Issue - meetings

Cabinet received a presentation from Councillor C R Turley, Chair of the Communities Scrutiny Committee and Co-Chair of the Local Plan Working Group.

At the 11 November 2020 meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee, the Committee received a briefing on the Authority’s Local Plan proposals from the Council’s Director for Housing, Employment & Infrastructure, the Strategic Planning Team Leader, and the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood, Commercial Services and Regeneration.

The Committee received briefings on specific policy areas and the form that the Local Plan consultation would take. Members expressed a specific interest in scrutinising the policy areas of Bio-diversity Net Gain and Urban Greening. Due to the cross-committee nature of the Local Plan, it was agreed that a working group made up of Members from a variety of committees would best serve scrutiny of the proposals.

A six-member Working Group was formed, meeting five-times throughout February and March to examine bio-diversity net gain and urban greening within the Local Plan proposals. At its meetings, the Working Group received evidence from Council officers and external speakers, shared research findings, and discussed the proposals.

The Group was keen for the Borough to adopt as strong a policy in both bio-diversity net gain and urban greening as possible whilst retaining the flexibility needed to allow the Borough to continue to grow and flourish. The Group made the recommendation contained within the report to contribute to the Council’s efforts in addressing the Climate Emergency and creating a greener Borough.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat / Independent Group expressed his support for the proposals.

The Cabinet Member: Economy, Housing, Transport and Infrastructure welcomed the report and stated the intention to ask officers to incorporate the Working Group’s recommendation into the review.

RESOLVED that:

·         Bio-diversity net gain should, wherever possible, be delivered on the site that is being developed. If this was not possible, then it should be delivered on a site agreed with the Council, such site to be as close as possible to the site being developed;

·         Where urban greening and bio-diversity net gain was provided off-site, efforts should be made to secure additional benefits, such as public access, where possible. To maximise public benefit, investment should in the first instance be directed to publicly owned land;

·         The provision of urban greening should be required of commercial and residential developments;

·         That an urban greening policy should be adopted and that the Council instruct an appropriate urban greening specialist to prepare evidence to support as high an urban greening factor as possible;

·         Unless otherwise required by the emerging Environment Bill,   a policy requiring a bio-diversity net gain be adopted which distinguished between major and minor developments with measurable net gain on minor developments and a minimum net gain requirement of 10% on major developments;

·         The Council should seek to introduce bio-diversity net gain and urban greening prior to both the formal adoption of an adopted local plan and the Environment Bill becoming law; and

·         The Council should seek to lead by example in the fields  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71