Agenda item

(Due to the size of the document Appendix A is attached as a separate document)

Julia Baish, Development Team Leader, introduced the report which asked the Panel to consider the Kettering Site Specific Part 2 Local Plan prior to its consideration by the Executive and then Full Council.

Kettering Borough Council (KBC) had submitted the local plan to the Secretary of State in May 2020, with a public examination being held in October 2020.  Further consultation had been undertaken between March and April 2021 on the modifications proposed by KBC and accepted by the Inspector.  The outcome of the examination was that with the recommended main modifications the Plan was sound.  The Plan was now ready for formal adoption by the Council, where it would supersede the 1995 Kettering Borough Local Plan.

During discussion on the report, members congratulated everyone who had been involved in getting the Plan to this point.  It was disappointing for all members that a number of the local green spaces had been removed by the Inspector, but it was hoped that this could be looked at in a wider context during the review of the JCS.  There were some lessons to be learnt around green spaces as the Inspector was concerned that the spaces included in the Plan had either not been put forward by local communities or there were no reasons included as to why the space was important to them.  Asked for clarification about any substantial policy changes made by the Inspector, officers advised that a small number of policies had been deleted including retirement/care homes, which was already sufficiently covered in the JCS,  and town centre boundaries, which were covered in other policies.  The McAlpine’s Yard housing allocation had also been deleted due to unresolved flood risk issues; however this did not have a significant impact on the Council’s housing numbers which still met the JCS requirements and it was likely a planning application for the site would come through in the future.  With relation to Gypsy and Travellers Sites, it was acknowledged that this was an issue for all North Northamptonshire and progress was being made on developing a separate allocations document on a North Northamptonshire basis.

RESOLVED to recommend to the Executive that:

(i)           the Kettering Site Specific Part 2 Local Plan 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 Kettering Site Specific Part 2 Local Plan 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 Kettering 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 Kettering area of North Northamptonshire, it will supersede all of the existing saved policies and allocations in the 1995 Local Plan for Kettering Borough.