Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everybody to the meeting.

Councillor Steven North, former Chair of the Panel, wished to put on record his thanks to all councillors and officers who had supported him during his time as Chair of the Panel.

In response, the Chair thanked Councillor North for all of his work as Chair.

An apology for non-attendance was received from Councillor Valerie Anslow.  Councillor Anne Lee attended as substitute.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED to accept the minutes of the meeting held on 19 August 2021 as a correct record.

Simon James, Policy Manager, introduced the report which sought feedback on the proposed planning policy draft response to the ‘Creating a Vision for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc’ consultation.  This was the first of three planned consultations on the Arc Spatial Framework (ASF).

The Oxford-Cambridge Arc had been identified by the Government as a key economic priority.  The Government were now seeking views on what the vision for the future growth of the Arc should be to 2050, to be delivered through the ASF.  The ASF would form national planning policy and transport policy for the Arc area, and local planning and local transport authorities would have to have regard to it when preparing local transport and local development plans and policies.  It would be a material consideration in relevant planning decisions in the area.

During discussion on the report, Members congratulated officers on the draft response.  Specific comments on the draft response included:

General comments

·      Concern at the proposed weighting of the ASF as it was not a Bill that would have to go through Parliament to confirm it. 

The ASF would be national planning policy and so would be a material planning consideration.  The issue of testing had been flagged up by the proposed Arc Leaders Group response and they were also looking for details of transitional arrangements, particularly for Development Management.

·      Welcomed that the ASF would be a national planning policy as there had been some scepticism that the introduction of the ASF would just be another layer of planning being introduced.

·      The latest information was that Buckinghamshire was now not part of the Arc and what would the impact be on North Northamptonshire. 

It was believed that Buckinghamshire had taken the view not to take part in the governance structures or development of the Arc.  It was a political decision to step away but as far as the Government were concerned Buckinghamshire was still a part of the Arc.

·      Did the response need to say anything about funding as significant government funding would be needed.  An undertaking from the government was needed to ensure that infrastructure was delivered before housing.

Section 1 – Introduction

·      Response was welcomed.  The delivery of significant levels of housing would not happen without the necessary infrastructure put in place.

·      There were concerns that Local Housing Need for North Northamptonshire would be taking into account the wider Arc requirements. 

Local Housing Need needed to take into account areas of high economic growth and investment and Members’ concerns about picking up housing from other areas would be added to the response.

·      Housing was cheaper in North Northamptonshire than in other areas such as Cambridge, Oxford and Peterborough but if incomes are lower  there was a danger that developers may not want to build in our area, leading to a shortage of numbers and a risk of developments that we did not wish to see.

·      The vision appeared to be vague and interferes with localism.  There was a need for us to have our say and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

The Executive Forward Plan for September to December 2021 was noted.

The meeting closed at 11:30am.