Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for non-attendance were received from Councillors Jennie Bone and Mark Dearing.

The Chair invited those who wished to do so to declare any interests in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2024 were approved and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

To note the contents of the report and to continue to engage in the preparation of the Local Plan through the series of upcoming internal workshops.

The Planning Policy Manager presented the report which provided Members with an update on the progress of the North Northamptonshire Local Plan review and to inform Members of the current issues impacting on its development and the timescales for this.

A project plan setting out the major timescales for progressing the North Northamptonshire Local Plan had previously been reported to the EAP in July 2023.  Consultation on a draft Local Plan had been anticipated to take place in June 2024, however there had been ongoing issues that had contributed to the delay, particularly internal resources, alongside delays to Government reforms to plan making.

Over the last year, progress had been made in respect of the Local Plan in the following areas:

•   Commissioning of evidence base studies to support the Plan;

•   Ongoing stakeholder meetings to inform plan policies;

•   Ongoing Duty to Cooperate meetings with adjoining authorities;

•   Internal workshops to inform Plan strategy and content;

•   Technical work to inform Background Papers and Plan policies;

•   Initial site assessment work and developer engagement meetings;

•   Initial drafting of parts of the Plan and identification of policy issues to be included.

Implications for plan making after 30 June 2025 would need to be clarified by any guidance issued by the Government, and if published in the Autumn, would need to be factored into the Council’s approach to future plan making in advance of revising the Local Development Scheme (LDS).  Officers would continue to progress the preparation of the Local Plan review and would provide further updates to the EAP as appropriate.  It was anticipated that a revision to the LDS would be brought to the 13 November 2024 meeting of the EAP.

During discussion, the following key points were noted:

i.     The Chair thanked the Planning Policy Team for bringing forward a comprehensive suite of documents to aid in the development of the Local Plan.  The EAP asked for it to be placed on record their thanks and acknowledgement of all of the hard work of the Planning Policy team.

ii.    With reference to the Water Cycle Study/revised Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, the Chair advised that he was the Council’s representative on the Anglian Northern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, and he would ask the view of that body at their next meeting.

iii.   The previous Government had set out a date of 30 June 2025 as the end of the transition period for the current plan making system.  Officers advised that if that date remained there would be implications on planning authorities, including a likely backlog with the Planning Inspectorate for the inspection of plans.  The Council was in a good position as there were adopted local plans throughout the whole North Northamptonshire area.

iv.   The implications in developing the Local Plan were acknowledged by Members and announcements from the new Government were awaited.  Once new Government policy had been released, we would need to examine that and how we reacted to it.  A lot would depend  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

RESOLVED:

To note the Executive Forward Plan for July to October 2024.

The EAP noted the Executive Forward Plan for July to October 2024.

The Chair thanked members and officers for their attendance and closed the meeting.

The meeting closed at 12noon.