Agenda and minutes

It was proposed that Councillor James Flannery be appointed as Chair for the meeting and was subsequently agreed unanimously by the Committee.

The Chair welcomed attendees to the meeting, advised members that the meeting was being streamed on Youtube and asked everyone to briefly introduce themselves.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·         Councillor David Borrow – substituted by Councillor Javid Iqbal

·         County Councillor Michael Green. 

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.

None declared.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting as an accurate record for signing by the Chair.

Resolved: (Unanimously)

That the minutes of the last meeting be agreed as an accurate record.

A verbal report will be delivered at the meeting.

The Local Plan Director/Head of Spatial Planning presented a verbal update on the work carried out by officers following the Preferred Options consultation earlier in the year with much of the work centred around collating and categorising the responses. Despite efforts to encourage responses to be submitted digitally via the online survey, a significant number of written responses had been received which required important and analysing. The detailed categorisation will enable a library of all consultations to be provided to the Planning Inspectorate when the draft plan is submitted.

The Home teams were now reviewing the sites that had been submitted, including any new sites identified following the fourth call for sites period and were responding to queries raised through the process by interested parties.

The result of this analysis work will be an outcomes report which will be presented at the next meeting of the Central Lancashire Strategic Planning Joint Advisory Committee.

A query was raised if the Council’s had any incentives for developers to regenerate and bring back into use brownfield sites. In response, prioritisation of brownfield sites would be incorporated as part of the new Local Plan and could be strengthened further with a specific policy. It was noted that sites had been requested on four occasions with many brownfield sites included in the total number of sites going forward, however the viability of these sites for developers had been an issue. Grant funding to support re-development of brownfield sites in other areas of the North West was raised – the availability of similar schemes in Lancashire would be investigated.

Report of the Chief Executive attached.

The Planning Policy Manager presented the report and outlined the ambitions of the government to introduce a new simpler system under part 6 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. Further regulations are expected to follow, including specific details, once the Bill gains royal assent.

The key aims of the new system is to improve the framework after leaving the EU system and to standardise the approach, allowing for less duplication across different systems.

Access to data was also a driver for the changes, improving access for councils and other data holders to support future assessments.

In response to a query raised over the dumping of sewage into rivers and seas, it was confirmed that a process of avoidance, mitigation and compensation is in place where issues occur. If work undertaken as part of a new development causes blockages or other issues then it would be the responsibility of the developer to resolve.

Report of the Chief Executive attached.

The Principal Planning Officer presented the report outlining the proposed changes from the current system of Section 106 obligations and community infrastructure levy (CIL) to a mandatory levy to be charged on the final value of the completed development.

Further detail was expected from the government on the proposals but the key points around securing developer contributions and how it would operate were highlighted within the report.

Included in the proposals were changes to how the proportion of affordable housing required for each developments would be calculated, with the number required to be proportionate to the level of the levy rather than a set percentage of all houses on the development site.

The proposals were not expected to be implemented until 2030 with a number of authorities undertaking trial periods prior to this.

Concerns were raised whether the proposals would be able to achieve the governments aims and the role of the county and borough councils in the delivery strategy.

Meetings of the Central Lancashire Strategic Planning Joint Advisory Committee for the 2023/24 municipal year:

·         6.30pm Tuesday, 3 October 2023

·         6.30pm Monday, 4 December 2023

·         6.30pm Wednesday, 7 February 2024

·         6.30pm Thursday, 28 March 2024

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 Preston on Tuesday 3 October 2023.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in

Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Condition: Information is not exempt if it is required to be registered under- The Companies Act 1985, The Friendly Societies Act 1974, The Friendly Societies Act 1992, The Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965 to 1978, The Building Societies Act 1986 (recorded in the public file of any building society, within the meaning of the Act) The Charities Act 1993.

Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Information is not exempt if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992(a).

Resolved (Unanimously)

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.

Director of Public Health at Lancashire County Council to deliver presentation.

The Chair welcomed Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, Director of Public Health at Lancashire County Council and colleagues from the Public Health and Wellbeing team to the meeting.

The Director of Public Health presented an update on the impact of hot food takeaways on public health and proposed a number of policy suggestions to consider as part of the emerging Central Lancashire Local Plan.

Report of the Local Plan Director /Head of Spatial Planning (Chorley) attached.

The Committee were provided an update from the Local Plan Director/Head of Spatial Planning on recent transport modelling and assessments commissioned by Lancashire County Council to support the emerging Local Plan and the Central Lancashire Highways and Transport Masterplan.

Report of the Local Plan Director /Head of Spatial Planning (Chorley) attached.

The Local Plan Director/Head of Spatial Planning provided an update on the progress of the emerging Central Lancashire Local Plan, including the current work the team are on with, timescales and recruitment to key posts.