Agenda item

Epsom & Ewell Local Plan - Issues and Options Consultation Paper

As part of the review of the Local Plan this report sets out the challenging issues and the choice that we now face in respect of how we respond positively to demand for new housing. The Committee is asked the draft Issues and Options Consultation Paper and subject to any amendments, approve for consultation during the Autumn 2017.

Decision:

The Committee considered the draft Issues and Options Consultation paper and approved it for consultation during Autumn 2017, subject to amendments agreed at the meeting.

Details of the amendments will be listed the Minutes.

Minutes:

With regard to the partial review of the local-plan, the Committee was informed that the initial stage of the process, the review of technical evidence used to inform the preparation of the Local Plan was largely complete and the outputs from the study had been used to prepare a Consultation paper.

The objective of the consultation exercise was to invite responses from local residents and local communities regarding the options that the Council could pursue in order to positively plan for growth and meet the national planning policy requirement of ‘significantly boosting the supply of housing’. To that end Members were also presented with a brief overview of the recently published (14 September 2017) government proposals for a new standard methodology for assessing housing numbers and a standard approach to development viability. Alongside these proposals the government had published their own indicative calculations for how much housing each planning authority should be planning for – their figures for Epsom & Ewell were 39% higher than the Council’s calculations. It was stressed that the government’s proposed figure was not national planning policy, but were indicative of the direction that the government wanted to take, and that the public consultation should proceed as planned with the addition of a paragraph which reflected the government announcement, as set out in the table below. It was also noted that Members would have an opportunity to consider the Council’s response at a special meeting of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee to be arranged for late October.

Having considered the Issues and Options Consultation paper it was agreed that the following additions/amendments would be made:

Agenda page	Paragraph reference
31	Paragraph 4 final sentence to read	‘…and tell us what matters most to you and which options you support.’
32	Development needs up to 2032 final box to read	Need for investment to support future growth as there is significant pressure on existing roads and facilities.
32	Challenges for our Local Plan third box down to read	43% of land is Green Belt of which 44% has additional environmental designations
33	First paragraph insert text as follows:	Our evidence shows there is demand for 418 new homes each year to be built in the Borough over the next plan period. The Government has recently published its own indicative calculation which currently estimates that 579 new homes are needed each year. However, the evidence shows that we don’t have enough currently available land to meet the demand for new homes over the next 15 years.
33	Third paragraph – insert text:	Between the 1980’s and early 2000s infilling continued but within this period the rate of house building slowed down.
34	Paragraph 7, insert percentage as follows:	‘Additionally, there are fewer than 300 *(1%)* empty homes in the borough…’.
34	Paragraph 9 last sentence to read:	‘…particularly affordable housing need, which have never been experienced before and there *may be* no other reasonable option…’.
35	Paragraph 1, first sentence to read:	‘The Local Plan no longer conforms to national planning policy’.
38	Map	Insert legend to identify the symbols

Accordingly, subject to the agreed amendments detailed above, the Committee approved the Issues and Options Consultation paper for consultation, commencing on 25 September 2017.

Postscript: A special meeting of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee has been arranged on Thursday 26 October, at 7.30pm in the Council Chamber.

Supporting documents: