Agenda and minutes

Resolved–That Councillor David Borrow be appointed as Chair for the meeting.

The Chair, Councillor David Borrow, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Southern (Chorley Council) Councillor Tomlinson (South Ribble Borough Council) and County Councillor Mrs Whittam (Lancashire County Council).

There were none.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were none.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 20 June 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

A verbal update will be presented at the meeting.

Ms Emma Price, Planning Assistant (Chorley Council) provided an update on the Preferred Options Consultation.

Ms Price informed the Committee that there were four parts to the way the consultation took place. Over 1,000 people were contacted via the Central Lancashire Email List, Social media posts were put out informing constituents about the consultation, 30 in-person drop-in events were held across Central Lancashire and there was an online consultation through the digital platform Citizenspace. Of the people contacted for the consultation, 928 responses were received, from this, 742 were received online via Citizenspace and 236 were received by either letter or email. The 30 drop-in events were spilt up between the three Councils, with 18 being held in Chorley, seven being held in Preston and five in South Ribble. Chorley saw the highest amount of public interest with 504 attendees, South Ribble had 182 and Preston had 148.

Out of the 52 questions asked during the consultation, the highest responses were received on Green Belt (330), Spatial Approach (322), Strategic Objectives (308) and Spatial Vision (339). Ms Price pointed out that out of the potential site allocations the highest responses for Chorley were received for Town Lane, Whittle-le-woods (91), Preston’s highest was Land east and west of Dixons Lane, Grimsargh (50), and in South Ribble the highest was Curedale Garden Village (167).

The Part One Preferred Options was the first part of the consultation process and the representations received would help officers in Part Two Preferred Options which will be the full draft plan and will take place in Spring/ Summer 2027. A new Local Development Scheme (LDS) would be published later in 2023 and would set out the timeframe for the remaining plan-making process.

Resolved – That the update be noted.

Report enclosed.

Ms Carolyn Williams, Planning Policy Manager (Preston City Council) submitted a report relating to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, Consultation on the implementation of plan-making reforms.

Ms Williams informed the Committee that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) had launched a consultation which was open for 12 weeks from 25 July to 18 October 2023. The consultation was seeking views on a proposed new system of plan making and was accompanied by 43 questions around the proposed reforms. All three Authorities would be submitting their own responses to the 43 questions.

The process for preparing a plan (including adoption) would take no longer than 30 months (2.5 years). The process proposed by Government showed that four months would be used for Scoping and early participation, 23 months would be used for Plan visioning and strategy development, evidence gathering and drafting the plan, Engagement, proposing changes and submission, six months would be used for the Examination and the final month would be used to finalise and adopt the digital plan.

The proposals called for three gateway assessments to be held during the preparation, one at the start, one during the middle of the process and the final one before preparing the final draft for assessment prior to the Examination in Public. The first two were not mandatory, only the last one which was a stop/go assessment. The only one the Joint Advisory Committee would need to do was the third one before submission/examination. Each one likely to take four to six weeks.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

Future meetings of the Central Lancashire Strategic Planning Joint Advisory Committee for the 2023/24 Municipal Year: -

·         6.30pm Monday, 4 December 2023 – Chorley Council

·         6.30pm Wednesday, 7 February 2024 – South Ribble Borough Council

·         6.30pm Thursday, 28 March 2024 – Preston City Council

The dates of the remaining Central Lancashire Strategic Planning Joint Advisory Committee meetings for the 2023/2024 year were noted, with the next meeting being hosted by Chorley Council on Monday 4 December 2023.

To consider passing the following resolution [The following paragraph must be read out in full, by the Chair, and accepted by the Committee]:

“That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there is likely to be disclosure of exempt information which is described in the paragraph(s) of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 which is specified against the heading to each item, and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.”

Resolved - That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there is likely to be disclosure of exempt information which is described in the paragraphs of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 which are specified against the heading to each item, and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.

A verbal update will be presented at the meeting.

Ms Katherine Greenwood, Principal Planning Officer (Chorley Council) gave an update on the site selection, and the next steps in the process.

Resolved – That the update be noted.

Report of the Interim Deputy Chief Executive attached.

Ms Zoe Whiteside, Project Director Local Plan (Chorley Council) provided an update on the progress of the Central Lancashire Local Plan, including the current work the team were undertaking, together with the timescales involved.

Resolved – That the Committee

(i)            noted the content of the report, recognising the importance of critical decisions around Spatial Strategy in the coming weeks

(ii)          (ii) agreed to the Local Plan Workshop of Elected Members and Senior Officers the update be noted.