Issue - meetings

The report of the Panel that considered the draft South East Plan was published at the end of August.  This was considered by the Strategic and Local Planning Advisory Group on 24 September 2007.  A copy of the report has been made available in the Members’ Lounge at Abbey House, Abingdon and is available on line at www.gose.gov.uk/gose/planning/regionalplanning.  Annex 1 (attached) contains a summary of those issues in the Panel’s report affecting the Vale. 

There is no formal opportunity to comment at this stage; the next opportunity will be to respond to the Government’s proposed modifications to the draft Plan due to be published at the end of the year.  However, if there are matters of particular concern, a letter could be written to the Government Office as it may influence their consideration of the Panel’s report and the subsequent modifications.  The Advisory Group considers there are three areas where the Council should consider writing to the Government Office, as set out below. 

Recommendations

that the Deputy Director (Planning and Community Strategy) be asked to write to the Government Office about the Panel’s report on the draft South East Plan to:

(i)         Advise that there is an error in the housing figures for the Vale;

(ii)        Point out that full funding for the Harwell by-pass has not yet been identified but that every effort should be made to secure funding, including developer contributions.  The Council therefore strongly supports the Panel’s recommendation to refer to the pooling of developer contributions in the lower case text; and

(iii)       Object to the reference to the Upper Thames reservoir being developed in Oxfordshire. 

(Time: 3.59pm to 4.03pm)

The Executive received and considered an agenda item regarding the report of the Panel that considered the draft South East Plan.  The Panel's report was published at the end of August and was considered by the Strategic and Local Planning Advisory Group on 24 September 2007.  Appended to the agenda was   Annex 1 which contained a summary of those issues in the Panel’s report affecting the Vale. 

There was no formal opportunity for the Council to comment at this stage; the next opportunity would be to respond to the Government’s proposed modifications to the draft Plan due to be published at the end of 2007.  However, the Advisory Group had raised concerns and asked that a letter was sent to the Government Office to influence its consideration of the Panel’s report and the subsequent modifications.  The Advisory Group considered there were three areas to raise:

1.                  The Government Office should be advised that there was an error in the housing figures for the Vale;

2.                  It should be pointed out that full funding for the Harwell by-pass had not been identified but that every effort should be made to secure funding, including developer contributions.  The Panel’s recommendation to refer to the pooling of developer contributions in the lower case text should be strongly supported; and

3.                  Objection should be raised to the reference in the Panel’s report to the Upper Thames reservoir being developed in Oxfordshire. 

The Executive largely concurred with the Advisory Group's views and asked that these points were raised with the Government Office.  However, Members suggested additional wording to clarify the Council’s objection to the inclusion of the reference to the reservoir. 

RESOLVED

that the Deputy Director (Planning and Community Strategy) be asked to write to the Government Office about the Panel’s report on the draft South East Plan to:

(i)         Advise that there is an error in the housing figures for the Vale;

(ii)        Point out that full funding for the Harwell by-pass has not yet been identified but that every effort should be made to secure funding, including developer contributions.  The Council therefore strongly supports the Panel’s recommendation to refer to the pooling of developer contributions in the lower case text; and

(iii)       Object to the reference in the Panel’s to the Upper Thames reservoir being developed in Oxfordshire because the applicants have yet to clearly demonstrate the need for a reservoir to this Council, OxfordshireCounty Council and the Environment Agency.