Siraj Choudhury
Council: Crawley
Committees:
Activity Timeline
Meetings Attended Note this may include planned future meetings.
71 meetings · Page 1 of 15
Planning Committee - Tuesday, 14th October, 2025 7.30 pm
19 attendees, 6 documents, 1 media files
Decisions from Meetings
190 decisions · Page 34 of 38
Crawley Borough Council and West Sussex County Council Statement of Common Ground
From: Constitution - Monday, 27th October, 2025 - October 27, 2025
National Planning Policy requires each Local Planning Authority to demonstrate effective and on-going joint working with its neighbouring authorities/other authorities in the sub-region and other prescribed bodies, through the preparation and maintenance of Statements of Common Ground (SoCG). These must be agreed by the point of Submission of each Local Plan for its independent Examination. As part of the Crawley Borough Local Plan Review, substantial joint working with all of the neighbouring authorities and Prescribed Bodies has taken place and a number of SoCG have already been agreed. This is set out in the Crawley Duty to Cooperate Statement (May 2023): https://crawley.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-05/Duty%20to%20Cooperate%20Statement%20May%202023%20%28low%20res%29.pdf A new bilateral Statement of Common Ground has been agreed between Crawley Borough Council and West Sussex County Council in relation to the Crawley Borough Local Plan. It responds to representations received from West Sussex County Council during the recent Regulation 19 Publication Consultation (held May-June 2023). The Crawley Borough Council and West Sussex County Council Statement of Common Ground has been agreed and signed by Crawley Borough Council and West Sussex County Council.
Recommendations Approved
Signing of the Grant Funding Agreement for the DLUHC Towns Fund Project: Invest in Skills for Crawley (1B)
From: Constitution - Monday, 27th October, 2025 - October 27, 2025
Following Cabinet approval on 10th March 2021, Crawley Borough Council signed a Heads of Terms for the Crawley Towns Fund on 24th March 2021 with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, DLUHC), confirming that the Government would provide Crawley with up to a total of £21.1 million from the Towns Fund, subject to submission of robust project business cases. The business case summary for the Invest in Skills for Crawley project has recently been endorsed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This follows Cabinet approval of the Crawley Towns Fund project business cases on 16th March 2022 and Full Council approval on 30th March 2022 of the capital programme allocations for the Crawley Towns Fund Projects. The overall objective of the Invest in Skills for Crawley project is to deliver a programme of investment in infrastructure for vocational skills training and higher education to benefit local residents. More specifically, the project involves the development of venues, specialist equipment and facilities with the appropriate quality specifications to accommodate the design and delivery of new training programmes in green tech construction, professional services, engineering and digital. These will empower Crawley’s local workforce and boost local businesses in these sectors by helping them to locally recruit people with the correct skills. The Invest in Skills for Crawley programme will comprise three principal schemes: 1. Infrastructure and facilities for new university-level training provision. 2. Additional F.E. infrastructure to enable Level 2 and 3 training pathways for Crawley residents’ access into employment in the above sectors. 3. A green construction skills hub venue equipped with green construction skills training facilities. The programme aims to create a compendium of new vocational and higher education training interventions. The amount of Towns Fund monies allocated to this project, as approved by Full Council is: £4.5 million. A legal agreement with Chichester College Group has been drawn up through the Council’s Legal Services Team and sets out the delivery of this work, in accordance with the project business case and guidance from DLUHC. The decision to approve the funding agreement was taken following consultation with Atif Nawaz, Deputy Leader of the Council & Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development. On 10 August 2023, the Head of Economy and Planning under generic delegation 3, took the decision to approve the Council signing of the Grant Funding Agreement for the DLUHC Funded Project: Invest in Skills for Crawley (1B) between Crawley Borough Council and Chichester College Group. This allows Chichester College Group to progress delivery of the project through Crawley College.
Recommendations Approved
Crawley Borough Council and National Highways Statement of Common Ground
From: Constitution - Monday, 27th October, 2025 - October 27, 2025
National Planning Policy requires each Local Planning Authority to demonstrate effective and on-going joint working with its neighbouring authorities/other authorities in the sub-region and other prescribed bodies, through the preparation and maintenance of Statements of Common Ground (SoCG). These must be agreed by the point of Submission of each Local Plan for its independent Examination. As part of the Crawley Borough Local Plan Review, substantial joint working with all of the neighbouring authorities and Prescribed Bodies has taken place and a number of SoCGs have already been agreed. This is set out in the Crawley Duty to Cooperate Statement (May 2023): https://crawley.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-05/Duty%20to%20Cooperate%20Statement%20May%202023%20%28low%20res%29.pdf A new bilateral Statement of Common Ground has been agreed between Crawley Borough Council and National Highways in relation to the Crawley Borough Local Plan. The Crawley Borough Council and National Highways Statement of Common Ground has been agreed and signed by Crawley Borough Council and National Highways.
