Agenda and minutes

To note any substitution of Panel Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rules.

There were no apologies for absence.

 To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 August 2024 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 August 2024 were approved as a correct record.

There were no items of urgent business.

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on this Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

Up to thirty minutes will be made available for questions from members of the public on issues relating to the work of the Committee and to receive any petitions.

There were no public questions or petitions.

Report of the Asssistant Director (Planning).

The Planning and Policy Implementation Manager introduced the report and took the meeting through a presentation. The government was consulting on a range of changes to the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF) and the deadline for responses was 24 September 2024. The consultation was essentially in two parts: a track changed version of the current NPPF with a series of minor amendments and alongside that, a document setting out proposed reforms and some other changes to the planning system. The consultation invited views on both.

The NPPF set out the government’s planning policies and how they should be applied; essentially it was the framework within which locally prepared plans could provide for sufficient housing and other developments in a sustainable manner. Planning law required that applications for planning applications be determined in accordance with a development plan (typically the Local Plan unless material conditions indicated otherwise) and was a material consideration in planning decisions. The main part of the consultation covered housing needs and targets, and a key change to the draft NPPF included a new standard methodology for calculating local housing need using a baseline set at a percentage of existing housing stock levels and an affordability calculator being applied. The new standard methodology was meant to underpin the government’s ambition to deliver 1.5m homes over this Parliament. The government was also seeking to reinstate the requirement for all local authorities to demonstrate a five year housing land supply so Welwyn Hatfield would again have to demonstrate this. The duty to cooperate between councils and other organisations was being strengthened, including new cross-boundary strategic planning. There would be a requirement for local planning authorities to review the green belt when a local authority could not meet its identified housing, commercial or other needs without altering green belt boundaries and for Welwyn Hatfield this would likely mean doing more work on green belt assessments. For plan making and decision making purposes, it was proposed that a grey belt be introduced (land in the green belt that comprised previously developed land and any other areas of green belt land that made a limited contribution to the five green belt purposes).

In terms of planning for climate change, the new draft NPPF would require local plans to identify suitable areas for renewable and low carbon energy sources. The proposed amendments stated that local planning authorities should support planning applications for all forms of renewable and low carbon developments and, when determining applications, should give significant weight to the proposals’ contributions and a net zero future.

In terms of funding and charging for planning applications, the draft consultation proposed that householder application fees increase from £258 to £528 and sought views on this. The consultation also sought views on full localisation of planning fees and local variation from a default national fee.

Local plans should be prepared against the revised version of the NPPF. It had been intended that the new plan making system as set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 133.