Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Committee Services 

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Items
No. Item

19.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

19.1     Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Sian Dawson, Councillor Michael Holt, Councillor Honor Grainger-Howard, Councillor Bryn Hurren and Councillor Margaret Maybury.

 

19.2     The Chair of the Council wished Councillor Sian Dawson a full recovery of behalf of the Council.

 

20.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS BY COUNCILLORS

Minutes:

20.1                The Chair advised that under Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011, all Members had been granted dispensation by the Monitoring Officer for all matters relating to the Joint Local Plan and therefore Councillors did not need to declare any interests under this item.

 

20.2                There were no further declarations.

 

 

 

 

 

21.

BC/20/8 BABERGH AND MID SUFFOLK - DRAFT JOINT LOCAL PLAN AND STATEMENT OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ADDENDUM pdf icon PDF 176 KB

Cabinet Member for Planning

Additional documents:

Minutes:

21.1           The Chair of the Council welcomed Tom Barker, Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities, and Robert Hobbs, Corporate Manager for Strategic Planning to the meeting.

 

21.2             The Cabinet Member for Planning, Councillor Arthey was invited by the Chair of the Council to introduce report BC/20/8.

 

21.3             Councillor Arthey addressed some of the key points in the report including the background stages of the Joint Local Plan’s production, the extensive evidence base of the plan, the recommended options, and the principles provided by the plan.

 

21.4             Councillor Arthey went on to explain the amendments required to the Statement of Community Involvement due to the ongoing situation with Covid-19.

 

21.5             Councillor Arthey expressed thanks to the Chief Executive, the Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities, Tom Barker and his teams, especially the Strategic Planning team. He also thanked Phil Isbell, Chief Planning Officer and the Planning Team for their support. Special thanks were given to the Corporate Manager for Strategic Planning, along with the Members involved with the development of the plan.

 

21.6             Councillor Arthey PROPOSED the recommendations in the report which was SECONDED by Councillor Ward.

 

21.7             The Corporate Manager for Strategic Planning responded to Councillor Hinton’s question regarding Suffolk County Council’s Local Plan and explained that consultation had taken place between Babergh District Council and Suffolk County Council.

 

21.8             Councillor Hinton queried the extraction of mineral on development sites in relation to the Suffolk County Council mineral extraction plan and how this was mitigated in the Joint Local Plan. Councillor Arthey explained that sites were identified for housing allocation and not for mineral extractions. 

 

21.9             Councillor Arthey and the Corporate Manager for Strategic Planning responded to Members’ questions regarding specific parts of the plan relating to their wards.

 

21.10         Councillor Barrett enquired whether support for planning applications with a wider mix of property sizes would be provided in the future, in particular four-bedroom houses. Councillor Arthey advised that decisions regarding these issues would be the responsibility of the planning department and Planning Committee.

 

21.11         Councillor Arthey responded to Member’s questions on issues including: the robustness of the Joint Local Plan, existing permissions granted, and how the consultation would be communicated to communities.

 

21.12         Following a query from Councillor Jamieson regarding policy LS01 and the village of Lindsey (Appendix a, page 328), the Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities confirmed that clarification of the number of dwellings would be provided outside of the meeting.

 

21.13         Councillor Arthey assured Members that Parish Councils had been engaged with the development of the JLP in 2018 and 2019 and that the plan had been well publicised.

 

21.14         Members debated the report on issues including: Neighbourhood Plans, the number of allocations for the Ipswich fringe area, potential increase in traffic and the provision of infrastructure, the National Planning Policy Framework, sustainability issues and local needs for housing.

 

21.15         Some Members fully supported the JLP and that the design of the plan would support biodiversity, whilst others had concerns for the impact on climate change, sustainability, and carbon  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

22.

BC/20/9 COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY (CIL) - PROPOSED REVISED CIL CHARGING RATES (FOR CONSULTATION PURPOSES) FOR BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL AND MID SUFFOLK DISTRICT COUNCIL (AS CIL CHARGING AUTHORITIES FOR THEIR ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS) pdf icon PDF 321 KB

Cabinet Member for Planning

Additional documents:

Minutes:

22.1           Councillor Grandon, the Chair of Council invited Councillor Arthey, Cabinet Member for Planning to introduce Paper BC/20/9.

 

Note: Councillors Plumb and Ayres left the meeting at 7:18 pm

 

22.2            Councillor Arthey introduced the report and asked that the wording ‘both Councils’ be replaced with ‘Babergh District Council’ throughout the recommendations the report.

 

22.3            Councillor Arthey MOVED Recommendations 3.1 and 3.2 in the report, which was SECONDED by Councillor Ward.

 

22.4            In response to Members’ questions, Councillor Arthey confirmed that the new proposal did not contain any zoning and that the proposal came from the Members Working Group.

 

NOTE: Councillor Lindsay left the meeting at 7:24 pm

 

22.5            Members debated the issues, including inflation of house prices in relation to earnings, the doubling of CIL income in some areas, the need for funding for infrastructure, that the impact on house prices was a question of demand and supply.

 

22.6            Councillor Arthey summed up the issues and advised Members that the work had been underpinned by a viability study, and he introduced Stuart Cook from Aspinall Verdi Property Regeneration Consultants, who had undertaken the viability study.

 

22.7            Mr Cook explained how the development cost was based around land value and how current sales and market values would accommodate CIL charges.

 

NOTE: Councillor Hinton left the meeting at 7:37 pm.

 

22.8            Councillor Arthey added that CIL charges were being charged up front of a development and would be based on land values.

 

22.9            Recommendations 3.1 and 3.2 with the amended wording were put to Members for voting.

 

By a unanimous vote

 

It was RESOLVED: -

 

1.1            That Babergh District Council approves the content of the report (and all Appendices) with a view to agreeing that this material be the subject of a formal consultation for a period of six weeks between the 12th November and the 24th December 2020. (This would be a separate consultation but run in parallel with the consultation exercise for the emerging Joint Local Plan).

1.2               That Babergh District Council agrees that all responses to the consultation relating to revisions to the rates of CIL charging will be considered, analysed by the Council’s Viability Consultants, and taken into account and fed into an Examination in public to be held by an Inspector.

1.3                

That Babergh District Council also agrees to fully consider the Inspectors report when the Examination in public is concluded together with any consequent Inspectors report issued with his/her findings to the Council. This would allow Babergh District Council to consider outcomes together with any revision and subsequent adoption of any new revised CIL charging rates for Babergh District Council together with an implementation date.