Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Meeting: 24/09/2020 - Mid Suffolk Council (Item 19)

19 MC/20/7 CHANGES TO THE CURRENT PLANNING SYSTEM CONSULTATION pdf icon PDF 314 KB

Cabinet Member for Planning

Additional documents:

Minutes:

NOTE: The meeting was adjourned between 8:02pm to 8:16pm

 

19.1           The meeting had reached the guillotine deadline and the Chair asked for a proposer and seconder for the meeting to continue.

 

19.2           Councillor Morley PROPOSED that the meeting continued, which was SECONDED by Councillor Eburne.

 

 

NOTE:  Councillor Passmore left the meeting at 8:19pm

 

By 31 votes to 1, 1 abstention

 

It was RESOLVED: -

 

 that the meeting continued beyond the guillotine deadline, until all business was concluded

 

 

19.3           The Chair invited Councillor Burn, the Cabinet Member for Planning to introduce Paper MC/20/7.

 

19.4           Councillor Burn outlined the background for the report and drew Members’ attention to Paragraph 1.3, which outlined the proposed four points to which consultation was sought. The Council’s responses to the Consultation were outlined in Appendix A.  There had been a cross party discussion on the 10 September 2020, which had formulated the responses.

 

19.5           Councillor Burn stated that the cross-party discussion had expressed concerns for the method to assess housing need which would raise the need from 535 dwellings per year to 750 dwellings per year.  This would have implications for the Joint Local Plan, Communities, rural landscaping developments and the five-year Housing Land Supply position.

 

19.6           Councillor Burn PROPOSED Recommendations 3.1 and 3.2 in the report, which was SECONDED by Councillor Brewster.

 

19.7           Councillor Eburne PROPOSED an amendment to Recommendation 3.2 that after ‘the Cabinet Members for Planning’  the wording ‘and the Opposition spokesperson for Planning, Councillor Andrew Stringer’ be added.

 

19.8           Councillor Otton SECONDED the amendment.

 

19.9           Councillor Burn responded that Councillor Stringer was part of the cross-party discussions and he APPROVED that Councillor Stringer be part of the collaboration. 

 

19.10       He continued that Councillor Arthey, Babergh Cabinet Member for Planning, would also be part of the collaborations, as this was a joint response to the consultations.

 

19.11       Councillor Geake queried the answer to question three in relation to the adjustment to the standard measure and why the response was ‘yes’.

 

19.12       The Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities responded that the standard method was not part of the consultation, and that the ‘yes’ in the response could be removed and go straight into the narrative, which Councillor Geake appreciated.

 

19.13       Councillor Mansel queried the responses relating to First Homes which was to form part of the affordable mix in a development, and if there was scope for any concept of whether First Homes formed part to the affordable homes or not.

 

19.14       The Assistant Director – Sustainable Communities, responded that the principles of First Homes had been part of a Consultation, which had taken place earlier in the year and to which the Council did not provide a response to this consultation. The answers in the report were responses to questions being asked now.

 

19.15       In response to Councillor Mansel’s question regarding the consultation for First Homes, the Assistant Director – Sustainable Communities responded he would respond to this and further questions relating to this outside the meeting.

 

19.16       Councillor Field questioned the maturity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19


Meeting: 22/09/2020 - Babergh Council (Item 18)

18 BC/20/7 CHANGES TO THE CURRENT PLANNING SYSTEM CONSULTATION pdf icon PDF 315 KB

Cabinet Member for Planning

Additional documents:

Minutes:

18.1           Report BC/20/7, Changes to the Current Planning System Consultation, was introduced by Councillor Arthey.

 

18.2           Councillor Arthey advised that the draft responses contained in the report followed a detailed cross-Council, cross-party discussion held on 10 September 2020 and expressed concerns with the proposals made.

 

18.3           Councillor Arthey PROPOSED the recommendations in the report, and this was SECONDED by Councillor Hinton.

 

18.4           In response to a query from Councillor Hardacre in relation to height restrictions, the Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities referred to the answer for question 26 and clarified that it was felt that a blanket restrictions would not work for all developments and that considerations should be provided for the individual development. He advised that further questions could be discussed outside of the meeting.

 

18.5           Councillor Ward commented on the numbers of concerns raised by the proposals, in particular the increase in housing numbers in the District.

 

18.6           Councillor Osborne commended the Members and Officers on the work carried out and expressed concern over the affordable housing element of the proposals.

 

18.7           Councillor Lindsay stated that he believed a Housing Strategy was needed to enable the Councils to build their own houses.

 

18.8           Councillor McCraw expressed concerns over who benefitted from the proposed changes.

 

18.9           Councillor Arthey thanked the Members from both Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils involved in the responses.

 

Note: Councillor Newman and Councillor Nunn left the meeting at 7:59pm

 

By a unanimous vote.

 

It was RESOLVED: -

 

1.1            To respond to the ‘Changes to the Planning System’ consultation.

 

1.2      That the Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities in collaboration with the Cabinet Members for Planning consider any proposed amendments to the suggested response and be authorised to make amendments before submitting a response to Government.