Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) on the Local Plan’s next steps.  Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan has been submitted and is currently undergoing public examination by an independent inspector.  The inspector asked the Council to carry out a further green belt study to determine whether there is any scope for additional housing sites to be identified.  The results of the study had been reported to CPPP previously and this report proposes that the Council carry out a new call-for-sites process, publish any new sites for public comment, analyse the sites, debate the results and submit any new site allocations to the examination to enable hearing session on new sites.

The report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) set out the next steps on the Local Plan. The Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan had been submitted and was undergoing public examination by an independent inspector. The inspector indicated that the plan did not meet the objectively assessed need for housing.  The submitted plan contained sites for 12,000 homes but the housing need was acknowledged to be about 16,000 homes to 2033.

The inspector subsequently asked the Council to carry out a further green belt study to determine whether there was any scope for additional housing sites to be identified. The results of the green belt study (carried out by LUC consultants) was reported to the Panel in September 2018 and debated at an examination hearing session on 6 and 7 November 2018.   The inspector subsequently asked the Council and LUC consultants to clarify the findings and address any accepted inconsistencies of the harm assessment of the greenbelt.

In October 2018 a planning appeal inquiry took place in respect of the refusal of planning permission for the redevelopment of employment land at Entech House in Woolmer Green for housing.  The appeal inspector concluded that:  the emerging Local Plan was not at an advanced stage, the Council could not show a five year supply of deliverable housing sites and the scale of its supply falls considerably short of five years. As a result it may be necessary for the Council to give slightly more weight to future housing proposals on brownfield sites and undesignated employment land and slightly less weight to other policies that might otherwise restrict housing development that has adverse impacts.

Subsequently, the inspector asked the Council to agree the way forward so that the Local Plan could progress in a timely manner. The Head of Planning and Leader of the Council were authorised by the Panel in September 2018 to agree a response.  It was proposed that the Council carry out a new Call for Sites process, publish any new sites for public comment, analyse the sites, debate the results and submit any new site allocations to the examination, to enable hearing sessions on new sites and village sites to take place in autumn 2019 and adoption in spring 2020.

The following timetable was proposed so that the Local Plan was progressed in a timely manner:

The following concerns were expressed by Members:

•        The new timetable could create delay.

•        The new timetable was ambitious.

•        The greenbelt between villages could be under-minded as the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPP) sees coalescence between towns such as Welwyn Garden City, Hertford and Stevenage as well as Hatfield and St Albans as a significant issue, more than coalescence between villages.

The following points were then made:

•        New call for sites could result in new sites being put forward as well as old sites (that had been submitted previously) that demonstrated that they were now suitable.

•        Officers would analyse the cumulative effect and harm to the green belt and demonstrate what was acceptable taking into account the scale of the housing need. 

•        As the Council was agreeing a plan for 15 years it was better to get it right and demonstrate that the Council had done everything possibly could to reduce the harm to the greenbelt.

RESOLVED

(Unanimous)

(1)     That the Panel acknowledge the debate about the Stage 3 Green Belt Study that took place at the Examination hearing sessions on 6 and 7 November 2018.

(2)     That the Panel agrees the way forward and timetable for the progression of the Local Plan.  This comprises a new Call for Sites process, publication of new sites for public comment, individual and cumulative analysis of the sites and a decision on any additional sites should be favoured for allocation and submitted to the examination.