To confirm the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

Resolved:

(1)  Councillor Gerry Lewin was confirmed as Chairman for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

(2)  Councillor Bryan Mulhern was confirmed as Chairman for the Municipal Year 2017/18.

The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park. Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chairman has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

The Chairman ensured that those present were aware of the emergency evacuation procedure.

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.

(c)          Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the room while that item is considered.

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 Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

Councillor David Simmons declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of Item 6, Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan, as he was a member of the Faversham Neighbourhood Creek Plan Steering Group Committee.

Councillor Mike Henderson, whilst not a member of the Panel, also declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of Item 6 Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan, as he was also a member of the Faversham Neighbourhood Creek Plan Steering Group Committee

Information item on the Local Plan Inspector’s Report; the Adoption version of the Plan and Sustainability Appraisal.  To accord with statutory regulations a Full Council resolution to adopt will be sought.

Item to follow as soon as Inspector’s Final Report is released from Planning Inspectorate.

Report published 20 June 2017.

The Chairman introduced the report which outlined the main findings of the Inspector’s Final Report on Bearing Fruits: The Swale Borough Local Plan 2031.  The Chairman thanked officers for their work and expressed his gratitude to them for helping the Council achieve a sound Local Plan.  He also thanked Panel Members for their support.  The Chairman stated that the Plan must be adopted by Council on 26 July 2017 and warned that not doing so would leave the Council exposed to “planning by the back door” and all local planning controlled by inspectors.

The Spatial Planning Manager stated that the report was for information and that a full report and appendices, including a version of the Plan incorporating the Inspector’s recommendations, would be presented to Full Council on the 26 July 2017.  She explained that officers had only received the Inspector’s report at 11.15am that morning but the full document and appendix was on the Council’s website and had been circulated to all Members.  The covering report and main Inspector’s report was tabled for Members and the main modifications which were included at Appendix A to the Inspector’s report was also on the Council’s website, but unfortunately due to the size of the document it had not been possible to table this for Members.  The Spatial Planning Manager explained that the Table of further additional modifications, which were minor and consequential changes to text could be viewed on the examination library page SBCPS137.

The Spatial Planning Manager stated that a Press release had gone out that day and letters would be sent to all those that took part in the local plan hearing advising that the document was available.  She explained that an in-depth briefing guiding Members through the documents was planned, before they were considered at Full Council.

The Spatial Planning Manager guided Members through the Inspector’s main report.  She explained that the Inspector considered that the  process the Council had undertaken had been found sound, and the duty to cooperate with statutory consultees had been met.  The Inspector also considered that the Development Strategy focusing on Sittingbourne and West Sheppey was sound and the Settlement Strategy was also sound. 

The Spatial Planning Manager reported that the housing target was confirmed as 776 dwellings per annum and for the period 2014 - 2031 would be a total of 13,192 dwellings.  The Inspector had found that the main modifications process to identify new sites to meet target and the sustainability appraisal supporting the Plan at all stages to be found sound.  The proposed new allocation at South West Sittingbourne was confirmed as Policy MUX1, as proposed in main modifications plan, not the developers proposed extended version Policy MUX1a.  The Spatial Planning Manager confirmed that with the main modifications, the Local Plan was confirmed as having a 5.4 year housing land supply, which she stated was critically important.  She explained that the Inspector had agreed to calculate this on the basis of the Liverpool method with a 5% buffer.  She explained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

Information item on the outcome of the Judicial Review and Referendum and next steps to adopt.  A full Council resolution to adopt the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan as part of the local development plan will be sought.

The Chairman thanked the Senior Planner for her persistence and work on the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan.

The Senior Planner introduced the report which outlined the process since the Examiner’s report, covering the Judicial Review and the Referendum stages.  The Senior Planner reported that after successful defence of the Plan in the High Court there was a Referendum on 4 May 2017 and 88% of local residents voted in favour of adopting the Neighbourhood Plan for Faversham Creek.  There had been a 42% turn-out.  She stated that this was an excellent result for the local community who had put in a lot of hard work over a long period of time. 

The Senior Planner reported that the Localism Act required that a Neighbourhood Development Plan must now be ‘made’ following a successful referendum, therefore a report would be considered at Full Council 26 July 2017.  She explained that once adopted the neighbourhood plan would become part of the Swale Development Plan and be used when assessing planning applications.

The Senior Planner thanked the Panel for their involvement and support with the project.

Some Members thanked the Senior Planner for her tremendous work on the Plan and also wished to thank the local community for their work, in particular Faversham Town Council.  A Member wished to also thank the wider community in particular the Faversham Creek Trust, Faversham Society, and The Front Brents Community Association.  

Recommended:

(1)  That the information report be noted, and that it also be noted that a Full Council resolution was required to adopt the Neighbourhood Plan.

