Issue - meetings

(a)       That the Council note the representations made during the Deposit Local Development Plan consultation (appendix 1) and endorse the recommended responses, and agree that they will be forwarded to the Welsh Government and the Planning Inspectorate for consideration as part of the examination in Public; and

(b)       That the Council agree that the Flintshire Local Development Plan (2015-2030) be Submitted to the Welsh Government and the Planning Inspectorate for Examination in Public.

The Chief Officer (Planning, Environment and Economy) introduced the report for Members to consider and agree the Council’s responses to representations received to the Deposit Local Development Plan (LDP) consultation exercise.  This was a key stage towards achieving one of the priorities within the Council Plan, to adopt the LDP and it has been subject to lengthy scrutiny by the cross-party Planning Strategy Group (PSG).  One priority of PSG was to protect existing Green Barrier land and Settlement boundaries where possible.  If agreed by Members, the Plan would be submitted to the Welsh Government and Planning Inspectorate for Public Examination by an independent Planning Inspector, providing an opportunity for further representations to be made at the discretion of the Inspector.

The Service Manager Strategy gave a presentation covering:

·         Purpose

·         The Deposit LDP, the Council’s Plan

·         Main elements of Plan strategy

·         Deposit LDP housing allocations

·         Consultation on Deposit LDP

·         Work of Planning Strategy Group

·         Consideration of representations

·         Main issues raised

·         Pressures

·         Example Green Barrier comparison map

·         Submission of the Plan

·         Member briefings and Cabinet recommendation

The presentation highlighted the range of benefits in adopting a Plan, the approach to responding to representations and the broad spread of sites in sustainable settlements - some of which had potential for early development.  A key element of the process was the contributions of the PSG in scrutinising progress and making recommendations to Cabinet that were now submitted to Council for approval.  The Service Manager advised that Welsh Government had found no fundamental issues with the soundness of the Plan and that key infrastructure providers/stakeholders had raised no major objections.  Work was continuing with Natural Resources Wales to resolve flood risk concerns on five small employment sites.  In summary, having considered all representations and evidence, there were no significant changes recommended to the Plan with only minor editing/wording changes required for clarity.

The Chair thanked the officers and their team, together with PSG Members for their work on this matter.

During the item, a number of Members also paid tribute to the officers and PSG Members for their commitment to the lengthy process in producing a sound Plan.

As Chair of the PSG, Councillor Bithell moved the recommendations - as endorsed by Cabinet - and highlighted the importance of progressing to adopting a Local Development Plan for Flintshire.

As Vice-Chair of the PSG, Councillor Peers seconded the proposal and echoed the positive comments about the work of all those involved in the process.  He referred to a potential conflict on the response to the proposal for an original candidate site as a housing site and asked if this could be reviewed prior to the Council issuing its full response.  He thanked officers for more clarity on changes to the Green Barriers and asked if Members could comment on those comparison maps.

The Service Manager said that, whilst Members were welcome to raise queries with him on the review of Green Barriers, there could be no extension to the consultation period.  The comparison maps would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10