Issue - meetings

Decision:

(1)     That the Guildford Town Centre Views Supplementary Planning Document, as set out as Appendix 1 to this report, be adopted as a Local Development Document.

(2)     That the Director of Planning and Regeneration be authorised, in consultation with the appropriate Lead Councillor, to make such minor alterations to improve the clarity of the adopted Supplementary Planning Document as she may deem necessary.

Reasons:

·        To enable the adoption of the SPD as a Local Development Document and will add weight to this guidance as a material consideration in the assessment of planning applications. 

·        To allow for minor modifications to the SPD should they be necessary prior to publication.   

Alternative options considered and rejected by the Executive:

To not adopt the SPD.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None

The Director of Planning and Regeneration was in attendance.

The Lead Councillor for Planning, Regeneration and Housing Delivery introduced the report.

It was explained that this SPD would always be developing. It was described as a ‘living’ document, but that the version presented was most appropriate for the present. The standard of the work involved in producing the SPD was praised. The value of the SPD had been recognised recently in an important planning appeal case. The new lead councillor for Major Projects welcomed the document as a flexible tool to support planning decision-making.

Non-Executive member comments had suggested the document might have shown more emphasis on the town’s green surroundings and that there might have been an earlier process for consultation. The meeting was informed that the process for consultation of the SPD was set out in the report and included consideration by the Place Making and Innovation Executive Advisory Board on two occasions and had been subject to a four-week public consultation. Reference was also drawn to where green space features in the SPD.

The Executive

RESOLVED: 

(1)     That the Guildford Town Centre Views Supplementary Planning Document, as set out as Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Executive, be adopted as a Local Development Document.

(2)     That the Director of Planning and Regeneration be authorised, in consultation with the appropriate Lead Councillor, to make such minor alterations to improve the clarity of the adopted Supplementary Planning Document as she may deem necessary.

Reasons:

·        To enable the adoption of the SPD as a Local Development Document and will add weight to this guidance as a material consideration in the assessment of planning applications. 

·        To allow for minor modifications to the SPD should they be necessary prior to publication.