Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Panel received the report of the Assistant Director (Planning) on the adoption of the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan (2016) and a presentation.

The Planning and Policy Implementation Manager highlighted that three of the Inspector’s modifications set out in his schedule at Appendix 2 were not shown in the consolidated version at Appendix 3. These related to further Main Modifications 8 and 15, which would be incorporated into a revised Appendix 3 as part of the agenda for the Council meeting on 12 October 2023.

The following points were raised during the discussion:

·       Members commented that it was important for the next Council meeting to deliberate on the Local Plan as it affected all wards; while councillors needed to focus on the borough as a whole, they also needed to consider the needs of their ward constituents.    

·       Members asked how many homes needed to be built over the next ten years, how many had already been built, and how many homes the Council would potentially need to find if Council was to reject the Local Plan. Officers advised the Inspector had identified 15,200 homes were needed; the ten year requirement was 9,400 homes. Our supply was 9,200 homes (including completions and commitments) and so the Inspector had said we were close to the 10 year requirement and had allowed us to move forward. If the Local Plan was to be rejected, the completions would not count towards the number of new homes (13,380) that would be required. Asked about the minimum number of dwellings that would need to be found in the three year review period, officers said the Local Plan provided for 13,400 homes (9,200 over 10 years) against a target of 15,200 with a shortfall of 1,800. 

·       Officers noted this meant there was a shortfall for the Plan; a review was required which would need to plan for 15 years in the future which would consider housing need; it would straddle this Plan as well as going beyond it.

·       Asked about sites which had been deemed unsound, officers advised sites can be re-promoted and other sites could also be put forward which would go through the assessment process using criteria that linked to strategic objectives. It was theoretically possible that the criteria could change so an unsound site could be assessed as sound in the review period; the new Plan would be formulated in the planning system of the time and there would need to be a rigorous assessment of all sites that were put forward, as the sites that had been found unsound were unsound in the context of this Plan whereas there was potentially different criteria for the next Plan in a different planning system.    

·       Concern was expressed about the allocation of a number of sites on the Green Belt. If the Local Plan was not adopted, an excess of new homes not in the green belt could be built.

·       A Member asked whether, if the Local Plan was rejected and another was established with 13,380 homes over 15 years, there would be more homes over 20 years in a new Plan than the one being considered. Officers said the supply of sites was listed in the housing trajectory in Appendix 3 of the report and there was a shortfall when set against a bigger number, so more housing sites would be needed. The Member reflected that if the Plan was to be rejected, there would probably be a higher level of housing overall and the Council would have been unable to protect the sites it wished to omit from the Plan.

·       Once a decision was made about adopting the Local Plan, work could begin on biodiversity net gain and making developments greener.

·       A Member queried how local the Plan was. He said Members had agreed on a cross-party basis that 13,200 was probably a better target for homes than 15,200 but the Inspector had insisted on the latter figure; the sites that were being protected would come back in the review; and there would be more than 15,200 homes which led him to feel this was the Inspector’s Plan.

·       A Member commented that a review of the Plan would be needed and said if it was rejected the Council would still be subject to speculative development. Officers noted the duty to have a Local Plan and so a new one with a timetable for 15 years would need to be established.    

·       Members thanked officers for their work on the Local Plan.

RESOLVED:

1.     The Panel noted the content of the Inspector’s Report on the Examination of the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan (2016) alongside the appended Schedule of Main Modifications and his conclusion that the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan (2016) provides an appropriate basis for the planning of the Borough provided that a number of Main Modifications are made to it.

2.     The Panel recommended to Council that:

-        Council noted the Inspector’s report and its conclusions;

-        The Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan (2016), which was submitted to the Secretary of State for examination and amended by the Main Modifications (appendix 2) and Additional Modifications (Appendix 4), be adopted as part of the statutory development plan for Welwyn Hatfield Borough (in accordance with Section 23 (3) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended));

-        Authority be delegated to the Assistant Director (Planning), in consultation with the Executive Member for planning, to make changes to text, graphics and layout of the Plan of a minor or inconsequential nature or in order to ensure consistency with the Main Modifications (Appendix 2) and Additional Modifications Schedules (Appendix 4) to this report, as considered appropriate and necessary prior to the publication of the final version of the adopted Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan (2016) and associated Policies Map in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended); and,

-        Council note that, on adoption of the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan (2016) the saved policies of the Welwyn Hatfield District Plan (adopted 2005) and associated Proposal Maps will have been replaced and will not be used for decision-making thereafter.