To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 25 September 2014 (Minute Nos. 252 - 255) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 25 September 2014 (Minute Nos. 252 – 255) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for  themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Director of Corporate Services as Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

Councillor Mike Henderson, whilst not a member of the Panel, declared an interest in Faversham Area Creek as he was a local resident.

This report introduces the publication version of the Swale Borough Local Plan.  The Plan has now been updated in accordance with the most up-to-date research, Members’ preferred response to earlier consultation findings; and current national planning policy.  If approved, the plan will be published and a final round of consultation.  It will be submitted with any consultation responses and all supporting evidence to the Planning Inspectorate early in 2015.

Appendix III and IV to follow.

Appendix V – uploaded 20.10.14

The Spatial Planning Manager introduced the report and drew attention to Appendix I, (Bearing Fruits 2031: The Swale Borough Local Plan Part 1: Publication Version December 2014), which if agreed would be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

The Spatial Planning Manager apologised that it had not been possible to publish Appendices III (Swale Borough Local Plan Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environmental Assessment) and IV (Swale Borough Local Plan Habitats Regulation Assessment) with the agenda due to delays by the consultants in providing them.  The Spatial Planning Manager advised that hard copies of Appendix V (Draft responses to representations made on Bearing Fruits 2031: The consultation draft Swale Borough Local Plan Part 1(August 2013)) were available to view in the Members’ Room and also online with the published agenda on Swale Borough Council’s (SBC) website.

The Spatial Planning Manager further reported that a Community Impact Assessment was also available to view in the Members' Room, Swale House.  She advised that the assessment had established that there were no issues to report.

The Spatial Planning Manager drew attention to paragraph 2.4 of the report which outlined the main changes to the Local Plan following the consultation on the Bearing Fruits (August 2013) draft; further policy and factual updates; and the final pieces of evidence base.

The Spatial Planning Manager advised that the first draft Proposals Maps were currently a work in progress but drafts were available for initial inspection at the meeting.

In response to Members’ request at the June 2014 meeting of the Panel, where a challenging Viability Assessment of the plan had been reported, the Spatial Planning Manager advised that further research had been undertaken on the possibility of commuting affordable housing.  The Spatial Planning Manager reminded Members about the  Viability Appraisal of the local Plan which had been considered by the Panel in June 2014.  The Spatial Planning Manager advised that further legal advice on the possibility of commuting some of the provision from the more viable Faversham and rural areas to the less viable areas of Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey had been received, and the  advice was that a protocol would need to be included within Policy DM8 of the Local Plan to allow flexibility to pursue this, but a detailed protocol of how the policy would be implemented would need to be drawn up.  Officers had therefore amended Policy DM8 (Affordable Housing) and explained that this amendment would need to be supported within a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).

In response to a concern from a Member, the Spatial Planning Manager advised that the protocol enabled more flexibility within the policy and did not mean that affordable housing could not be provided in Faversham, just that some of the amount could be commuted and provided elsewhere in the Borough, where need has been demonstrated; but challenging viability could militate against any provision being achieved at all. 

The Spatial Planning Manager explained that until such times as adoption of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule could be achieved,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 308.