Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Cedar Drive, Thrapston, NN14 4LZ

Contact: Louise Tyers - Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

9.

Apologies for non-attendance

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Valerie Anslow.

10.

Members' Declarations of Interests

Minutes:

Councillors

Item

Nature of Interest

DPI

Other Interest

Mark Dearing

Article 4 Directions in Relation to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO)

Invests in commercial and single let properties but not HMOs

 

Yes

 

11.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 29 June 2021 pdf icon PDF 304 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED to accept the minutes of the meeting held on 29 June 2021 as a correct record.

12.

Adoption of the Part 2 Local Plan for Corby pdf icon PDF 304 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Terry Begley, Principal Planner, introduced the report which asked the Panel to consider the Part 2 Local Plan for Corby prior to its consideration by the Executive and then Full Council.

 

Corby Borough Council (CBC) had submitted the local plan to the Secretary of State in 2019, with a public examination being held in 2020.  The outcome of the examination was a judgement that the plan produced by CBC was acceptable provided that certain modifications were made to it.  The Plan was now ready for formal adoption by the Council, where it would supersede all of the existing saved policies and allocations in the 1997 Corby Borough Local Plan.

 

During discussion on the report, Members sought clarification that officers were confident that this Plan did not conflict with the other sovereign council Plans which had either recently been adopted or were going through that process.  In response, officers confirmed that all of the local plans had to conform with the Joint Core Strategy (JCS) and they had all been consulted on with neighbouring authorities as part of the duty to co-operate and it was believed that there were no significant conflicts.  It was noted that the Plan made a commitment to prepare a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Plan to meet the need for the Corby area and Members asked whether this would be dealt with on a North Northamptonshire basis going forward.  The Chair confirmed that a meeting would be held later this week to consider this issue but we were in a much better place by having the JCS in place.

 

RESOLVEDto recommend to the Executive that:

 

(i)           the Part 2 Local Plan for Corby be recommended to Full Council for adoption.

 

(ii)          delegated authority be given to the Executive Member for Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Assistant Director for Growth and Regeneration, to make any further Additional Modifications to the Part 2 Local Plan for Corby or its accompanying Policies Map that relate exclusively to factual updates, grammatical corrections and formatting for the purposes of publishing the Plan to presentation standard.

 

(iii)         delegated authority be given to the Executive Member for Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Assistant Director for Growth and Regeneration, to prepare and publish the Adoption Statement and the Sustainability Appraisal Statement and fulfil any other duties required under Regulation 26 and 35 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

 

Reasons for Recommendations

1)    The NPPF states that the planning system should be genuinely plan-led.  Succinct and up-to-date plans should provide a positive vision for the future of each area and a framework for addressing housing needs and other economic, social and environmental priorities

2)  The Plan drawn up by Corby Borough Council was subject to thorough examination and has been modified as a result of recommendations made by the Inspector.  The Council also made non-substantive modifications to the Plan during the course of the examination.

3)  In the event that the Plan is adopted for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

Residential Annexes Supplementary Planning Document pdf icon PDF 249 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Anne Dicks, Planning Policy Officer, introduced the report which sought Members agreement to recommend to the Executive the Residential Annexes Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for adoption and use in assessing future planning applications, where relevant, within the former East Northamptonshire parishes.

 

The SPD had been prepared to address a specific need for guidance within those parishes which previously constituted the East Northamptonshire district and covered the definitions and types of residential annexes, when planning permission would be required and provided guidance regarding permitted development rights.  The SPD had undergone a statutory four-week consultation period, prior to the creation of the new unitary council.

 

During discussion on the report, Members acknowledged the amount of work spent on getting the SPD to this point but noted that it would only cover half of the parishes in North Northamptonshire and had any thought been given to widening it out to cover the whole authority area.  In response, officers advised that the SPD had been developed to deal with a specific issue which had been identified in East Northamptonshire and if this SPD was approved, consideration could then be given about whether to roll it out wider.  Work was ongoing by officers in learning and identifying best practice from all of the sovereign councils and it was ultimately the intention to have a suite of documents which covered the whole of North Northamptonshire.

 

RESOLVED to recommend to the Executive that the Residential Annexes Supplementary Planning Document be adopted for those Parishes set out in Appendix B of the report.

 

Reason for recommendation:

(i)            To supplement the Development Plan

(ii)           To accord with the planning policy of the Council.

14.

Article 4 Direction in Relation to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)

Minutes:

The Chair advised that there was currently a large amount of media interest, particularly in Corby, around HMOs and he invited Simon Richardson, Development Manager, to explain the issues.

 

Mr Richardson explained that the Council was aware of a number of concerns around the increasing number of HMOs and the impact that they had on local communities including parking issues and anti-social behaviour.  The introduction of an Article 4 Direction would remove certain permitted development rights on a property.  North Northamptonshire did not currently have any Article 4s for HMOs but they were in place in a number of surrounding authorities, including Northampton and Peterborough.  The Secretary of State had recently announced that Article 4s should only apply to the smallest area possible whilst supporting the Government’s wish to deliver this type of housing through national permitted development rights.  Housing colleagues were of the view that any increase in HMOs is demand led.  Existing powers were already in place to deal with anti-social behaviour and increased enforcement may help in some areas.  Any further work to look at the possible introduction of Article 4s should involve a wide number of services including housing and environmental health.

 

During discussion on the verbal update, Members supported the undertaking of further work in this area.  Members expressed concern at the Government’s proposed tightening on Article 4 Directions and the increased use of HMOs.  It would be helpful to map where HMOs are located to gain an understanding of the localities and conflicts which have arisen.  Members highlighted the growing concerns around the increased number of HMOs and the changes they brought to local High Streets.  In response to a question as to whether we would have to change course if the Government brought in any policy changes through the new NPPF, officers advised that publication of the new NPPF was imminent and it may influence any work going forward.  This would be an opportunity to better understand the areas where HMOs are and the issues they brought and would be an opportunity to respond to concerns by identifying the most appropriate way forward.  The future Housing Need survey would be a way of identifying if there was a need for this type of accommodation in the area.  Parking was an area which was suffering in and close to town centres, where there was an increase in flatted developments and HMOs, by taking up parking spaces and in some cases council car parks were being used, with the support of some planning inspectors.  Members supported taking this issue forward for investigation across North Northamptonshire and being part of this Panel’s work programme.

 

RESOLVED that officers investigate the possible use of Article 4 Directions for HMOs in North Northamptonshire with regular reports to be brought to this Panel.

15.

Close of Meeting

Minutes:

The meeting closed at 10:46am.