Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Will Salmon.  Councillor Gillian Harwood was present as a substitute for Councillor Will Salmon.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

Councillor Gordon Jackson declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item numbers 4 and 5 as the Chairman of the Surrey Hills Trust Fund.

To confirm the minutes of the Executive Advisory Board meeting held on 21 October 2019.

The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 21 October 2019 were confirmed as a correct record, and signed by the Chairman.  The minutes included requested changes to the minutes of the previous Board meeting, held on 23 September 2019, which were also signed.

The Planning Policy Manager introduced a report regarding the Regulation 18 consultation in respect of the Local Plan: Development Management Policies and gave an explanatory supporting presentation.

The report explained that the Development Management Policies (known as the draft Local Plan) formed the second part of Borough’s Local Plan.  Once adopted the draft Local Plan would, together with the recently adopted Local Plan: Strategy and Sites document (LPSS), fully supersede the existing Local Plan 2003 to form part of the Council’s Development Plan.  The draft Local Plan provided the more detailed policies to be used by Development Management in the determination of planning applications and supplemented the small number of development management policies included in the LPSS where these were necessary in implementing the strategic policies, for example in relation to the Green Belt, employment and retail.

The structure of the draft Local Plan was consistent with that of the LPSS.  The chapters therefore consisted of: Housing, Protecting, Economy, Design, and Infrastructure and Delivery.  A list of all the proposed policies and a brief summary as to their aims and how they sought to achieve those aims were contained in Appendix 1.

The Regulation 18 consultation included both issues and options and proceeded to suggest a preferred option for each policy.  This approach was designed to generate meaningful comments and concerns that would enable the Council to move directly to a Regulation 19 proposed submission document.  This in turn would increase the possibility of being able to progress the plan to Examination stage without the need for main modifications and a further round of consultation.  The consultation period would run for seven weeks from 20 April until 8 June 2020.

At its meeting on 24 March 2020, the Executive would also consider this matter, taking into consideration any comments from this Board before being asked to recommend to Full Council on 7 April 2020 that the draft Local Plan, incorporating any recommended changes, be approved for Regulation 18 public consultation for a seven-week period beginning on 20 April 2020.  The Executive would also be asked to resolve that the Director of Strategic Services be authorised, in consultation with the relevant Lead Councillor, to make such minor alterations to improve the clarity of the document.

The reasons for recommendations were to encourage the Council to enable the draft Local Plan to be published for public consultation and to allow officers to undertake public consultation.

Undertaking a public consultation in respect of the draft Local Plan was a statutory requirement placed on Local Planning Authorities under Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 and would enable the Council to move closer to adopting this second part of the Local Plan.

The presentation covered the hierarchy of policy / guidance, draft Local Plan Development Management Policies, stages of preparing a local plan, preparing the Borough’s draft Local Plan, structure of the draft Local Plan, overall thoughts in respect of the draft Local Plan, next steps and  ...  view the full minutes text for item BEI28

The Planning Policy Manager introduced a briefing note and presentation in respect of the Strategic Development Framework (SDF) Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and explained that SPDs were supplementary detail and guidance to adopted Local Plan policy to improve its use by the Council and developers to promote understanding of the planning process.  SPDs were a material consideration in the determination of planning applications.  The process to produce an SPD was more rapid than that of higher level documents as the related consultation was for a minimum of four weeks only, an independent examination process was unnecessary and adoption was via the Executive with no need for full Council approval.

The presentation, given by a Senior Policy Officer - Planning Policy, outlined the scope, structure and Part 2 design principles of the SDF SPD.  The scope was applicable to a number of sites / locations, namely, Weyside Urban Village (former Slyfield Area Regeneration Project), Gosden Hill Farm, former Wisley Airfield, Blackwell Farm, and land to the south of Ash and Tongham.  The SDF SPD was structured into four Parts.  Part 1 set out the policy context and engagement undertaken in its preparation whilst Part 2 described the general design principles applicable to all the five strategic sites.  Part 3 detailed site specific guidance on each site / location including an SDF for each site (a high level masterplan which would form the starting point for applications preparing more detailed masterplans) and Part 4 related to matters to be considered at planning application and implementation stage (pre-application, design codes, design review panel, infrastructure delivery etc).  The Part 2 design principles were to be considered against other policies and the National Design Guide.  Although the principles were not comprehensive, they picked up the considerations most relevant to strategic sites and the creation of new communities including building in sustainability, creating an identity, promoting modal shift, assessing site constraints/opportunities and urban design principles.

Details in respect of each site / location consisted of matters including site boundary, development area, uses, water courses, existing buildings, focal points, on-site primary routes, access to development areas, key off-site routes, primary site access, sustainable movement corridor (SMC), key pedestrian and cycle routes, schools, modal filters for buses, pedestrians and cyclists, and suggested locations for Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (SANG).

The next steps consisted of a five-week consultation running from 13 January to 24 February 2020, updating and finalising the document for adoption by the Executive as soon as practicable and forming the starting point for applicants developing their masterplans that would accompany outline planning applications.

The Board considered each site / location and the following points and comments were made:

Weyside Urban Village

The Board noted the details of this site where 1,500 high density homes with parking, roof gardens and open space were proposed following the relocation of the sewage works.  A spine road would run through the site and the river would be a significant feature.

Gosden Hill Farm

This was a strategic site for  ...  view the full minutes text for item BEI29

The Executive Forward Plan was noted.

To consider and approve the EAB’s draft work programme. 

The EAB noted upcoming items on its Work Programme.