Agenda item

Councillor Colin Winder submitted the following questions under Procedure Rule 10:-

Councillor Colin Winder submitted the following questions under Procedure Rule 10:-

The SSDC Local Plan 2006/2028 was found to be unsound by the planning inspector in 2010. A principle modification required by the inspector was a revised policy to deal with the front loading in Wincanton of housing.  The inspector required a policy to balance the employment and housing provision to be set in place within 3 years. In 2014 SSDC submitted a revised local plan which proposed a major modification (District Executive agreed proposal attached) to the inspector which was agreed and allowed the local plan to go forward. Since that time no consultation has taken place, no policy has been proposed, and the legal requirement with regards housing has not been complied with.  The SSDC local plan would seem to be nullified by the failure of the council to comply with the major modifications agreed by the inspector to make the plan sound.  We now have difficult legal problem, as we have an application for 210 dwellings, which are not in the direction of growth set out in the 2015 local plan, and which are in an area specifically excluded for development in the Wincanton Neighbourhood Plan (a plan which was extensively consulted on with the residents, and was approved with a public vote). Where do the residents of Wincanton stand in this planning problem, when they have set out their clear wishes and intentions, but could be frustrated by the failure of SSDC to carry out the legal provisions they had agreed with the inspector. This raises a number of legal questions which have to be resolved now.

The Leader of Council provided the following responses to the questions:-

Q.     With a deficiency of housing numbers in SSDC how do the council propose to defend the approved housing levels in Wincanton against developers use of district wide figures?

A.     The five-year housing land supply is calculated on a District-wide basis. The Council monitors planning applications for housing development and relevant data regarding housing completions and commitments can be used to inform the decision-making process. Wincanton is defined as a Primary Market Town development should be of a scale that fits with the settlement hierarchy.

Q.   With the slow decline in local businesses how do you propose to provide economic growth in Wincanton as opposed to the investment in economic venture outside the district?

A.    The Local Plan Review proposes to allocate land for economic development at Wincanton and 4.38ha are required under the adopted Local Plan.

The Council is committed to the Wincanton Town Centre Strategy, which aims to boost footfall and help create a more vibrant town centre. The strategy includes public realm improvements such as widening footways, introducing different surface dressings, better delineation of on street parking and planting schemes, proposals are tailored to individual locations. This complements working with property owners and landlords to increase the appeal of existing properties and incentivizing occupancy with higher grant interventions. The strategy is primary action point 5.3 under Priority Theme 5: Supporting Urban Economies in the Council’s Economic Development Strategy, 2019.

Planned improvements to the strategic road network - A303/A358 could help to raise the profile of Wincanton as a location for business bringing future opportunities.

The council’s approved Commercial Strategy dictates the criteria for investment decisions, and includes a geographic and sector spread.

Q.   With the huge deficit in jobs in relation to housing resulting in over 59% of the working population working outside the town travelling by car. Can you justify further housing with the resultant carbon deposit of 3.5 tonnes per week deposited on the roads of the district?

A.    As explained above the planning application will have to be determined in the context of the Development Plan and other material considerations indicate otherwise. Measures to improve opportunities for walking and cycling should be considered as part of the planning application.

The LPR will include stronger policies to help tackle climate change and an extensive programme of work is being undertaken to implement the Council’s recently adopted Environment Strategy.

The Council has responded to the Government’s Future Homes Standard consultation. The Future Homes Standard will require new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency, to be implemented through Building Regulation. It is intended to be introduced by 2025, with staged improvements to Building Regulations to be introduced later this year

Planning policy cannot control where people choose to live and work, nor whether they choose to own a car; it can only seek to direct growth to the most sustainable locations and identify a supply of land for housing and employment development in those locations.

In the future it is anticipated that more people will move to electric vehicles. The Council will be shortly commissioning three Rapid Chargers at Wincanton, Ilchester & Ilminster. These have been funded through a Highways England grant relating to coverage along the A303.

Q.   Can you give the residents of Wincanton an assurance that you will rectify your failure to set in place a policy on the housing and employment balance within twelve months?

A.    The adopted Local Plan continues to provide a policy basis for development.

       Work on the Local Plan Review is progressing as quickly as possible. Producing a Local Plan is a complex where a number of stages have to be completed and many different sources of evidence have to come together.

       The responses to the Preferred Options consultation from bodies such as Historic England have confirmed that we need to undertake additional evidence base work and officers have commissioned or are in the process of commissioning additional work.

Because of the complexity of the project, currently public consultation on the next stage of the Local Plan Review is anticipated to take place in mid-2021.

Councillor Winder responded that the promise of a policy on housing and employment for Wincanton within 3 years had been with the agreement of the Local Plan Inspector and was still not in place, therefore there was no support to stop development where it was not wanted in the town.  There was a requirement for a balance of housing and employment within the town.

The Leader of Council offered to meet with Councillor Winder to discuss the matter further.