Purpose

To seek approval to carry out a statutory
4-week consultation of the Draft SPD which once consulted will be
used as a material consideration in the determination of relevant
planning applications.

Decision

RESOLVED that:
 

i.     
the content of the Draft Planning Obligations Supplementary
Planning Document (Appendix A) is agreed.
 

ii.    
public consultation on the Draft Planning Obligations SPD (Appendix
A) is agreed beginning on Wednesday 25th March and ending on Friday
24th April as set out in Section 8 of this report.
 

iii.   
Authority be delegated to the Executive Director: Place in
consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Transport and
Countryside to agree any necessary minor amendments to the Draft
Planning Obligations SPD prior to public consultation.

Reasons for the decision

1)   
Planning applications are being determined in accordance with Local
Plan policies. It is important that associated guidance is made
available to provide prospective applicants with a clearer
understanding of the Council’s requirements regarding
policies concerned with S106 planning obligations.
 

2)   
A statutory stage in the production of a
SPD is public consultation on a draft document. Therefore, an
effective consultation on the Planning Obligations SPD will ensure
it can be adopted and become a material consideration in
determining relevant planning applications.
 

3)   
Once adopted it will replace the existing Planning Obligations SPD
which was
adopted in
2015.

Alternative options considered

i.     
The Council could decide not to produce this SPD and rely on the
existing planning Obligations SPD 2015. The absence of an adopted
up to date SPD would make the determination of planning
applications open to interpretation and could result in
inconsistencies of approach and not securing necessary financial
contributions towards selected infrastructure types.
 

ii.    
Production of the SPD will assist potential developers by providing
clarity on the Council’s expectations on how policies should
be applied. In providing clarity, the Council is less likely to be
put into an appeal position with a need to defend policies on these
matters (reducing the financial and time burden on Council
resources).
 

iii.   
It should also be noted that due to forthcoming changes to plan
making regulations, the Government has indicated that current
provisions for the production of SPDs may cease on 30 June 20261.
Therefore, delaying this consultation could result in the Council
being unable to adopt the document as an SPD.