Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That Councillor Hughes be appointed Chairman for the meeting.

The Chairman, Councillor Hughes, welcomed those present to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Swindells (Preston City Council), Hesketh (South Ribble Borough Council) and Mrs Noblet (South Ribble Borough Council).

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Central Lancashire Strategic Planning Joint Advisory Committee meeting held on 27 June 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the chairman.

A verbal update will be provided.

Jonathan Noad provided an update on the progress with the Strategic Housing Market Assessment being undertaken by G L Hearn Ltd. He explained that the work was behind schedule due to them having to re-run economic forecasts due to the BREXIT vote. The draft report, however, had now been received by officers the day prior to the meeting and they had started to assess the document. As it was a lengthy and technically complex document, the officers had been unable to provide the committee with an update. It was suggested that it would be more beneficial to have a separate meeting/workshop towards the end of October/beginning of November.

            Councillor Cartwright agreed suggesting that a meeting should be held in the next 3-4 weeks.  He stated that the document was critical, and was particularly important for those authorities who were involved in appeals and public inquiries.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

            That a workshop be arranged for the end of October/beginning of November which would include a presentation by G L Hearn Ltd on the findings of the Strategic Housing Market Assessment.

A verbal update will be provided.

Jonathan Noad provided an update in respect of the Employment Land Review. He stated that the national planning policy required authorities to look at employment land needs at the same time as housing needs. South Ribble had already undertook a recent study produced by the BE Group which had been completed in 2015 and therefore would only require a short update.  Unfortunately, both Chorley and Preston did not have an up to date study and therefore would require full studies. Officers suggested that an approach should be made to the BE Group for a quote to undertake this work which would be the most cost effective approach.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

(a) That the update be noted.

(b) That South Ribble obtain a quote from BE Group for the work required.

Report attached.

Zoe Whiteside introduced a report which informed the committee about the results of the public consultation on the Issues and Options version of the Central Lancashire Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Local Plan – May 2016.

She referred to the next stages in the process and in one in particular was that the         committee would need to agree how and where the transit need could be best provided as   any proposed sites would be subject to a sustainability and deliverability assessment.

            The three authorities, Lancashire County Council and Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) had identified what land would be available.  A criteria just needed to be agreed to score these before producing a shortlist. One of the major requirements was the need to be close to the transport network.

            Councillor Bradley stated that the sites should be allocated for housing or identified as a brown field land.  He indicated that within Chorley none of them had met all the criteria.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

(a) That the update be noted.      

(b) That a further update be provided on the proposed transit sites at the special meeting at the end of October.

Report attached.

            Chris Hayward introduced a report which provided an update on the current position with regard to the timing of a review of the Community Infrastructure Levy.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

       That the update be noted. 

A verbal update will be provided.

Steven Brown provided an update in respect of the Employment Skills SPD and Affordable Housing SPD.

In respect of the Employment Skills SPD, he stated that Policy 15 of the Core Strategy was the policy which supported this particular SPD and the need had arisen because of the amount of planned growth in housing and employment within Central Lancashire.  It would enable companies to grow and employ further staff, would help businesses to find suitable staff and improve the skills of local people to enable them to take advantage of employment opportunities.

The submission of a Skills Plan would only be required for those applications which would have a commercial floor space over 1000sqm or housing developments of 25 units or over.  The plans would cover the following:

·                     Creation of apprenticeships

·                     Vocational training

·                     Local recruitment

·                     Use of local supplies

·                     Construction Skills Certificate Scheme

A draft of this SPD was now available and following it being circulated to relevant officers would go out for public consultation.

In respect of the Affordable Housing SPD, Steven Brown informed the committee that Mike Molyneux was half way through updating this.  However, he would need to take account of any secondary legislation arising out of the Housing and Planning Act and/or the implications of the housing needs study.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

A verbal update will be provided.

Zoe Whiteside, Jonathan Noad, Chris Hayward and Marcus Hudson all provided updates in respect of the LDF for their respective authorities.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

A verbal update will be provided.

Jonathan Noad indicated that pre application discussions were currently taking place with developers concerning the Cuerden Site.  It was anticipated that formal applications could be received before Christmas.  Marcus Hudson suggested that it would be useful to have a presentation on this at the proposed workshop.

Chris Hayward indicated that the Preston Housing Zone within the city centre was         becoming more of a focus.  They were currently working with the HCA to obtain additional funding.

Marcus Hudson explained that work was progressing well in respect of Preston Bus Station and that an application had been submitted for various pieces of Structural, development and concourse work.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

(a)     That the update be noted.

(b)     That a presentation be undertaken on the Cuerden Site at the forthcoming Workshop

A verbal update will be provided.

Marcus Hudson provided an update on some of the projects currently underway.  These included:-

·                Preston Western Distributor

·                East/West Link Road

·                A582 – Penwortham Way/Golden Way

·                Land off Croston Road Spine Road

·                Penwortham By Pass

·                Pickerings Farm

·                Broughton By-Pass

Following a question from Councillor Cartwright concerning the proposed Ribble Bridge Crossing, Marcus Hudson stated that the survey work was still ongoing and that there was no further updates at this stage.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

No further items of business were raised.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: