Agenda and draft minutes

John Maxey:-

Chairman of the Developer Forum

Apologies were noted from: Richard Cassidy, Gary Garford, Leigh Middleton, Graham Moore, Emma Nasta, Grahame Seaton, Nick Seaton Justin Wingfield, Alexandra Patrick, Cllr Will Sutton

Attendees: Dino Biagioni, Cllr Sam Clark, Eugene Cooper, Marcel Cooper, Colhm Fitzsimmons, Johnathon Gower, Nick Harding,

Peter Humphrey, Shanna Jackson, Anne Keogh, Cllr Mrs Dee Laws,  Cllr Alex Miscandlon, Ian Trafford, Martin Williams, Christian Wilson, David Wyatt.

The Chairman, Mr Maxey asked the Forum Members whether there was any Member who would be interested in taking on the responsibility of the position of Chairman going forward.

Mr Maxey commented that it would be beneficial to the forum to give others a chance and to give a change of view. Mr Maxey asked for it to be noted that the position is available and asked for any expressions of interest to be brought forward before the next meeting.

The Chairman stated that a great deal of the content at the last meeting was for information and therefore there were not many action points.

A question was asked whether there were any applications that have been received via the planning portal which have not gone through since the £20 fee was introduced and the Chairman asked the forum whether there had been any submissions sent electronically and not via the planning portal. A comment was received that was received to state that applications have been submitted via email without the £20 payment.

Nick Harding stated that from a department’s point of view and following an audit last month, there doesn’t appear to be a noticeable difference; however later on in today’s meeting one of the things currently being considered is only to allow electronic submissions as a means to address the issue of validation and for more effective working. The Chairman questioned whether legislation allows the refusal of paper copies and Nick Harding stated this is currently under discussion.

The Chairman commented that he has been in contact with a new representative from ‘Rent Plus’ and it had been suggested previously by Councillor Sutton that somebody from that organisation would be prepared to come and speak to the forum and this has been earmarked for the January meeting along with a dedicated session on affordable housing.

Ian Trafford from Cambridgeshire County Council, presented to the forum outlining the statistics on school places as of January 18 and also highlighted the current trends. The challenges in school place planning were pointed out to the Forum.

The details of the Capital Programme for 2019/20 -2022/23 were discussed including the previous and future investment in Fenland Schools to 2025.  

Nick Harding highlighted to the forum that the recommendation report from the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) had already been circulated. He summarised each of the recommendations to the Forum and answered questions that were raised.

It was agreed that Nick Harding would arrange a training session for the staff from the various developers and agents who deal with validation.

Nick Harding highlighted to the Forum that going forward viability reports can get published to the internet and it is only in exceptional circumstances where they will not be in the public domain.

He pointed out that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that land values are going to be based on existing use value plus an owner premium.

The new local plan will have to reflect the general viability of the area, setting out its policy for development contributions and key major site applications have to be viability tested. This means that going forward when the new local plan is in place the submission of viability documentation with a planning application will be unusual.

With regard to affordable housing, there is currently a discrepancy with what the NPPF states is the threshold and what is contained within the planning policy guidance. Therefore Fenland is working within the NPPF guidance as that is the most recent government stated policy and the trigger is 10 or more properties if the site is 0.5 of a hectare or more.

Nick Harding also commented that the Council has not applied the floor space threshold and this is due to the NPPF doesn’t make reference to the floor space threshold.

Nick Harding presented to the Forum with regard to the Local Plan review in the context of the NPPF.

He explained that the requirement of the NPPF is that every five years the Authority provides a statement as to whether the Local Plan is fit for purpose. It is reviewed by ascertaining how out of date it is in comparison with new government policy. Once the formal assessment of the current Local Plan is completed, the recommendation will be to Members to undertake a Local Plan review, irrespective of the time line of it going before Members, work will be undertaken by all Fenland District Council Members to identify their ideas and suggestions as to what should be incorporated into it. Liaison will take place with the Forum going forward to collate ideas and views on how the Local Plan should be written for the future.

It was agreed that the Local Plan Review will be discussed as the major topic at the next meeting.

Nick Harding presented to Members and advised the forum that the pre start conditions have been reviewed to allow some development to take place before the discharge of condition information is provided.

Nick Harding provided up to date figures on performance and reported on the reasons as to why extensions of time are requested.

An update was also given on recent staffing changes.

16 January, 2019, 3 April, 2019, 10 July, 2019 and 16 October, 2019

Nick Harding advised that if a reserved matters application is submitted and requires a change to be made to it, the section 73 procedure cannot be used, due to the fact that legally a section 73 is not a planning permission and a new reserved matters application would have to be submitted.

The Chairman advised the Forum that if the action notes of the Fenland Development Forum are to be published on the website then the agreement of all members is required. It was agreed an email would be sent out to the Forum Members to see if anybody had an objection to this.