Members are invited to declare interests in relation to items of business on the agenda.  Any interests declared will be recorded in the Minutes.

There were no declarations of interest in relation to items of business on the agenda.

Tony Wright, Planning Policy and Design Manager, introduced his report and informed Members that emerging changes in Government advice on the planning process suggested that the Council should prepare a single planning document called the Local Plan in place of the previously intended separate core strategy and sites and policies development plan documents. Members were asked to consider a draft of a new Local Plan for the Borough for the period 2011-2029.

The current Local Plan was adopted 5 years ago and due to expire in 2011. It was a Government requirement to have current planning policy documents in place that looked fifteen years ahead. The draft before Members would, if approved by Cabinet and Council, be out for public consultation for a period of 9 weeks. Presentations at various venues around the Borough would take place during this time.

The Council had resolved that three areas – south of Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, west of Woodhouse Lane, Hedge End and north east of Boorley Green, Botley – should be identified in the draft plan as preferred locations for large-scale housing development

The Chair welcomed the Leader to the meeting who offered to answer any questions as necessary.

A number of issues were raised and discussed including the following:

-                  Was the total number of homes needed the best figure to base the strategy on?

There was no national Government instruction or guidance on how many homes to plan for and the decision had been made using a number of methods. A number of scenarios were set out in the report, which concluded that there would be an estimated housing requirement of 9,400 dwellings over the period to 2029, of which 2,500 already had planning permission. The Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA) suggested that existing urban areas had the potential to accommodate 4,700 dwellings in this period which left a requirement of 4,700 dwellings to be accommodated outside the urban edge.

-                  Was the attempt to balance Greenfield and Brownfield development within the strategy sensible?

Planning the future housing requirement was a matter of projections and estimation and a number of factors were taken into account including ‘windfall’ potential; how many planning permissions were extant; how much land identified in the current Local Plan remained available for development; and the potential of sites examined in the SLAA. These all went together to provide a projection of potential supply.  Set against the estimated need this left a ‘residual greenfield requirement’.

-                  Was the theory of a smaller number of large allocations supported by some satellite development growth better than dividing the total between each Local Area Committee area equally, given that critical infrastructure has to be funded?  

Smaller sites would impact heavily on local infrastructure; having three large sites meant the infrastructure could be better planned. The Boorley Green and Woodhouse Lane development area would potentially help with the funding of the Botley by-pass.

-                  Did the Plan fully cover infrastructure needs?

It was advised that infrastructure involved many different services and the draft Local Plan had taken into account the impact of new development on a wide range of services and facilities.  Further work would be undertaken on these issues with stakeholders and in the light of the response to consultation.

-                  Was the consultation programme, appended to the report, comprehensive enough and what improvements could be made?

It was suggested that the parish councils should be asked to use their websites and publications to publicise the consultation in addition to other channels. It was requested that Hampshire County Council be invited to give a presentation to Members on demographic issues.

The Chair thanked Tony Wright, the Leader and Members for a very productive and informative meeting.

It was AGREED -  

(1)             That the report be noted;

(2)             That Hampshire County Council be invited to give a presentation to Members on local demographic issues; and

(3)             That the draft Local Plan consultation programme be publicised through the parish and town council websites and their other communications methods.