northlincs.gov.uk

Chairman: Councillor Wardle
Venue: Council Chamber, Pittwood House, Scunthorpe
Time: 2pm

AGENDA

1. Substitutions.

2. Declarations of prejudicial or non-prejudicial personal interests, if any.

3. Consultation Paper on Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 1: Creating Sustainable Communities.

4. Draft Local Development Scheme.

5. Draft Supplementary Planning Guidance – Renewable Energy.

6. Conservation Area Appraisals – Normanby and Redbourne.

7. Any other items, which the chairman decides are urgent, by reasons of special circumstances which must be specified.

Note: Reports are by the Head of Planning and Regeneration unless otherwise stated.

Minutes

PRESENT: – Councillor Wardle in the chair.

Councillors Long (vice-chairman), England, Fordham, Glover, Grant, Ishaq, Oldfield, Vickers, , Whiteley and Wood.

Councillor Wells attended the meeting in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 37 (b).

The committee met at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe.

573 DECLARATIONS OF PREJUDICIAL AND NON-PREJUDICIAL PERSONAL INTERESTS–There were no declarations of personal interest.

574 (12) CONSULTATION PAPER ON PLANNING POLICY STATEMENT (PPS) 1: CREATING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES – TheHead of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report informing the committee of the policy changes contained in the consultation paper Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 1: Creating Sustainable Communities.

PPS1 would replace the existing Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) note 1: Policy and Principles, issued in 1997. It had been issued as part of the Government’s reform programme for the statutory planning system in England, which were designed to ensure planning helped to create sustainable communities and deliver sustainable development.

Draft PPS1 supported this reform programme, and in particular, the Government’s objectives for planning culture change, by setting out its vision for planning, and the key policies and principles which should underpin the planning system. These were built around three themes:

• Sustainable development – the purpose of the planning system;
• The spatial planning approach;
• Community involvement in planning.

There were four underlying policy messages contained within the Draft PPS:

(i) Need for planning authorities to take an approach based on integrated aims of sustainable development;

(ii) Need for positive planning and proactive management of development rather than simply regulation and control

(iii) Need for plans to set clear visions for communities

(iv) Need for planning system to be transparent, accessible and accountable and actively to promote participation and involvement

Resolved – That the report be noted.

575 (13) DRAFT LOCAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME – TheHead of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report seeking approval of the draft Local Development Scheme for the purpose of consulting key stakeholders.

Under the provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, which would come into force on 13 July 2004, the Council was charged with preparing a Local Development Framework (LDF) by March 2007. This would replace the existing local plan and would comprise a ‘portfolio’ of Local Development Documents (LDDs) which would collectively deliver the spatial planning strategy for North Lincolnshire. The LDDs would comprise development plan documents (DPDs) which would form part of the statutory development plan and supplementary planning documents (SPDs). The Government proposed that the preparation of LDDs should be a participatory process, the scope of which would be set out in a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) for each LDD. In addition, the Government proposed that each LDD would include a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and a Strategic Environmental Appraisal (SEA).

The first LDD to be produced would be the Local Development Scheme (LDS), which had to be approved by Government Office within 6 months of the Act coming into force. A draft of the first LDS was appended to the report. The LDS was a public statement of the local planning authority’s programme for progressing the LDF. The LDS would set out the local planning authority’s timetables for producing LDDs against which progress would be measured. Local planning authorities were expected to ‘programme manage’ the process. The LDS was prepared annually and should be reviewed where the set timetable had not been achieved and/or where there is a need to revise and/or prepare a new LDD. Annual monitoring would be required on DPDs so that checks could be made against set national and regional targets in addition to local planning authority targets. Future planning delivery grant would be dependent on the delivery of the LDS.

Recommended to Council – That the draft Local Development Scheme be approved and consultations carried out with appropriate stakeholders.

(14) DRAFT SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE – RENEWABLE ENERGY – TheHead of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report seeking approval of Draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG)for Renewable Energy for public consultation.

