The Council’s inefficiency in producing an urgently-needed  Local Plan, was targeted in many of the questions. Here is a sample, with the answers received (More to come in following posts) :

Question 2: Procedure Rule 9.2 to the Leader of the Council from Councillor Ben Ingham

Development Management Committee (DMC) Members were told in October to expect an update on the SHMA report, revised housing numbers, and the 5 year supply of housing land at a separate DMC meeting in December 2014. Calculation of the five year housing land supply was reported as “work in progress” to the 21st October DMC. However, none of these three items are on the DMC agenda for December.

It is essential this information is made available before the DMC meeting in January 2015. Six weeks consultation are required before it can be brought back to the DMC and our Full Council. All of this must be finalised and approved before the end of March. I suggest it is highly likely that everything will slow down in March in the run-up to the EDDC elections.

As each week goes by, we are not able to make sound, rational decisions on planning applications without this data. Can I have the Leader’s assurance that we will have comprehensive feedback on the SHMA report, revised housing numbers, and the 5 year supply of housing land at the January 2015 meeting of DMC?

Answer:

The minutes of Development Management Committee in October state that Members were advised that a report setting out proposed changes to the Local Plan and Community Infrastructure Levy would be considered at a special meeting of the committee in December 2014/January 2015. The items that Cllr Ingham refers to are all elements of this report which was never timetabled to be considered on the scheduled December DMC meeting.

Officers are acutely aware of the need to progress the Local Plan and are doing all they can to achieve this. The continuing delays with the SHMA are however outside of our direct control as it is a joint commission with several other authorities and reliant on the work of consultants. Furthermore recent changes to government guidance affecting the Council’s ability to secure planning obligations from small scale developments have created a need to review our affordable housing policies and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) calculations which may lead to further delay but are completely outside of our control. The Special DMC meeting to consider revisions to the Local Plan will be held as soon as humanly possible but may not now be until February.

Whilst this is far from ideal, our Officers and Members of the DM Committee have an excellent track record on appeals as the reality is that none of this prevents sound, rational decisions being made on planning applications as the adopted East Devon Local Plan coupled with the National Planning Policy Framework and its associated guidance provide the necessary policy support to prevent developments that are harmful from being approved.

Question 3: Procedure Rule 9.2 to the Leader of the Council from Councillor Ben Ingham

The emerging East Devon Local Plan.

In two recent Inspectors’ letters it is said that a Local Plan Examination cannot or should not be suspended for more than six months:

Eastleigh Local Plan Examination paras 83-86: “I would be concerned if this timetable required a suspension of more than 6 months. In my experience, longer suspensions make effective resumption of the Examination very difficult for all parties, as evidence becomes out of date.”

Uttlesford Local Plan page 3: “My normal strong inclination would be to ‘keep the Development Plan process on the road” wherever possible in order to keep the planning process moving along with as little disruption as possible. However, the scale of work which the Council would need to undertake to propose and consult upon changes to deal with these matters would be greater than could be completed within the normal maximum six month period of a suspended examination.”

Question: Bearing in mind that it is now ten months since East Devon’s Examination hearings and it will be well over twelve months until the revised Plan is submitted, what is the process going to be?

Answer:

Every Local Plan is different. For every example quoted by Cllr Ingham where inspectors have expressed concern about suspending a plan for more than 6 months there are plans that have been further delayed than our own including some that were submitted for examination as far back as 2012 such as Swindon Borough Council who have only recently completed examination of their plan which was submitted in August 2012 and Wiltshire Council whose Core Strategy was only found sound earlier this month having been submitted for examination in July 2012. It is however best to focus on our own plan and with that in mind we are working on technical evidence gathering with a number of neighbouring authorities and expect to receive conclusions soon. The expectation is that we will report findings and recommended changes to the plan to Council in early 2015. The intent will be that consultation will follow and we would hope to reconvene oral hearing sessions as soon as practically possible after consultation.

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Question 5: Procedure Rule 9.2 to the Leader of the Council from Councillor Susie Bond

Given recent developments regarding the police investigation into former Cllr Brown, could the Council confirm its commitment to its own whistleblowing policy?

Answer:

Yes – a copy of the policy is attached to this set of questions and answers.