Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Bithell introduced the Flintshire Local Development Plan – Update on Progress and Position with the Plan’s Timetable report.

            Work on the Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) was guided by a Delivery Agreement which had to be approved by the relevant Welsh Minister.  Part of that agreement was a timetable that committed the Council to reach key milestones in Plan preparation by prescribed dates. 

Following the public consultation that ended in November, the Plan had remained ‘on track’.  However the present emergency situation and the lack of public access to key public buildings such as Council offices, Connects Centres and libraries prevented a full list of all of the representations received from being made available for public inspection, as required by legislation.  In addition, the inability of the Council to meet to agree the responses and to the submission of the Plan for Examination had meant that the Plan’s timetable had been required to be reviewed and amendments proposed.

The Chief Officer (Planning, Environment and Economy) explained that the report highlighted the good progress made with the Plan; the reasons for the need to review the timetable; how that had been discussed with Welsh Government (WG) and the Planning Inspectorate; and the implications in terms of a revised timeline for the plan, including the consideration of and decisions the Council would need to take, and when.  Key points arising from discussions with WG and the Planning Inspectorate were outlined in the report.

It would not be feasible to publish representations until July at the earliest.  This would mean a meeting of County Council in September and a provisional date of 29^th had been set.  Submission of the Plan for Examination would then be in October and would trigger formal appointment of an Inspector and preparations for an Examination in late January 2021.

In response to a question from Councillor Thomas on libraries and representations being made available to the public, the Chief Executive explained that there had not been a national agreement for libraries to open.  The Chief Officer added that WG had invited the Council to develop a strategy for representations to be made available, with the website being part of that.

Councillor Heesom, as Chair of Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee had expressed views on the impact of flooding and flood risk.  The Chief Officer said the report before Cabinet Members was not to look into the detail of the LDP, but was about changes to the delivery dates.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That Cabinet note the continuing positive progress being made by the Local Development Plan; and

(b)       That the amended timetable shown within Appendix 1 of the report for the key remaining stages in plan preparation be approved, and a formal request be made to Welsh Government to agree a revision to the Local Development Plan Delivery agreement timetable.