Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the previous meetings held on 29 October 2024 and 11 December 2024 were confirmed as true records.

Guidance is available online to Councillors and co-opted members on making declarations of interest

Minute 256. East Devon Local Plan – approval for Regulation 19 Consultation 2025.

In accordance with the Code of Good Practice for Councillors and Officers dealing with planning matters as set out in the constitution Committee Members advised lobbying in respect of allocation Exmo_20.

Information on public speaking is available online

Four members of the public and two Ward Members had registered to speak on Minute 256 – East Devon Local Plan approval for Regulation 19 Consultation 2025.  All addressing issues relating to the proposed allocation Exmo_20.

The first speaker, Chrissy Howick referred to the proposed access from the A379 and said that this would have disastrous results as it had at least five treacherous turnings out onto this road and adding even more cars would cause havoc. She pleaded with the Committee to reconsider the site explaining that the proximity of this development would be very close to the Pebblebed Heaths and would cause immense light and noise pollution and have a detrimental impact to the wildlife.  Mrs Howick highlighted that the site had not received adequate time allocation or representation from relevant local or national bodies to consider the site nor had Members visited the site to consider this impact and urged Members to reconsider this unsuitable site.

Councillor Melanie Martin, Ward Member for Budleigh and Raleigh had grave concerns about the site and could not understand why the access from the B3179 was being considered especially as it was a very winding rural road with a speed limit of 60mph with no paths or safe crossing places.   She raised concerns about the SSSI advising that it provided a habitat for wildlife which would be significantly disturbed by the street lighting and advised that she would watch with interest to see how the Council aimed to protect the dark landscape of the SSSI and install a safe vehicular access into the site.

Thomas Shillitoe advised that because of the proximity of this site to Budleigh Salterton this could no longer be referred to as an Exmouth site which went against the settlement hierarchy.  He referred to the Habitat Regulation Assessment and highlighted two concerns, the water quality for the Axe Valley, which was already restricting development and the air quality for the East Devon Heaths which would be significantly increased by the proposed access point on the B3179.  He advised that the Exmo_20 allocation was contrary to Policy PB4 where development will not be permitted where there is potential for increased vehicle numbers adversely affecting the Pebblebed Heaths applying a precautionary approach and this should be rigorously assessed before the Local Plan is submitted for examination.

Councillor Horn, representing Budleigh Salterton Town Council, requested for the Town Council to be included in any decision making for the proposed allocation Exmo_20 as its main access to the development was only 2.1 miles from Budleigh Salterton compared to 4.2 miles from Exmouth.  He advised that together with the proposed increase in housing numbers and the proposed access onto the B3179 would certainly add pressure on local infrastructure and services and he questioned the employment opportunities for these residents.

John Hamill referred to the meeting on 3 September 2024 when the Committee went against officer recommendation and allocated Exmo_20.  As a consequence, officers advised that further work was required to ascertain the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 252.

Information on matters of urgency is available online

There were no matters of urgency.

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the Press) have been excluded. Thereare no itemswhich officersrecommendshould be dealtwithin thisway.

There were no confidential or exempt items.

The Committee considered the report which sought to provide Members with a more detailed understanding of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which the government published on 12 December 2024. 

The report identified two significant key changes.  The first change affected the housing numbers which would now require the Council to deliver 1,188 homes per year compared to the previous figure of 1,146 homes.  It would also need to be within 80% of that figure resulting in the Council needing to plan for 950 homes per year compared to the previous figure of 946 homes per year. 

The second change affected the transitional arrangements and Members noted that in order to take advantage of the longer transitional period the Council would need to publish the Regulation 19 version of the Local Plan on or before 12 March 2025 and submit for examination within 18 months of the publication of the new NPPF.

The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management explained about some potential consequences in which the Council had a requirement to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply which also must include a 5% buffer.  Members noted that the Council’s housing land supply figure had significantly fallen to 2.97 years which would now require bringing back the tilted balance when considering planning applications.  He also explained that from 1 July 2026 the Council would also be required to demonstrate a six-year housing land supply after the Local Plan had been adopted.

The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management referred to the updated five-year supply calculations tables on page 37 of the report and advised Committee that these tables had been presented to Planning Committee on 17 December 2024 as an update to the annual monitoring report.

Further changes as a consequence of the new NPPF include:

Ø  Affordable Housing

The government have removed the requirement for at least 10% of the total number of homes on major sites to be delivered as affordable homes and that 25% be delivered as First Homes.

Ø  Planning Application Fees

The fee for householder planning applications is to be increased from £258 to £528 with the intention to bring forward measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to enable local fee setting for planning applications.

Questions and debate included:

·       In response to a question about how to achieve a six-year housing land supply the Chair explained that although the new Local Plan would help achieve this it was also necessary to approve more planning applications.

·       Clarification was sought about whether the Land Use Framework Consultation published by DEFRA would have an impact on the Local Plan.  The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management advised that the Local Plan would not be affected.

