Issue - meetings

Before moving into the agenda the Chair invited Councillor Chris Burhop to speak following a request to address the Committee about a decision that had been made by Committee on 22 November 2024.

Councillor Chris Burhop, Ward Member for Newton Poppleford & Harpford referred to the East Devon Local Plan – Defining Settlement Boundaries report and drew particular attention to the additional recommendation for Newton Poppleford as detailed below:

Recommendation 3.

f. Newton Poppleford - that the Settlement Boundary be drawn as including Stage 2 plus area adjacent to Exmouth Road, with the exact boundary be drawn by officers for delegated approval by the Assistant Director and the Chair of Strategic Planning Committee.

Councillor Burhop referred to the settlement boundary map explaining that as Newton Poppleford was a linear village it was important to determine where the centre of Newton Poppleford was referring to several planning appeals that had been dismissed due to their poor location away from the centre and away from services.  He also referred to site allocations Newt_04 and Newt_05 and asked Members to consider what would happen to these sites if the footpath proposed were not put in place.

The Committee considered the Local Development Scheme (LDS) report that set out a programme and timetable for production of future planning policy documents. The report introduced the proposed new LDS, which summarises key content and provides more information on plan production considerations, including:

·       Development plan documents

·       Timetable update for local plan production

·       Regulation 19 consultation

·       Consultation strategy for the Publication consultation

·       Supplementary planning documents and other strategy and policy documents

·       Implications for Neighbourhood Planning

The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management advised Committee that the Regulation 19 consultation would be done in two phases, the first phase to start mid-January 2025 (assuming the new NPPF is not published more than one month before this date) and the second phase would start in the Spring (May 2025) to focus on the masterplan for the new community and transport study followed by submission for examination in the Autumn.

Discussion on the report included:

·       Clarification was sought about whether other councils had followed this process.  The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management gave reassurance that it was acceptable to have more than one consultation and there were other councils that were in similar situations.

·       Clarification was sought about whether the public would be able to comment on sites that had been amended.  The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management advised that members of the public will have an opportunity to comment on the Regulation 19 version of the Local Plan through the CommonPlace software.

·        Clarification was about the potential risk if Government decided to publish the new NPPF earlier than January with the suggestion that the consultation should start earlier than January.  The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management acknowledged this as an option but explained it would be challenging as it would not give officers time to refine everything and set  ...  view the full minutes text for item 241