Agenda item

In accordance with Appendix 5 - 3.4 of the Constitution a member has requested that an item be placed on the agenda for the next scheduled Licensing & Planning Policy Committee on March 10^th  “To update the committee on all submissions and modifications made to the Inspector for the Local Plan, following examination hearings last year.”

This report responds to the above item request and reflects the position as of 23 February 2026.

Following consideration, the Committee resolved (7 for, 2 abstaining, and the Chair not voting) to:

(1)      Note the contents of this report.

In accordance with Appendix 5 - 3.4 of the Constitution a member requested that an item be placed on the agenda for the next scheduled Licensing & Planning Policy Committee on March 10^th  “To update the committee on all submissions and modifications made to the Inspector for the Local Plan, following examination hearings last year.”

The Committee received a report responding to the above item request and reflecting the position as of 23 February 2026.

Councillor Persand gave a verbal statement to the Committee.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Refusal of Plan.  In response to a Member question it was reported that if the plan was not adopted by full Council, then the current local plan that was nearing 20 years old would continue to be the development plan for the borough. It was not known what the process would be following that as the council would not have the time to restart the whole new local plan process again before the unitary comes into force.

b)            Councillor Coley statement.  Councillor Coley gave a verbal statement and spoke of advice from the monitoring officer regarding motions from the committee on this agenda item. That advice relied on custom and practise reflected in the December 2000 model constitution commissioned by the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions. He suggested it was absurd that members were asked to rely on legal advice from a constitution which this Council chose to abandon in 2023.

c)            Future Consultations. A Member asked if there would be an opportunity to remove sites from the land supply during the next consultation.  The Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development explained that there would be two consultations.  The first would be specifically on the extra work that the inspectors recently asked us to undertake, one of which is for the council to suggest potential additional allocations for inclusion in the plan.  The second consultation will be after an examination hearing, if the inspector considers that the plan can be found to be sound with main modifications. The Inspectors draft main modifications will be subject to consultation. He was unable to confirm dates for these, and it would depend on these timings whether the Committee would be involved again.

d)            Priest Hill. In response to a Member statement that some public wanted Priest Hill removed from the local plan the Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development explained that the plan remained as it was when submitted to the inspector. No changes had yet been made. Priest Hill was not a site within the proposed submission local plan.

e)            Greenbelt Suitability. In response to Member questions the Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development gave a detailed explanation of the Calverton Assessment method to judge whether a site was suitable to be included in the green belt.  He explained what the Calverton method looked at but more importantly what Calverton didn’t take into consideration and the work currently being undertaken by the council on those areas.

f)             Plan Documents. The Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development clarified the various documents involved in the plan process.  There were 13 core submission documents that were required by legislation and included the plan itself and the policies map. There were also 7 examination documents that included evidence-based topic papers which had been submitted to the inspector.

g)            Delegation and responsibilities. In response to a Member query it was confirmed that delegation came from Licensing Planning Policy Committee report of 20th November 2024, which was also part of the submission library under other documents (document OTO5). Then updated by urgent decision.  The Member pointed out that the Chair had all the political responsibility and accountability for whatever was in the documents submitted and the Member wanted to share in that accountability along with the whole committee.

h)            Proposed Amendments. A Member proposed two amendments.  The first was to change delegation P7 from ‘to proposed changes’ to ‘to proposed to licensing and planning policy committee changes’.  The Chair stated he had taken advice from the Monitoring Officer and had ruled that no amendment would be made and therefore the report recommendations were as provided.  The Member followed up with a further proposal to request the Chair convene a special meeting of Licensing and Planning Policy Committee as soon as constitutionally possible to reassess and determine the future of the local plan, including delegated powers. The Chair refused as vote on this as he wished to seek legal advice from the Monitoring Officer.

i)             Thanks. A couple of Members expressed their thanks to Councillor Coley for bringing this item tonight and found it a useful conversation.  Thanks were expressed for the hard work, determination, integrity and professionalism of officers over the last three years which had been difficult.

Following consideration, the Committee resolved (7 for, 2 abstaining and the Chair not voting) to:

(1)      Note the contents of this report.