Minutes:
Gemma Wildman gave the Forum an update on the emerging Fenland Local Plan and advised that the new NPPF had been published on the previous day.
She stated that work commenced on the new Local Plan in 2019 when the new local development scheme was approved by Full Council. In October 2019 the issues and options consultations were undertaken and a call for sites exercise was also carried out, and the results were published in February 2020, which included a key issues report which summarised the responses to all the questions and the strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment which listed all the suggested sites.
Gemma Wildman stated that in March 2020 a draft viability study was published which showed different options and outlined whether the plan was viable and in July 2020 a revised local development scheme was published, which was followed by a second call for sites in August 2020 and the publication of an updated SHELA report.
She explained that over the last year, there has been several delays to the Local Plan, surrounding the site selection work and the restrictions in place meant that site visits could not be undertaken. Gemma Wildman added that in Summer 2020, a second call for sites added to the delays and a revised Local Development Scheme was published, and then in August 2020, the Government consulted on major changes to the planning system and some of the changes which were to be implemented straight away, included on how the standard method was calculated, which in turn, meant a significant increase in the number of houses required in Fenland for the new plan, which made it very difficult to decide what should be included in the plan.
Gemma Wildman explained due to the number of delays a new timetable for the Local Development Scheme was published, which was approved by Cabinet in the middle of July and she provided the Forum with the relevant dates associated with the new timetable and advised that some of the dates are estimated as they are determined by the Planning Inspector who will then issue a report and then following that the Council will look to adopt the Local Plan, which is estimated to be in November 2023.
Gemma Wildman provided an update regarding the housing figures for the Local Plan. She added that National Planning Policy requires that the standard method is used to calculate the Local Housing need figure, and this was introduced so that there was a single method that all councils used. Gemma Wildman explained that in October 2019 the local housing need figure was 550 dwellings per year or 11550 by 2040. She added that in Summer 2020, the Government proposed radical changes to their methodology which meant that the figure increased to 844 dwellings per year which is a 57% increase. The Council objected to the consultation and in December 2020, the Government issued a response and advised that slight changes would be made which would only impact on 30 areas and for Fenland it was the same figure. Gemma Wildman explained that there has been site assessment work carried out based on that figure and on 31 March 2021, the Economic rations were published which in turn reduced the figure to 517 dwellings per year equating 9832 dwellings and that is the figure that is being worked towards in the draft Local Plan.
Gemma Wildman outlined the timetable going forward including the Public Consultation dates which would fall over the Christmas Period in December 2021 and therefore would be extended to 8 weeks rather than the normal 6 weeks. She added that it is proposed that the broad location to the growth and requirements for Broad Concept plans would be replaced with civic and deliverable sites and that is to meet the requirements of the NPPF which was not in place when the 2014 Local Plan was prepared.
Gemma Wildman explained that it is also proposed that the plan will look to support business growth and inward investment and settlement boundaries will be re-introduced. The new NPPF will need to be taken into account when drafting some of the policies and preparing the new plan.
Dino Biagioni asked what criteria is being used to determine if a site is deliverable. Gemma Wildman explained that the criteria is vast and includes information provided by the landowner and includes looking at the viability work that is being undertaken on some of the larger sites.
Peter Humphrey asked why there was a second call for sites. Gemma Wildman explained there were several reasons and added that following Covid and the changes to the economy and publication of the viability report, it was felt that more sites could have been available and therefore a second call for sites was carried out.
John Maxey asked for clarification regarding the reintroduction of settlement boundaries and asked whether the boundaries will be viewed as a definite boundary line or are they a general built framework of the village plus intended allocations with some grey areas on the periphery where some infilling maybe allowed. Gemma Wildman explained that the boundary line will be drawn around the built edge of the village and will include all allocations in the village. She stated that work is currently underway to review the possibility of introducing fringe infill development and work is underway to look at this particularly in the larger villages to see if there is the possibility to extend and highlight areas where there could be 1 or 2 small plots coming forward which would be classed as windfall development.
Peter Humphrey asked for further information regarding the BCP status and Gemma Wildman advised that if a site has a BCP and information is available that has been taken into consideration, but where sites have not made any progress or and nothing has happened for a number of years then these sites are being closely looked at.
John Maxey stated that by the new time comes to fruition in another 2 years, the current Local Plan will be 8 years old, and all the village allocations and capacities will have been exhausted well before that and he asked whether the intention is to concentrate on a lower allocation than previously had in the main towns or will the village allocations be replenished as where the demand appears to be. Gemma Wildman stated that in her opinion, there is likely to be a mixture of what is likely to be deliverable and come forward. She added as part of the Issues and Options document, consultation took place on a number of options and scenarios and she explained that some of the smaller villages need growth to support them and there will be growth in the market towns.
Councillor Connor questioned how more growth in Wimblington and Doddington can be considered when there is not the infrastructure in place to support it. Gemma Wildman stated that all the suggested sites were sent to the Environment Agency and Anglia Water for them to make comment on individual sites. Once the preferred sites have been selected, then both agencies will be asked to look at the cumulative impact. Gemma Wildman added that the strategic flood risk assessment is also being looked at which is also a joint water study and the consultants are working with the EA, Anglia Water and the IDB’s to assess the sites, and it will influence what sites will go into the plan.