)      Note the requirement for an additional planning officer post to enable the introduction of new income generating services.

To inform the Committee of procurement waivers within their budgetary responsibility.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Note the waivers highlighted within this report.

To report to the Committee the decisions taken by the Chief Executive and Directors on the grounds of urgency, in compliance with Appendix 2 to the Constitution – The Scheme of Delegation paragraph 3.1.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Note the urgent decisions taken and the reasons for those decisions.