Information on public speaking is available online
Minutes:
Mr Shillitoe had request to speak on agenda items 1 and 7. He expressed his concerns over the minutes of the last meeting. He felt that there was an inherent conflict with EXMO 20 and that the site was currently not legally compliant, due to there being no mitigation strategy, and no HRA to support the Local Plan. He felt that the maps used were inconsistent, misleading and conflicting. He challenged the officers and urged councillors to make informed decisions with all the information available to them.
Mr Hamill had requested to speak on agenda item 7 and began by listing what he regarded as EXMO 20 failings. He went on to describe the role of a councillor and urged members when considering Marlcombe not to repeat what he perceived to be the errors of the March consultation. He suggested that EXMO 20 be removed from the second consultation and that the numbers be incorporated into Marlcombe.
Mr Humphrey spoke on two areas, the Regulation 19 process and the draft Local Plan. In relation to the Regulation 19 consultation, he stated that it had been six months since the consultation had finished and he had yet to receive any responses to the questions or comments asked. He asked when responses to the comments would be published. In relation to EXMO 20 Mr Humphrey commented that he believed that there were direct conflicts with the draft Local Plan, which had been agreed by the Strategic Planning Committee. He asked when the developers’ Regulation 19 information or submissions needed to align with the draft Local Plan and added that he felt that the draft Local Plan should be agreed so that EDDC could control and deliver the best possible developments for the communities. Taking into account that the Plan would not be adopted until 2027, Mr Humphrey also asked whether a developer could submit an application for a site within the draft Local Plan for it to be approved by EDDC before the Plan had been adopted.
Councillor Roy Collins stated that he was a proud Devonian and felt that the countryside was being ruined by developers carrying out Government policy. He commented that there were more vacant homes than homeless people worldwide and that in the UK there were 1 million empty homes and the birth rate was falling. He asked why more homes were required and stated that by 2050 nearly 25% of agricultural land would disappear and that farmers could not produce food for the nation if the land was being developed on. He felt that EDDC had done nothing to protect agricultural land. He suggested increasing housing numbers on other sites to save agricultural land.
The Assistant Director – Planning Strategy and Development Services replied to Mr Humphrey’s questions. The draft Local Plan had received over 3000 comments and responses would not be made on a 1-2-1 basis. Officers would be responding to comments through the many reports coming to the Strategic Planning Committee and in the second Regulation 19 consultation. Developers were entitled to promote additional development, so there was no need for developers’ plans to align with the plans in relation to EXMO 20 before the draft Local Plan was adopted. It was clarified that a further version of the EXMO 20 plan would be brought to a future meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee to be considered and agreed.