Draft minutes

RESOLVED – That Councillor J C Hughes MBE of South Ribble Council be appointed to act as Chair for the meeting.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Central Lancashire LDF Joint Advisory Committee held at South Ribble Council’s Civic Centre, Leyland.

The minutes of the last meeting of the Central Lancashire LDF Joint Advisory Committee held on 21 September 2010 were confirmed as a correct record.

The Joint Advisory Committee received a draft programme showing the envisaged dates of the various stages leading to the formal adoption of both the Central Lancashire LDF Core Strategy and the Site Allocations and Development Management Policies Documents, which were required to be published.

Julian Jackson reported that it was expected that the Core Strategy would be published on 8 December 2010 allowing a deposit period up to 31 January 2011.  The Joint LDF Officer Team would need to prepare a report on the representations received during the deposit period for submission to the Government Inspector, in advance of the Examination Hearing.  Following receipt of the Inspector’s report, formal adoption of the Core Strategy was envisaged in November 2011.

The Site Allocations “Issues and Options” Discussion Papers had now been issued for public consultation purposes.  Representations received during the consultation period up to January 2011 would be assessed and a preferred approach for sites and policies would be set out in the “Preferred Options” document to be produced in the summer of 2011.  The process was expected to culminate in the formal adoption of the Documents in December 2012.

RESOLVED – That the Document Preparation Programme, as now submitted, be approved for publication.

The Joint Advisory Committee received a report of the Joint LDF Officer Team which contained the purpose and processes involved in the publication and deposit arrangements for the Central Lancashire LDF Core Strategy.  The Core Strategy was to be published in early December 2010 to allow formal representations to be made prior to its submission to a Government Inspector.  The Strategy document had been produced in various digital and paper formats and would be available to view on-line, as well as in Council offices, libraries and rural post offices, along with other numerous supporting documents.

The deposit stage of the Core Strategy was being undertaken in conjunction with public consultation on the Site Allocations “Issues and Options” Discussion Papers, with an extended period up to 31 January 2011 being allowed for the receipt of representations.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Joint LDF Officer Team presented a report seeking endorsement of the 13 identified indicators and targets proposed to be used to monitor the effective delivery of the Central Lancashire LDF Core Strategy.

The Core Strategy was to be delivered by a range of public, private and voluntary organisations working in partnership and application of the specific indicators would enable the authorities to monitor the effectiveness of the Strategy in achieving the desired actions and outcomes.

The report detailed each of the 13 key performance indicators and the respective targets to be monitored during the plan period of the Core Strategy, which had been chosen in line with Government guidance.  The Core Strategy would be monitored annually to ensure that its policies were an effective reflection of changing national and local circumstances.

In answer to an Officer’s comment on the indicators and target to measure the sub-region’s skills base and economic inclusion standards, Julian Jackson confirmed that, whilst it would be appropriate for each of the three authorities to monitor performance in their own District, for the purposes of the Core Strategy, the regional average would be used as the target statistic.

RESOLVED – That the indicators and targets to be used to monitor the delivery of the Central Lancashire LDF Core Strategy, as identified in the submitted report, be approved for adoption.

The Joint Advisory Committee received a report of the Joint LDF Officer Team on the current situation in respect of the evidence base required to inform the LDF work; the Infrastructure Delivery Schedule; and the Growth Point.

The report referred to (i) the opportunities that were being pursued to develop renewable energy initiatives through the use of a variety of technologies; and (ii) the securement of £30,000 from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to support studies to examine the prospects for the re-use of disused and under-used brownfield land across Central Lancashire authorities for assessment by consultants appointed by the HCA.

The report commented on the Infrastructure Delivery Schedule which identified the key infrastructure schemes likely to be required to support the residential and employment developments envisaged over the next 15 years to deliver the Core Strategy.  Electricity North West Limited was assessing how increases in demand and capacity could be programmed and funded and the Water Cycle Study would provide information on water supply and waste water treatment requirements.

The report also clarified the allocation of the £4m awarded to the Central Lancashire and Blackpool Growth Point over the past two years, in addition to which £3.3m had been secured from the Community Infrastructure Fund to complement developer contributions for Buckshaw Railway Station.  The prospect of future Growth Point funding nationally had been terminated, so bids for infrastructure funding and similar projects would need to be directed to other funding sources (eg the Regional Growth Fund) in future years.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Joint Advisory Committee considered a report of the Joint LDF Officer Team on the outcome of work to identify potential Strategic Sites and Strategic Locations for inclusion in the publication version of the Central Lancashire LDF Core Strategy.

Whilst both designations referred to spatially specific proposals, a Strategic Site contained a more precisely defined area of land and firmer development proposals than Strategic Locations and was expected to be developed more imminently.

A comprehensive assessment of 14 potential sites had been undertaken and, after taking account of the strategic importance of each site and other relevant factors, the following sites and locations had been put forward for inclusion in the Publication Core Strategy in line with the recommendations of the assessment:

Strategic Sites:

·              Buckshaw Village;

·              Cuerden;

·              BAe Systems, Samlesbury

Strategic Locations:

·              Central Preston – including the inter-related sites; Inner East Preston; the new central business district for Preston; and Tithebarn Regeneration Area;

·              Cottam – including Cottam Hall and Brickworks.

The following sites were not considered strategically significant, but some were recommended for further consideration in the Site Allocations Development Plan Documents:

·              Botany/Great Knowley;

·              Former Whittingham Hospital Site;

·              Broughton/Land at Eastway;

·              Park Hall/Camelot;

·              Higher Bartle;

·              Pickering’s Farm, Kingsfold;

·              Moss Side Test Track.

An attached Assessment Background Topic Paper clarified the reasons for the selection of the proposed Strategic Sites and Strategic Locations and the revisions from the Preferred Core Strategy, together with justification for the omission of other sites from the suggested list.

Councillor Harold Heaton questioned whether the text relating to the potential development site at Park Hall/Camelot should be specific in stating that the site could accommodate between 500 – 1000 dwellings, with the implication that the figure could be interpreted as the minimum site capacity.  It was agreed that the text should be amended to explain that even the lowest end of this dwelling number range was an aspiration on the part of the landowner and also to emphasise the uncertainty of delivering this site for development.

RESOLVED – (1)    That the report be noted.

(2)       That the document text in relation to the potential development site at Park Hall/Camelot, Charnock Richard be amended to explain that a dwellings capacity figure in excess of 500 was an aspiration of the landowners and that. In any event, the overall delivery of the site was uncertain.

The Joint LDF Officer Team submitted a report on the implications, particularly in relation to the Core Strategy, of the recent successful High Court challenge of Cala Homes to the Government’s announcement to abolish Regional Spatial Strategies.  The Government did, however, intend to pursue its intention to abolish Regional Spatial Strategies through the enactment of the new Localism Bill.  Members received a verbal update on the latest position with the High Court action at the meeting.

The proposal would have short term implications for the determination of planning applications, but it was not envisaged that any revocation of the North West Regional Spatial Strategy would have a significant impact on the Core Strategy.

The Central Lancashire authorities had agreed that, despite the current period of uncertainty, it was appropriate to proceed with the publication of the Core Strategy in the agreed form at this stage.  It was expected that the situation would be clearer by the time of the Examination Hearing, predicted in early summer, 2011.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted and that the previously agreed approach to the content of the Publication version of the Core Strategy be endorsed.

The Joint Advisory Committee noted that the next two Committee meetings were scheduled as follows:

Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at Chorley Council offices at 5.30pm;

Tuesday, 15 March 2011 at Preston City Council offices at 5.30pm.