Recommendations Approved
Crawley Borough Local Plan 2024-2040 Submission
From: Constitution - Monday, 27th October, 2025 - October 27, 2025
The Crawley Borough Local Plan was approved at the meeting of Crawley Borough Full Council held on 22 February 2023: Agenda item - Recommendation 2 – Crawley Borough Local Plan Review: Publication and Submission - Crawley Borough Council. At this meeting, the Full Council approved: a)the submission draft Local Plan for Publication consultation (a statutory six-week period of public consultation), commencing 9 May 2023, as shown within presented report PES/427 b)the submission draft Local Plan for Submission to the Secretary of State for Examination by an independent Planning Inspector, subject to minor amendments deemed necessary following the above consultation for the purposes of clarity and accuracy. c)publication and submission of the supporting documents for the Local Plan: the Local Plan Map; the Sustainability Appraisal; the Habitats Regulations Assessment; the Consultation Statement; and the detailed technical evidence base documents necessary for supporting the Local Plan through Examination. The Local Plan itself will not be changed. The version submitted will be the version approved by Full Council and which was published for consultation in May 2023. The link to the published Local Plan Document is attached for reference: •https://crawley.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-05/1.%20Submission%20Crawley%20Borough%20Local%20Plan%202024-2040%20May%202023.pdf (Local Plan Document) •Local Plan Review summary | Crawley GOV (webpage) However, a Schedule of Suggested Modifications will be submitted alongside the Local Plan for the Inspector to consider as part of the examination process. The modifications suggested at this stage seek to address factual or critical matters raised by the representations made at Examination (primarily from the statutory consultees) and not all of those which can be agreed through the examination process itself. In addition, a number of Key Documents and supporting evidence base documents have been updated to support the Local Plan at Examination. These are: •Consultation Statement Main Report (update) •Consultation Statement Appendix 6: Additional Publication Consultation Representations (update) •Consultation Statement Appendix 7: Further Publication Consultation Materials (new document) •Consultation Statement Appendix 8: Further Publication Consultation Representations (new document) •Infrastructure Plan (update) •Duty to Cooperate Statement (update) •Unmet Needs Topic Paper (update) •Gatwick Airport Topic Paper (update) •Housing Supply Topic Paper (update) •Employment Needs and Land Supply Topic Paper (update) •Climate Change Topic Paper (update) •Biodiversity Net Gain and Urban Greening (update) •Technical Update Annex to the Water Neutrality Topic Paper (new annex) •Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs Assessment (update)
Recommendations Approved
Animal Activity Licence - Arranger Fee
From: Constitution - Monday, 27th October, 2025 - October 27, 2025
The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 ANIMAL ACTIVITY LICENCE – ARRANGERS FEE SIGNIFICANT OPERATIONAL DECISION . The Significant Operational Decision relates to Animal Activity Licensing and the additional activity of Franchise Operators/Arrangers for Home Boarding. This is a relatively new addition to the licensing and regulatory functions under Animal Activity Licensing. In common with all cat and dog boarding settings in a private residence, the Council as Licensing Authority visit, assess and score settings according to Animal Activity Licensing but in order to cover the additional regulatory requirements, the Council needs to address the issue of arrangers/franchise operations. These businesses will have their documentation assessed in principle as a business/franchise through whom host families are identified, operate under the principles of the said Arranger/Franchise Operation and where dogs are then boarded. The current Part A fee for a licence is £189.90 and this is the fee that is charged for Arrangers Licences as we need to recover the costs of administering the process. This includes meeting the applicants, assessing policies, procedures and an application as well as producing a licence fee and rating. Arrangers/Franchise holders will be scored according to their lowest rated host setting. An Arranger/Franchise will then provide the operating principles, policies and other key guidelines along which the host family will operate as the premises providing dog boarding settings on their behalf. Arrangers Licences vary in duration depending on the Risk Rating and Star awarded. This can vary from 1 - 3 years, with 1 being low star rating and 5 star being the highest award. The Council will continue to secure the separate fee (Part A - Application and Part B – Grant) for these dog boarding settings and hosts. In common with other Sussex Authorities, Crawley will still require an application, inspection, assessment and star rating of host families to make sure animal welfare needs are met. In addition, any changes to the Arrangers Licence, such as the addition of a host family or removal of the same/change of details will also need a fee as this does require administrative work and the production of new licence and associated documentation as £25. These charges are mid-range when compared with other Local Authorities generally. Fees Proposed: Arrangers Licence (New) £189.90 Arrangers Licence (Renewal) £110 Change Of Details/Inclusion of Host £25
Recommendations Approved
Summary
Meetings Attended: 71
Average per Month: 3.2
Decisions Recorded: 190