Minutes

Apologies received from: Lee Bevens, Councillor David Connor, Gareth Edwards, Mark Greenwood, Simon Jackson, Emma Nasta, David Rowen, Ann Wardle and David Wyatt.

Present: Melanie Bartram, Dino Biagioni, Stephen Buddle, Marcel Cooper, Matthew Hall, Nick Harding (Chair), Phil Hughes, Councillor Mrs Dee Laws, John Maxey, Simon Machen, Tim Slater, Councillor Will Sutton, David Thomas, Jordan Trundle, Gemma Wildman and  Martin Williams

The action schedule was agreed.

The following points were raised.

·         Nick Harding stated that there is no further update from Government on the brownfield site fund.

·         A new staff contact list will be circulated in due course due to the imminent staff changes.

The Forum members received a presentation with regards to the Levelling Up fund from Phil Hughes Acting Assistant Director at the Council, along with Simon Machen who is a consultant for the Council, who are both involved with the Future High Street Fund Project in March.

There is another round for the Levelling Up Fund which is round 2 and the Council intends to bid into that and the focus for that will be for Wisbech. The projects will come to fruition over the next couple of months and this will be publicised. Simon Machen explained that work on the bid process has been underway for a couple of months. Phil Hughes explained that three years ago the Government introduced the Future High Street Fund Scheme and Fenland bid into that and was successful in obtaining some seed funding to develop a bid and the Council received £150,000 to spend with consultants to develop a bid which was submitted for £9.5 million and were successful in obtaining £6.47 million along with some match funding from the Combined Authority meaning the whole project is £8.5 million. Phil Hughes explained that the key interventions for the project are transforming Broad Street which is very much car centric currently and not pedestrian focussed, integrating the riverside area with Broad Street and also Market Square improvements which will be quite limited, but the pavement area outside of the Town Hall will be improved and the car park itself will be resurfaced, along with the street furniture and lighting being improved. Phil Hughes explained that there is also funding in place for vacant units and living above the shops, where there are vacant shops currently, a grant can be obtained to those owners to make improvements to them in order to make them more likely to be let. The additional grant will be for the space above the shops, to improve the space, so that it becomes residential. He explained that a new public toilet facility will also be added to Broad Street which will be in place this year as the current toilet block is due to be demolished and the Market Square improvements are due to take place by November, however if there any concerns re possible delays then that work maybe delayed till the new year. Phil Hughes outlined that the Broad Street and riverside changes will take place in 2023.

He referred to the presentation screen and outlined the various changes to be implemented and highlighted the proposed public realm area. Phil Hughes stated that the initial thoughts were that the fountain would not be moved and there would be signalised junction at the top, however when the traffic study was carried out it was decided it would not work given the current amount of traffic that there is in the town centre and the engineers re considered the proposal and it was decided a 17 metre roundabout would be introduced, which they concluded would improve the speed of traffic through  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

 Gemma Wildman gave the forum members an update with regards to the emerging Local Plan.

The draft Local Plan will be presented to Cabinet on the 12 May and public consultation is to commence in early June for six weeks. This will be the first opportunity for members of the public to see the draft policies, the proposed sites and to make comments.

The plan will set a target of approximately 10500 homes by 2040 and is based on the Governments standard method for calculating local housing need which very recently changed as at the end of March the Government published new statistics that feed into the formula which has resulted in a slight increase for Fenland.

The key changes to the plan are that it will remove broad locations for growth, which will be replaced with specifics and deliverable sites. The plan will reintroduce settlement boundaries and it will look to support business growth and investment.

Gemma Wildman explained that many of the policies that are in the plan will be changed and updated, due to the various changes to national policy since 2014 and changes to the use class order. It will include a number of new policies, such as the requirement for biodiversity net gain.

Gemma Wildman explained that when the consultation starts, members of the forum will be advised of the start of the consultation period, and an email including links to the website and how to make comments.

www.fenland.gov.uk/newlocalplan

The website will include links to the draft plan, the consultation forms and also the evidence base and supporting information.

Gemma Wildman highlighted to the forum the dates for the next stages of the Local Development Scheme which was approved in February and shows following the draft Local Plan consultation all comments and information will be reviewed that has been submitted and make any necessary changes and then look to start the pre submission consultation in early 2023 with a view to submitting to Government in April 2023. Gemma advised that from that point on, the process is out  of the Councils hands and is down to the independent inspector who will set the dates for the hearings, the examination hearing and following comments and objections to the plan at the hearing, the Inspector will take into account all those views and then issue a report which will get out what changes have to made to the plan and only then can the plan go forward to Full Council for adoption.

