The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee will receive an update on the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). They will also consider a report on the Local Plan Review, and a briefing note on the Community Safety Plan 2024-27. It is important to note that this article is based on the information made public in the meeting documents, and therefore it is not known whether the topics listed below were actually discussed, or what decisions, if any, were made.

Local Plan Review

The report pack contains Coventry City Council’s proposed submission version of the Local Plan, that they intend to consult upon ahead of submitting for examination. The document, which they are calling ‘Regulation 19’ of the Local Plan review, contains the details of the housing and employment land targets that will be used to guide development in the city up until 2041, and is accompanied by several supporting documents including a Sustainability Appraisal and an Equality and Health Impact Assessment.

The report pack explains that the Local Plan review is being undertaken in line with national planning policy guidance, which requires all councils to review their Local Plans at least once every 5 years to ensure that they remain up to date. Coventry’s Local Plan was adopted in December 2017, alongside the Coventry City Centre Area Action Plan. The Council is now proposing to incorporate the Area Action Plan into the updated Local Plan.

Because Coventry is a tightly constrained urban area surrounded by Green Belt, the Council explain that there is a limited supply of land to meet the city’s identified needs for housing and employment. The report pack explains that the overall housing target for the plan period 2021 to 2041 is a minimum of 29,100 dwellings, and the overall employment land target is 60 hectares, although the Council calculate the total employment land need to be 105 hectares.

The report also makes clear that whilst the council has been able to identify sufficient land to meet its overall housing target on brownfield land, there is an acknowledged shortfall of 45 hectares of employment land and in order to address this shortfall, the Council will continue to work with neighbouring Councils in Warwickshire under the ‘Duty to Cooperate’, that requires all councils to work with their neighbours on strategic cross boundary matters.

The report pack also explains that a ‘call for sites’ consultation ran earlier in the year to identify land that may be suitable to meet the development needs set out in the plan. After assessment of the submitted sites and taking into account the findings of several technical reports, the proposed submission Local Plan allocates land at several locations for new housing development including:

• Keresley Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE), proposing 3,100 dwellings.
• Eastern Green SUE, proposing 2,250 dwellings
• Walsgrave Hill Farm, proposing 900 dwellings.
• Land at Whitmore Park in Holbrooks, proposing 730 dwellings and 8 hectares of employment land.

The proposed submission Local Plan allocates land at Baginton Fields for 25 hectares of employment land to contribute to strategic need in the region, and land adjoining the A45 at Eastern Green is allocated for 15 hectares of employment land.

The report pack advises that because National Government is proposing to change the National Planning Policy Framework, there is a risk that Coventry may have to re-consult on the Local Plan if it does not reach the next stage of plan making (Regulation 19) before these changes come into effect. As such, the report recommends that the Council approves the Local Plan for publication at the earliest opportunity so as to prevent potential delays to the plan-making process.

The Council has also prepared a Consultation Statement summarising the feedback from the first stage of the Local Plan review (Regulation 18 ‘Issues and Options’), which they consulted upon between July and September 2023. The Council received 930 representations on the Issues and Options consultation. The majority of these related to two specific sites, Browns Lane (a proposed allocation in the 2017 plan) and an area referred to as ‘Coundon Wedge’.

West Midlands Combined Authority

The report pack contains a briefing note for the WMCA: a presentation which summarises what the WMCA is and how it works, its performance in the previous financial year (2023/2024), and how it plans to deliver its priorities.

The fifteen-year Strategic Energy Partnership between the Council and E.ON was the first of its kind in the UK and had the potential to put Coventry at the forefront of the net zero transition.

The WMCA Corporate Update describes how the WMCA’s Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) with E.ON is delivering on the commitment in the Council’s 2021 manifesto to be a leading city in the transition to net zero.

The presentation describes the WMCA’s priorities:

• investing in jobs, skills, training and apprenticeships;
• building social and affordable homes;
• helping businesses grow; and
• connecting communities and making travel easier.

The presentation states that the WMCA will continue to monitor the progress of 127 High Level Deliverables (HLDs) that support these priorities.

The report pack also contains a presentation about the WMCA’s scrutiny function. The presentation describes the work and focus for the year of the WMCA’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee and the Transport Delivery Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

As scrutiny chairs, Councillor John McNicholas and I have attended five of the constituent authorities’ Overview&Scrutiny Committees during the year, to increase elected members knowledge and involvement in the WMCA, which has been well received.

The presentation describes the work undertaken by the WMCA to improve engagement with Councillors across the combined authority area, including visits by Councillor John McNicholas and the Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee to the scrutiny committees of 5 constituent authorities.

Community Safety

The report pack contains a briefing note on the Community Safety Plan 2024-27. It sets out the consultation approach to developing the new plan and the initial findings of the public consultation.

The briefing note sets out the Council’s statutory duty under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, to create a Community Safety Partnership Plan in collaboration with West Midlands Police.

Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the Council along with the Police have a joint responsibility for preventing and reducing crime and disorder within their area.

The briefing note describes how the Council, in partnership with West Midlands Police, intend to develop a plan that is informed by public opinion and professional experience to guide and coordinate a multi-agency approach to reducing crime and disorder in Coventry.

the views of stakeholders, including those who have been affected by crime and/or accessing services;

The briefing note describes how the plan will consider the opinions of people who have been affected by crime and those who use services.

The briefing note explains that a 12-week public consultation to collect resident’s opinions of crime and disorder in the city began in July 2024. 696 responses to the public consultation were received. The briefing note states that residents generally felt safer during the day than at night. Concerns were also raised about a number of issues including:

• Environmental Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) such as fly tipping;
• ASB;
• Vehicle Crime; and
• Drug Offences.

The briefing note explains that in addition to the public consultation, the Council have also held workshops with other organisations to obtain the views of professionals and other stakeholders, including representatives from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office (OPCC), Citizen Housing, Midland Heart, Change Grow Live, the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, and other relevant organisations.

The briefing note states that the findings from the consultation and the workshops will be used to develop the plan ahead of it being presented to Cabinet on 18 March 2025.