Agenda item

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has published a consultation titled ‘Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill: Consultation on Implementation of Plan-Making Reforms’. The consultation was published on 25 July 2023 and comments are invited by the end of 18 October 2023.

The consultation seeks views on the governments proposals to implement the parts of the emerging Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill that relate to plan making.

The consultation document is split into 15 Chapters and contains 43 questions.

It is important to note that there will be a transition phase and the consultation document makes it clear that the government’s intention is that all Local Plans submitted for examination on or before 30 June 2025 will be examined under the current system rather than the proposed new system that is the subject of the consultation document.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Approve the principle of the draft response to the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill: Consultation on Implementation of Plan-Making Reforms.

(2)      To note, if changes are recommended by this committee due to insufficient time to bring it back to committee it will be dealt with under the urgency provision in the constitution set out at Paragraph 3.1 of appendix 2 and the decision to approve the final draft response will be taken by the relevant director in consultation with the Chair of this Committee.

The Committee received a report detailing EEBC’s draft response to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) published a consultation titled ‘Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill: Consultation on Implementation of Plan-Making Reforms’. The consultation was published on 25 July 2023 and comments are invited by the end of 18 October 2023. The consultation is seeking views on the government’s proposals to implement the parts of the emerging Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill that relate to plan making. The consultation document is split into 15 Chapters and contains 43 questions.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Draft Response. A Member of the Committee commended Officers for their composure and restraint evidenced in the draft response document.

b)            Exceptional Circumstances. A Member of the Committee asked what the exceptional circumstance are, as referenced in paragraph 2.37. The Planning Policy Manager responded to inform the Committee that the exceptional circumstances are still to be defined and there is no detail currently about what they may be at this stage, however, they may feature in future iterations of the NPPF. The Planning Policy Manager confirmed that officers will be seeking clarity on what those exceptional circumstances may be, we are waiting on more detail to come out.

c)            Planning Inspector. A Member of the Committee commented that the Gateway assessments should be conducted by the same Planning Inspector wherever possible and queried whether that request could be included in our Draft Response. ThePlanning Policy Manager responded to confirm to the Committee that already included in the response is a sentence putting forward that it should be a Planning Inspector who undertakes the checks throughout and it is possible to add an additional line making the point that we would like to have the continuation throughout where possible. 

d)            Amendment to Draft Response Document – Appendix 1. Councillor Woodbridge proposed an amendment to the Draft Response Document as follows:

a.    “Question 19: Do you agree with these proposals around the frequency and timing of gateways and who is responsible?

Yes, we are supportive of the introduction of the three gateways, the first two of which are advisory, however we have some reservations about these requirements being introduced through regulations which could result in plan development becoming too process driven. In addition, we consider that it would be beneficial if all three gateways could be undertaken or overseen by a planning inspector(s) to ensure continuity through the process as far as reasonably possible. Ideally, all assessments and checks would be undertaken by the same planning inspector throughout.

b.    This amendment was agreed (5 for, 2 Abstaining) by the Committee.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Approve the principle of the draft response to the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill: Consultation on Implementation of Plan-Making Reforms.

(2)      To note, if changes are recommended by this committee due to insufficient time to bring it back to committee it will be dealt with under the urgency provision in the constitution set out at Paragraph 3.1 of appendix 2 and the decision to approve the final draft response will be taken by the relevant director in consultation with the Chair of this Committee.