Agenda item

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 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.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Timeline. A Member of the Committee queried the process between the completion of the plan consultation (Reg 19) and submission to the secretary of state and asked if two months is a long enough in between these two stages. The Interim Director of Environment, Housing and Regeneration responded to inform the Committeethat the Regulation 19 Local Plan is the proposed submission document, meaning that before the Council go out for consultation on the Regulation 19 Local Plan, it must come to the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee and then Full Council to seek approval at that stage to go out for consultation and subsequently submit. The Interim Director of Environment, Housing and Regeneration continued to explain that no substantial changes can be made to the Regulation 19 Local Plan once it has been agreed to go out to consultation, and following the consultation period, everything that went out for consultation on, and all the subsequent responses will be given to an Independent Planning Inspector for the examination. The Interim Director of Environment, Housing and Regeneration informed the Committee that major changes to the Local Plan can only be made following the Reg 19 Consultation if another Reg 19 consultation is carried out. The Member responded to raise that this order of events must mean that the resident responses received during the Reg 19 consultation, do not have a chance to impact the Local Plan submitted to the Secretary of State. The Interim Director of Environment, Housing and Regeneration explained to the Committee that the Reg 19 Consultation is hugely important, as the Independent Planning Inspector will be looking at and assessing all of the responses that come in, and judging whether that should mean any changes are needed to the Local Plan in terms of soundness and legal conformity.

b)            Submission by June 2025. A Member of the Committee raised the seriousness of the situation and the importance of submitting the Local Plan by June 2025. The Chair responded to state that if there is a delay or slip in submitting the Local Plan by June 2025, then the Council must re-evaluate how to proceed, due to the significant investment by the Council currently at stake. The Chair agreed that the seriousness of the situation cannot be communicated enough and raised hopes that Members are fully aware of the importance of sticking to the proposed timeline towards submission.

c)            Surrey County Council Transport Modelling. A Member of the Committee asked when the new time slot for the SCC Transport Modelling would be. The Planning Policy Manager informed the Committee that the Council must provide the spatial strategy and sites to SCC by mid-January 2024. The Chair informed the Committee that if an agreement on the site selection and spatial strategy could not be reached before the deadline and feed into the Transport work, then the Council will need to look at and amend the Local Plan timeline again.

d)            Member Briefing on Housing. A Member of the Committeecommented that a Member Briefing on Housing had be held on the 20^th of November and asked whether feedback had been received and what the feedback included. The Chair responded to inform the Committee that the feedback that has been received was very positive. The Chair highlighted at the Member Briefing that from a housing point of view, the housing officers need to continue to talk to and work with the planning policy development team and confirmed that additional briefings on affordable housing are forthcoming and will feed into further discussions on Housing, in order to allow the necessary work to be carried out to try and resolve the Borough’s housing situation.

e)            Dates for meetings. A Member of the Committee asked for the deadline’s dates for the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee and Full Council Meetings, required to take place prior to the commencement of Regulation 19 Consultation, to be communicated to Members and included in the timetable. The Member continued to set out that this would be useful information for Members and the Public to have, and it helps to illustrate that key milestones are closer than currently believed to be. The Chair confirmed that they would work with Officers to ensure that these details are shared and highlighted that the necessary meetings are being lined up to take place and this will be communicated to all Members and made aware to residents.  

f)             11-month Delay. Councillor Lawrence asked the Chair toexplain why there is an 11-month Delay on the Local Plan despite only a 7-month pause. The Chair responded to inform the Committee that an explanation of the 11-month delay can be found in paragraphs 2.7 and 2.8 of the report. The Chair continued to explain that one of the main items around the work that the Council will be doing with SCC, is hugely dependent on the site allocations and spatial strategy being confirmed, and these areas were paused by the Council in March 2023. The Chair informed the Committee that no work on the site allocations, spatial strategy or policy development was able to happen whilst the Local Plan was paused between March and October 2023. The Chair continued to comment that due to the those areas not being work on during the pause, and them now needed agreement from all Members, this has caused a further delay than the original 7-month pause, in order to fit briefing sessions and workshops to gain agreement and collaboration from all Members to finalise the site selection and spatial strategy before handing over to SCC to do the transport assessment.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

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