John Maxey asked whether the viability document will be a specific document on which you will consult or will it just be a background document. Gemma explained that it will just be an evidence-based document on the website. John Maxey asked Gemma, how she envisages the viability matter being properly addressed given that it is a crucial aspect for Fenland. Gemma explained that in any comments made on the policies on the plan there will be the opportunity to state that you don’t agree with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Nick Harding stated that on page 272 of the Levelling Up White paper, there are only a couple of pages relevant to planning and some of the information has been reworded from previous announcements from the Government, when it was contemplating changes within the planning sector.

He added there is a proposed simplification of the Local Pans process, ensuring the at the public can engage in the Local Plan process more easily and they can influence the content of those plans more easily. Nick Harding explained that they are looking at new models to be rolled out in relation to securing developer contributions towards infrastructure provision and also looking at the planning system to provide better support to town centre regeneration, changes to permitted development regime and changes of use, temporary uses, and temporary changes of use. Nick Harding stated that changes to heights of existing building. He added that Government is also looking at improving democracy with regards to engagement of the public in decisions on planning applications. Nick Harding highlighted that the Government are keen on supporting environmental protection through the planning process.

He explained that he is sure that the Government will follow these ideas up with a series of consultations on how they consider the changes could be rolled out.

Nick Harding explained that there have been changes with regards to relaxation of mobile phone masts, but these will not impact on agents and developers.

Nick Harding gave an update on staffing and performance, and he provided an update on validation where the backlog has been reduced by a week and the timescale is now a 4-week delay. He added that there are some additional resources in place to assist with reducing the validation backlog.

He explained that the process review is still underway as part of the My Fenland work, and it is hoped that it may assist with some of the efficiencies in processes and enable the My Fenland Team to assist the validation team with tasks to make sure that the Planning Team are able to cope with fluctuations in demand for the service.

Nick Harding gave an update with regard to planning performance and added that:

92% of applications for majors are being determined on time, including where extensions of time are included.

72% of minor applications

85% of other applications

He explained that if extension of times were not included,

25% of major planning applications would be determined on time.

31% of minor applications on time

64% other applications on time

Nick Harding stated that the figures demonstrate the level of use that is made with extensions of time. He reiterated the point made by David Rowen at the last meeting where he had explained that we do not ask for extensions of time where the delay is solely down to the fault of the planning service.

Nick Harding stated that with regards to condition of discharge applications:

70% of condition of discharge applications are decided on time or within a timeframe agreed through an extension of time agreement with the applicant.

Nick Harding gave an update on staffing matters and an updated staffing list would be circulated.

He explained that agency cover is being explored for the Development Management Service to fill the vacant gaps.

John Maxey asked for there to be consistency amongst Planning Officers as there is  evidence  that where a  case  changes  from one  case  officer to another  the  new  case  officer  is  raising new  / different matters . Nick Harding stated that he has made it clear to officers that where there is clear evidence that where there is an aspect or all aspects of a submitted application is satisfactory, the new case officer should not be taking a different professional opinion on that case. He explained that the exception to that would be where it is apparent that the original case officer made a significant error that cannot be overlooked.

Nick Harding asked for agenda items for the next meeting to be submitted.

John Maxey asked for something on Biodiversity Net Gain to be an agenda item for the next meeting including how it is measured.

The biodiversity tool kit

 Biodiversity metric: calculate the biodiversity net gain of a project or development - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

And Small Site Metric

The Small Sites Metric - JP040 (nepubprod.appspot.com)

Biodiversity Net Gain FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions | Local Government Association

Nick Harding agreed to arrange for the ecology officer to attend the next meeting to do a short presentation.

John Maxey added that it would be useful to know where developers should be looking for the targets that are being looked for at a specific site to try and provide. He added that if there is going to be an off-site contribution basis, it would be very useful to know how that will be operated. Nick Harding stated that currently there are no locations which have been brought forward, which could be where any developer contributions for net gain could be spent, the option is for on site delivery. He explained that on site delivery can be looked at in two ways, firstly the assets that fall within the particular site and whether any of the assets can be enhanced in order to provide the net gain and the alternative is to look at it from the concept of priority species that we have improving the lot of and work it on that basis. Nick Harding explained that a great deal depends on the nature of the development, scale and the opportunities that arise on the site. He added that if the particular development site is one which is devoid of biodiversity, achieving a small percentage is relatively straight forward and the challenge will be if the development site is of a more substantial nature and achieves a higher score in the first place.

David Thomas made reference to the Local Plan and he expressed the view that it appears to be a missed opportunity that there is nothing within the plan that suggests that there is an area set aside such as a public park or wildlife forest that could be supported and if someone was prepared to develop it they could then take money in increments off developers to develop it into something of substantial gain and value to the whole community rather than just someone planting a singular tree in their garden. Nick Harding stated that contained within the Annual Monitoring report of the Council in relation to planning matters, it explains what the status of qualifying nature sites is with regards to whether they are deteriorating in terms of quality, staying the same or improving. He added that in relation to those, there is that opportunity to improve one of more of those so that there is clearly a designated site and therefore its ongoing management is important, but there needs to be assurances that there is an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.