The Leader advised the Committee that the Prime Minster had committed to removing Planning Inspector’s rights to overrule Council planning decisions.  In response to a member’s question he advised it was not yet policy.

The Interim Head of Planning Services introduced the report and said that the Council had published a Local Development Scheme setting out when the Council would be undertaking various stages of the local plan review preparation.  The Regulation 19 consultation on the pre-submission draft was due to take place in the coming months and the report set out recommendations to postpone the consultation until the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill had gained royal assent.  The Interim Head of Planning Services said that a new Planning Bill was also due to be introduced.  She referred to some of the proposals included in the new Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) but said there was currently no indication of when it would be introduced.  The Interim Head of Planning Services referred to the current uncertainty in Government and said that certainty was needed to progress with a sound plan.  She said the Council wanted to avoid abortive work and the situation would continue to be monitored.

Members raised questions and made points including:

·         A delay was disappointing but understood the rationale;

·         did not accept that the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill were the only cause of the delay as the Council had previously stalled;

·         praised Town and Parish Councils who had been working together and were now in limbo;

·         supported the pause in the process but queried whether there would be a 12 or 18 month pause; and

·         drew attention that the legal implications needed to be updated at section 6 of the report.

The Leader said that Town and Parish Councils understood the process. He said that when the Council had prepared the original Regulation 19 work there had been a possibility that new targets with higher housing targets were about to be introduced. Having prepared the work it was sensible to go out to consultation on the proposals even after the new targets were cancelled and strategies had to be tested as there was no straight forward way of building over 10,000 more houses without the necessary infrastructure, and it took time to get evidence to challenge.  The Leader said that other Councils were also waiting for certainty from Government.  He praised Parish Councils and active community groups and said they should continue to work together as Swale, and Kent had enough housing. The Leader said he understood the uncertainty around speculative development proposals, but residents of the Borough knew that the infrastructure was not in place to accommodate more housing. He said that local employment and entertainment needs had to be met.

The Interim Head of Planning said it would be prudent to allow up to 18 months for any potential delay but if things could be moved more quickly, they would be.  She said there would be training for members and Town and Parish Councils on the implications of the new Acts.  She confirmed that the word ‘Legislation’ should be added after ‘….national’ in the Implications section in paragraph 6 of the report. 

The Chair proposed an alteration to the wording of the recommendation to add ‘….once the guidance was published’.  This was seconded by Councillor Alan Horton and on being put to the vote members agreed.

In the debate that followed further points were raised including:

·         Supported the recommendation to delay, as evidence was still being gathered and there was too much uncertainty on what Government would set out in the proposed new Regulations;

·         a delay gave time to understand the infrastructure needs and gave examples of poor health care in Kent that needed addressing;

·         had raised previously that more evidence was needed, and this was another reason for the delay now;

·         there was still a lot of good information that could go into the document to make it a strong local plan; and

·         did not want to see further delays once the new regulations were published.

The Leader reminded Members the previous Regulation 19 consultation had been prepared when there were concerns the housing target would be pushed even higher at 14,000 homes. He added that it was only by going out to Regulation 19 consultation that some formal evidence needed to challenge the housing numbers would be provided from official consultee responses.

The Leader proposed the recommendations which were seconded by Councillor Richard Palmer.

Resolved:

(1)  To postpone the Regulation 19 consultation until the LURB gained Royal Assent and the guidance was published and there was greater certainty regarding national policy direction in relation to the local plan system.