·       Reference was made to the Local Character and Design Coding chapter and support was expressed for the removal of the word ‘beautiful’ as it was difficult to classify what was beautiful as this was too subjective.   The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management  ...  view the full minutes text for item 255.

The Committee considered the report that sought approval of the final version of the East Devon Local Plan Regulation 19 Consultation that had considered the changes expressed by Members from the meeting on 11 December 2024.

The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management drew Members attention to the two appendices explaining that appendix 1 was the clean version and appendix 2 contained the tracked changes. 

In the report Members attention was drawn to two hyperlinks, the first leading to an interactive map and the second leading to PDF versions of maps of the towns and villages within the settlement hierarchy. Members also noted an update to the second new community by the removal of the boundary of the Clyst Valley Regional Park as this would be considered through the New Community Masterplan.

The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management also updated Members about a change to the housing provision following the new NPPF which now required the Council to plan for at least 950 new homes per year.  He advised the Committee that this had slightly reduced the headroom in the housing numbers but that a 9.8% headroom was still included with a stepped housing trajectory that showed an annual target of 850 dwellings per year from 2020/21 to 2031/32 and 1,070 dwellings per year from 2032/33 onwards.

Members were reminded that it was a two-phase Regulation 19 Consultation and that the Consultation for the New Community Masterplan was due to start in Spring 2025 as detailed in paragraph 5.2 of the report.

The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management referred to chapter 6 of the report drawing Members attention to the evidence library available on the website which included assessments such as the viability assessment and habitat regulations assessment, although Members noted that work was still ongoing in relation to air pollution and the Pebblebed Heaths.  Members also noted there were outstanding evidence documents which included:

Ø  Greater Exeter Transport Study which was continuing to progress and would be ready for the second phase of the Consultation. 

Ø  Infrastructure Delivery Plan which would be brought to Committee post Consultation.

Ø  Water Cycle Study.

The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management referred to the public speakers and in response to the concerns raised about site allocation Exmo_20 and the access onto the B3179 he advised following further discussions with Devon County Council Highways additional wording had been added in order to provide clarity of these issues and to highlight that mitigation was required.  However, the primary access was always to be from the B3179 and Members were made aware of this when deciding to allocate the site.

Members were advised that anyone wishing to comment about the emerging Local Plan can do so by using the engagement platform ‘Commonplace’ which will be available on the website from week commencing Monday, 10 February 2025.  In addition, Members were advised that all Town and Parish Councils have been invited to attend a webinar Thursday  ...  view the full minutes text for item 256.

The Committee considered the report that summarised the information detailed in Exeter’s Local Plan Regulation 19 Consultation and East Devon District Council’s proposed response objecting to the Plan in respect of failing to provide sufficient and appropriate levels of employment land as identified in the Greater Exeter Economic Development Needs Assessment (EDNA) and how the Plan seeks to address delivery of infrastructure to serve sites north of Topsham.

Comments from Members included:

·       What are the consequences for this Council – does this put more pressure on this Council to provide more employment land in our draft Local Plan?  In response the Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management reassured Members that East Devon’s Local Plan had identified a higher provision of employment land through the New Community but emphasised that there was added pressure to meet Exeter’s employment needs which could take up valuable land in the district which might be needed in the future for housing or employment.

·       Reference to Policy TI1 and clarification sought about an allocation of land alongside this site.  In response the Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management reassured Members that these points would be addressed at its examination.

RESOLVED:

Whilst welcoming the Exeter Local Plan and noting the general high quality of content, Strategic Planning Committee raise objections, as set out in this committee report, to fail to make available sufficient land for employment provision and secure delivery of the proposed Topsham Infrastructure Delivery Framework.

The Committee considered the Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Management’s report that set out the legal and national policy changes with regards to the custom and self-build plots (CSB) that came into effect at the end of 2023/start of 2024.  The report also outlined the latest monitoring report that showed the Council was meeting its minimum legal requirement seeing 15 plots from October 2023 to October 2024 monitoring period.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the draft monitoring report for use in planning decisions (both planning policy and development management) and agree its publication on the Council’s website be endorsed.

2.     That it be noted that during the latest monitoring period (31/10/23 to 30/10/24) 11 individuals were added to the self-build register (8 to part 1 and 3 to part 2) generating a need to permission 8 plots suitable for self-build between 31/10/24 and 30/10/27.

3.     That the demand for self-build plots indicated on the register be noted and taken into account in our planning, housing, regeneration and estate functions.

The Committee considered the report that set out a programme and timetable for production of future planning policy documents.  Members noted the main change from the previous version is that the first stage Regulation 19 Consultation would now start in February 2025 rather than January 2025.

RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL:

That Strategic Planning Committee recommend that the proposed new Local Development Scheme, as appended to this report as Appendix 1, should be endorsed and should take effect immediately following approval.