northlincs.gov.uk

PRESENT: – Councillor Wardle in the chair.

Councillors Long (vice-chairman), Bunyan, Carlile, Collinson, Eckhardt, England, Grant, Phillips, Rowson and Whiteley.

The committee met at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe.

832 DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL AND PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL PERSONAL INTERESTS – There were no declarations of personal interests.

833 (25) NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK – CORE STRATEGY – LSP/STAKEHOLDERS CONSULTATION EVENT – The Head of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report seeking approval for the outcomes of the Local Strategic Partnership/Stakeholders event, to inform the development of the Core Strategy of the Local Development Framework (LDF).

As part of the development of the Core Strategy it was essential to obtain a view from the LSP and local Stakeholders, on the spatial vision for the future development of North Lincolnshire. To this end external facilitators had been commissioned to run a seminar which had been held at the Kingsway Centre on 25 July 2006.

The aims for the day had been firstly to discuss the opportunities in the area and to establish an overall vision for the future development of North Lincolnshire. The second aim had been to enable attendees to develop an understanding of the LDF system and to consider other key plans and strategies, decide how they could or should influence the development of the LDF Core Strategy and also how much weight each should be given.

The day had culminated in broad agreement on the nature and scale of development that attendees wished to see, and the establishment of a set of ‘Golden Rules for strategy development and decision making in relation to the LDF.

The outcomes of this seminar would feed into the emerging LDF Core Strategy. Together with the results of wide ranging public involvement and the consensus drawn from a similar Members day event held in April, these outcomes would help to influence and determine the Preferred Options for the Core Strategy, which would be taken forward to the Submission stage.

Recommended to Council – (a) That the outcomes of the LSP/Stakeholders Consultation Event be endorsed, and (b) that the outcomes be used in developing the Preferred Options for the Core Strategy.

834 (26) NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK – CORE STRATEGY: ISSUES & OPTIONS – TOWN AND PARISH RESPONSES – The Head of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report informing members of the responses received to the Core Strategy Issues and Options consultation from the Town and Parish Councils.

The key issues raised by the Town and Parish Councils related to the overall development strategy (including development limits), the settlement hierarchy, housing, the economy, town and villages centres, the environment, local services/facilities, tourism, transport and design.

The Core Strategy Issues and Options consultation was an important opportunity for the local community and key stakeholders to have their say on how North Lincolnshire should grow and develop over the next 15 years. As part of the consultation exercise a number of presentations had been given to the Town and Parish Councils.

During the consultation specific responses had been received from 9 Town and Parish Councils and many other Town and Parish Council’s had completed the councils Core strategy questionnaire. The level of response had been varied and was primarily concentrated on localised issues with some consideration given to the wider context. A summary of the responses was appended to the report.

Recommended to Council – (a) That the report be noted, and (b) that the responses be considered in preparing the Core Strategy: Preferred Options.

835 (27) DRAFT SPATIAL STRATEGY – YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER PLAN – Further to Minute 793, the Head of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report informing members about the forthcoming Regional Spatial Strategy Examination in Public and the issues which were of interest to the council.

The Examination Panel had identified those issues, which it wished to address at the examination, and had invited all respondents to submit statements in respect of these issues. Statements had been submitted either separately or jointly with other authorities in the Humber sub region.

Joint statements had been prepared in relation to the overall vision and strategy approach to RSS, the roles of places and location of development, the economy, housing, energy, floodrisk, waste management, and transport.

Overall there was general support for proposals in the RSS but particular emphasis would be placed on the role of North Lincolnshire and the South Humber Bank in achieving substantial benefits for the area and the region as a whole in promoting the ‘Global Gateway’. The identification in the RSS of three sub-regional centres in the Humber (including Scunthorpe),was supported as this was important for the allocation of funding. In addition officers would be seeking to ensure that the level of housing provision proposed for North Lincolnshire was retained and if possible increased. They would also be seeking to ensure that renewable energy targets are not increased and remained equitable across the region.

836 (28) DONCASTER ROAD DEVELOPMENT BRIEF – Further to Minute 762, the Head of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report informing the committee about the outcomes of further work in relation to the transport infrastructure associated with the site and seeking approval of the Brief for development control purposes.

The additional work requested in relation to the local road network had now been completed and an engineering solution to help address the impact of any future development had been identified. This involved alterations to the Berkeley Circle roundabout as well as the provision of an alternative exit from Tesco onto the A1077 via the development site.

Accordingly, the Development Brief for Doncaster Road, Scunthorpe had been amended to reflect this.

Recommended to Council – That the Development Brief for Doncaster Road, Scunthorpe, (as amended), be approved for development control purposes.

837 (29) DESIGN REVIEW PANEL – The Head of Planning and Regeneration submitted a report seeking approval for the establishment of a Design Review Panel in conjunction with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and ‘arc’ the Architecture Centre for the Humber sub-region.

The quality of the built environment and the importance of good design were increasingly being recognised as important in ensuring successful sustainable towns and villages. Government officially recognised the importance of design and most planning applications were required to be accompanied by a design statement. Councils were also required to have access to specialist urban design skills in order to meet the requirements of the governments Best Value Performance Indicators.

Design Review Panels were now recognised as one of the key tools for raising the quality of design of architecture and public spaces into and through the planning process. The Panels comprised a high quality membership of architects, landscape architects, heritage representatives, urban designers, developers and public art practitioners.

The role of the Panel was to consider major planning applications at an early pre-planning stage (where possible) and for them to positively influence the final design of the application. Where a planning application was made without any pre-planning discussions, the Panel would consider the application before it was put to the planning committee and forward any relevant advice and recommendations. Design Review Panels could meet as often as required depending on the requirements of the council and the number of suitable schemes passing through the planning process.

The type of schemes suitable for Design Review Panels tended to be high impact proposals or for major developments. Because the number of such schemes might not always require a monthly Panel meeting it was proposed that North East Lincolnshire Council be approached with a view to arranging a joint Panel.

Resolved – (a) That a Design Review Panel be established, initially for one year, in conjunction with ‘arc’, the Architecture Centre for the Humber sub-region, and (b) that North East Lincolnshire Council be approached with a view to establishing a joint Panel.

838 (30) SPEAKING AT PLANNING COMMITTEE – Further to Minute 808, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services submitted a report proposing changes to the Constitution in relation to the arrangements for speaking at the Planning Committee.

The Local Government Act 2000 required the council to adopt a Constitution. The Constitution was a “living document” which required frequent amendment to keep up with changes made by the council to its management structure and procedures. The arrangements for speaking at the planning committee formed part of the constitution.

The procedure for speaking at the committee had been amended on a number of occasions to address problems as and when they had been identified.

Following a review of some of the working practices adopted since the last amendment, it was proposed to make a number of changes to Procedure Rule 35 (f).

The proposed changes related to notification of requests to speak and the procedure to be followed when more than one person had requested to speak and the prospective speakers had not been able to reach agreement.

Copies of the suggested revised Procedure Rule and letters to be sent to interested parties by the Business Manager, Development Control were appended to the report.

Recommended to Council – That the changes to Procedure Rule 35 (f) as detailed in the report be approved.