Agenda and minutes

Apologies for non-attendance were received from Councillors Robin Carter and Mark Dearing.

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

The following declaration of interest was made:

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2023 were approved and signed as a correct record.

The Planning Policy Manager presented the report which sought the Panel’s agreement of the East Northamptonshire Local Plan Part 2 prior to its consideration by the Executive and Full Council.  The report included the Inspector’s report into the examination and the Main Modifications required to make the Plan sound for consideration.

During discussion, the following key points were noted:

i.              Members acknowledged all of the hard work by officers which had taken place, over a long period of time, to get the Plan to this stage.

ii.            There was disappointment that the Rushden East Masterplan had been removed from the Plan, as that would have been much stronger than a Supplementary Planning Document. The previous East Northamptonshire Council had been trying to avoid logistics development on the site.

iii.           It was accepted that the settlement boundaries were too tight within the Rural North, Oundle and Thrapston Plan (RNOTP) and the development of Neighbourhood Plans should protect those areas.  The removal of settlement boundaries now provided more flexibility to meet future requirements and demands on villages.

iv.           The proposed Strategic Plan would incorporate the Part 2 Plans but as there were some differences in the four areas, it was important to ensure that that work was protected.  Officers confirmed that it was proposed to develop a single Local Plan and seek to save elements of the Part 2 Plans.

v.         It was noted that housing was not being delivered in the growth towns.  It may be helpful to separate delivery between growth towns and rural areas in reporting.  This would help to see where we were not delivering and where there was over delivery.  In response, officers advised that this was already a part of annual monitoring.  The SUEs were already in the system but were not yet delivering and lessons were being learnt from this.

RESOLVED:

(i)           To support the content of the East Northamptonshire Local Plan Part 2 for consideration by the Executive in advance of its progression to adoption by Full Council.

(ii)           To delegate authority to the Executive Member for Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Assistant Director for Growth and Regeneration, to make any minor alterations to the Plan, or its accompanying Policies Map, that relate to factual updates or typographical errors for the purposes of publishing the Plan to presentation standard.

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

The EAP considered the Executive Forward Plan for October 2023 to January 2024.

A question was asked about the proposed decision on the Kettering Library Roof Replacement being moved to December.  Officers undertook to find out what was happening with the decision and feedback to members.

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

The meeting closed at 3.10pm.