Agenda item

To consider the report of the head of planning (attached).

The committee considered the head of planning’s report on the council’s options on Local Plan Part 2.  The report was presented by Councillor Catherine Webber, the Cabinet member for planning, together with planning officers.  The report set out the background to the local plan’s development to date, together with three options open to the council at this stage:

1.    To withdraw Local Plan Part 2

2.    To not adopt Local Plan Part 2

3.    To adopt Local Plan Part 2

The Cabinet member for Planning recommended option 3, to adopt Local Plan Part 2, as the plan had been found to be sound by the independent planning inspector.  Work could then commence on a new local plan. 

The committee was being consulted on the options before Cabinet on 4 October made its recommendations to full Council on 9 October. 

The committee raised several questions regarding the options, including whether the council had a fourth option to defer adoption of the plan, pending the outcome of the examination of Oxford City’s Local Plan and its unmet housing need allocated to the Vale.  Officers advised that the outcome of that examination could be some time away, in which time the Vale could be exposed to the threat of speculative housing development if it lost its five-year housing land supply. 

The committee noted that the local plan preparation process was set out in detailed regulations.  The analysis of the options and the risks attributed to each were based on officers’ experience of this and other councils.  The committee expressed concern that the process to form and describe the options, and the analysis of those options, provided insufficient detail to allow councillors to make an informed choice.  In particular, councillors believed that the report had not sufficiently analysed the risks of each option, for example, was the council at risk of judicial review if it adopted the plan (option 3)? 

It was moved by the chairman that the committee supports the recommendations as set out in the report, namely to note the inspector’s conclusions, to note the options, and to recommend Cabinet to accept the inspector’s report and recommendation and adopt Local Plan Part 2.  However, this motion did not receive the support of a seconder and therefore was withdrawn. 

It was then moved by Councillor Mike Pighills and seconded by Councillor Rob Maddison that the committee: 

·         notes the conclusions of the independent inspector, appointed to examine Local Plan Part 2, as set out in the head of planning’s report to Scrutiny Committee on 19 September 2019; 

·         notes the options in relation to Local Plan Part 2, as set out in the report; 

·         requests that the confidential legal advice around the Local Plan, which the council has received, be released to all councillors; and

·         requests officers to amend the report (i) to include the process for developing the options and (ii) to rate the risks relating to each option.    

The committee supported the motion and hoped that the information would help Cabinet members and later all members of the Council to make a balanced decision. 

RESOLVED: to

(a)      note the conclusions of the independent inspector, appointed to examine Local Plan Part 2, as set out in the head of planning’s report to Scrutiny Committee on 19 September 2019; 

(b)      note the options in relation to Local Plan Part 2, as set out in the report; 

(c)       request that the confidential legal advice around the Local Plan, which the council has received, be released to all councillors; and

(d)      request officers to amend the report (i) to include the process for developing the options and (ii) to rate the risks relating to each option.