Post Meeting Note:

The report for this item will now be considered at Full Council on 28 June 2017.

In the light of the Inspector’s Final Report and recommendations in the Housing White Paper to review local plans every five years, a recommendation to commence local plan review will be sought.

The Spatial Planning Manager introduced the report which outlined the purpose of a Local Plan review, recommending that it be commenced to address the issues highlighted by the Inspector, alongside the implications that arise from so doing.

The Spatial Planning Manager explained that the Planning Inspectorate had recommended that an early review of the Local Plan be commenced and adoption date for that review was now built into Policy ST2 in the main modification No. 42 as April 2022.  She explained that there was a very tight deadline to produce the evidence base that was needed.  The Spatial Planning Manager explained that a key issue was transport and they had already started work on traffic counts across the Borough.  She spoke about work on the London Plan which was now underway and stated that this would impact on Swale’s plan review as part of the Duty to Cooperate.

The Spatial Planning Manager stated that workshops would be arranged for September 2017 to explore ideas, issues and options for the review. 

Members raised the following points and questions: concerned about how the London Plan would impact on Kent and Swale; workshops were critical to assist Members; await with keenness the update in respect of Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments; if the Local Plan was reviewed we need to look at 15 year horizon so there was the potential for a further 3,000 houses which was beyond the current Local Plan and Settlement Strategy; and could you change the settlement strategy for the period from the end of the plan or would you have to change it for the 15 years when the Plan comes into effect?   

In response to queries from Members, the Spatial Planning Manager stated that a comprehensive traffic count had been held in June 2017 and that would feed into the base model.  She explained that the base model would highlight any issues and would take 9 months to complete. It could then be used to test new development options and supporting highway improvements.  The cost of any modelling was currently being worked on and the Spatial Planning Manager agreed to update the Member with that information.  The Spatial Planning Manager stated that the critical issue was to maintain a 5-year housing land supply at all times.  Local Plan review implies a roll forward five years to 2036, with an additional housing requirement for that period, but she was unsure whether we would need to look at a completely different Settlement Strategy beyond 2031, and the workshops would assist with exploring this. 

Recommended:

(1)  That the principle of an early review of the Local Plan be agreed.

(2)  That a report be presented to a future meeting of the Panel to scope the extent, resourcing and timescale of the review.

A draft of a refreshed and updated SCI (which was originally adopted in 2008) will be presented for approval for consultation.  This covers both local plan and planning application consultation with the general public.

The Senior Planner introduced the report which outlined what a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) was, and why Swale needed to refresh its existing one.  It also presented a draft SCI to publish for consultation.

The Senior Planner stated that an SCI sets how, when and where the Council consults with local and statutory stakeholders, both during the production of development plan documents, and within the development management process.  She explained that the Council was required by law to produce an SCI and the Council’s current SCI was adopted in 2008.  Since 2008, provisions within the National Planning Policy Framework 2012 (NPPF) had been introduced, along with the Localism Act in 2011, and the emphasis had now firmly been placed on early engagement and collaboration with neighbourhoods, local organisations and businesses, making planning more inclusive of people and communities who want to be involved in planning their area.

The Senior Planner stated that whilst drafting the SCI they had looked at best practice and other examples of SCI’s and tried to keep it flexible to ensure that the different consultation needs of different planning documents could be met whilst embedding the principles of consultation within the planning processes.  Members were asked to agree the draft SCI which would then go out for a 6 week consultation at the start of September 2017, in order to avoid the summer holidays.

Members considered the documents and raised the following points and suggested amendments: do not consider developer consultation events were useful and often left the public confused about whether applications were really going to come forward; Council needed to be careful not to be seen to promote applications and a clear distinction between the Council and developer was needed; did not consider the document should include photographs of private organisations; need to ensure printed documents were available at a reasonable charge as stated in the document; Pages 26 and 27 of the draft SCI needed to be clearer in respect of what Swale will do in respect of: posting site notices; and sending neighbour notification letters - guidance on this needs to be clearly set-out so the public know what to expect; it needed to include how Ward Members would be informed with applications in their ward and how they are progressing; the 21 day deadline for Parish Councils to respond to applications needs to be extended as they often struggled to meet it; how many neighbouring properties of the planning application site would be written to?; needed to look again at allowing neighbouring parishes to speak at Planning Committee; the definition of ‘prior approval applications’ needed to be included in the glossary; AONBs need to be included in the ‘Who will we involve in consultations?’ on page 10 of the SCI; needed to ensure that if an application is amended that the relevant people were re-consulted as this does not always happen; a superb document; the ‘Who We Will Involve In the Development Management Process’ on page 13 of the SCI  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.