Agenda item

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 Corby area of North Northamptonshire, it will supersede all of the existing saved policies and allocations in the 1997 Corby Borough Local Plan.