This meeting concerned economic and planning policy in Cornwall, and involved the scheduled consideration of three reports: a Local Plan Interim Report, an Enterprise Zone Growth Plan, and a Cornwall Good Growth Plan Implementation Report.

Local Plan

The most significant item on the agenda was a report on the preparation of the next Cornwall Local Plan.¹

The report noted the possible impact of the Government's proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)², which could result in a significant increase in the number of homes that Cornwall is required to plan for.

In particular, the proposed changes to the NPPF could mean that Cornwall will be unable to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply³, which would trigger the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’.

This would result in Cornwall being subject to a ‘tilted balance’ in favour of approving planning applications, even if they are not in accordance with the Local Plan. The report stated that this tilted balance “needs to be planned for”.

The report also considered the results of a ‘call for sites’ exercise, which invited landowners and developers to submit sites for potential allocation in the new Local Plan. The report stated that the call for sites had yielded circa 1,113 sites, but that “not all land put forward will be suitable” and that a “fuller appraisal” of the sites will need to be undertaken.

The report concluded that, in order to manage this possible presumption in favour of sustainable development, Cornwall Council should produce an ‘Interim Policy Statement’.

This Interim Policy Statement would set out how the Council will interpret the presumption in favour of sustainable development, and how it will apply the policies of the existing Cornwall Local Plan in the interim period. The report stated that this statement would be intended to “provide clarity for applicants and decision makers on the type and quality of development that will be supported in the time that the new local plan is being developed”.

Enterprise Zones

The Growth Board was also scheduled to consider a report on the future of the Enterprise Zone Growth Fund.⁴

This report recommended that the existing investment policy for the Enterprise Zone Growth Fund be modified, and that new governance arrangements be put in place to enable the fund to be reopened following the closure of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership⁵.

The report stated that the Enterprise Zone Growth Fund “has been used to support a number of initiatives across the EZ sites” including providing grant funding to businesses “to support the growth and development of their business activities”.

The report also stated that the fund has been used to provide rate relief support to businesses that were unable to benefit from the first five years of rate relief that was underwritten by the Government.

Good Growth Plan

Finally, the Growth Board was scheduled to consider a report on the implementation of the Cornwall Good Growth Plan.⁶

This report recommended that the Growth Board endorse the good progress that has been made around early implementation of the Plan.

The report noted a number of pieces of work that had been taken forward to implement the plan, including the development of a performance framework to monitor progress and impact, a Cornwall Events Strategy, and a Cornwall Good Business Charter.

The report also recommended that the Growth Board approve the proposed timeframe and scope for the review of the Good Growth Plan.