Policy DS21 of the North Lincolnshire Local Plan (adopted May 2003) provided general guidance for the development of Renewable Energy. Since the adoption of this Plan the Government had published draft Planning Policy Statement 22 – Renewable Energy. This guidance sought to relax planning controls for such developments in order to increase energy production from renewable sources. Draft Regional Planning Guidance for Yorkshire and the Humber set minimum renewable targets to increase the provision of renewable energy for 2010.

Wind turbines were expected to play a significant role in the delivery of renewable energy targets as a result of improvements in turbine technology that required lower mean average wind speeds. Wind turbines were therefore capable of being deployed more widely across the region providing the opportunity for all areas to contribute to renewable energy targets. However, the wind energy industry preferred optimal locations that were closely located to the national electricity grid. The continued improvements in wind technology were also manifested in larger turbines with greater energy densities that had greater impact on the landscape and environment.

The relaxation of planning controls proposed in PPS22 (particularly in areas without national landscape designations) and the improvements in turbine technology were resulting in an over-concentration of wind farm proposals in more lowland landscapes such as North Lincolnshire. The availability of a number of 132kv power lines that crossed North Lincolnshire provided a particularly favoured location for such developments.

There were currently proposals for more than 130 MW of energy to be generated from wind turbines within North Lincolnshire, more than the entire Humber sub-regional target for 2010. Many of these proposals were located in one small area of the district and did not take proper account of the cumulative impacts of adjacent schemes. A number of wind farm proposals had been approved or were proposed adjacent to the North Lincolnshire boundary. Further planning guidance was therefore necessary in order to prevent an unplanned ‘free for all’ and to ensure that the cumulative impact and environmental capacity of such proposals could be properly considered.

The draft Supplementary Planning Guidance was appended to the report.

Recommended to Council – (a) That the draft Supplementary Planning Guidance on Renewable Energy guidance is published for consultation, and (b) That the final draft SPG / SPD be adopted for development control purposes and referred to the planning committee.

577 (15) NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE LOCAL PLAN – CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISALS – The Head of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report inviting the committee to recommend the adoption of Supplementary Planning Guidance for two Conservation Areas in North Lincolnshire, Normanby and Redbourne, together with amendments to the boundaries of those areas and the making of Article 4 Directions to control alterations to properties in those areas.

A review of the council’s 17 Conservation Areas had been undertaken by external consultants and completed in May 2002. Draft Supplementary Guidance had been prepared for each area, comprising in each case of an appraisal of the area’s character and planning guidance.

The council had resolved to use the draft documents as interim policy statements for development control purposes.

Consultation had been undertaken in line with that carried out for the local plan.

The consultants undertaking the appraisals had also asked to review the boundaries of all Conservation Areas. They had concluded that there was no need to change the boundary at Normanby. Only minor changes were proposed for the Redbourne boundary. A small area was to be deleted.

By area Normanby and Redbourne were the Council’s smallest conservation areas. It was considered that both the Estate Village character of the former and the intimate rural character of the latter were being eroded quite rapidly through the inappropriate use of modern materials in the renovation and repair of dwellings. An Article 4(2) Direction was proposed in each therefore.

The Article 4(2) Direction was essential for Conservation Area management and aimed to retain important architectural features such as sliding sash and bay windows, traditional doors and surrounds, old brick facades, roofs with traditional pantiles, slates and chimneys, old walls and railings etc.

Recommended to Council – (a) That, subject to correction of typographical and grammatical errors and minor amendments as suggested by the committee, the Conservation Area Appraisals and Supplementary Planning Advice Documents for the Normanby and Redbourne Conservation Areas be adopted as Supplementary Planning Advice showing conformity with the provisions of the local plan and; (b) that these documents be used to inform the development process as it affects these Conservation Areas and as guidance documents for Town Planning Purposes; (c) that the actions for each Conservation Area as detailed in each Conservation Area Appraisal as summarised in Appendix 3 to the report be noted as contributing toward the positive management of the conservation areas concerned;(d) that the Conservation Area boundaries for the areas referred to in this report be amended as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report and that (e) some minor works of alteration to residential properties be brought into planning control through the making of Article 4(2) Directions as detailed in Appendix 3 of the report so as to better preserve and enhance the character and appearance of those areas.