Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies were received from Jonathan Milner.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 15 January 2024.

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 15 January 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Panel.

All agenda items were considered in public session.

The Panel will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No public questions were asked.

The Panel will receive a presentation on Local Centres, Marsden.

Contact: Simon Taylor, Head of Town Centres Programme, and David Wildman, Strategic Partnership Lead, Tel: 01484 221000

Cllr Graham Turner, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Regeneration, introduced the item, informing the Panel that the update will outline why Marsden is being worked on. The unlocking of some money from DLUHC (Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities) levelling up fund, has given an opportunity to build on that work because Marsden has huge potential growth in economic terms.

David Wildman, Strategic Partnership Lead, took the Panel through a presentation explaining that the economic potential of Marsden is not being realised at the moment.  He advised that it is a great successful village, however it has got a constrained commercial offer. There is a lot of out commuting, there are issues caused by local traffic and parking, and there are a great deal of unused properties and mills in the village that is impacting on the quality of place.

Funding has been secured through DLUHC for the regeneration and redevelopment of New Mills which is in the centre of the village, that came through the levelling up fund round two (LUF2). Alongside that, there is also the investment that is happening in the TransPennine Route (TRU)  upgrade project to Marsden.  Those two investment together, with an active community that has been realised through the recent place standard engagement, present an opportunity to do something positive in Marsden.

The Panel was informed that the masterplan will provide a structured approach,  a framework to unlock the development and bring forward future opportunities for growth.  In June 2023, a report was taken to Cabinet that delegated authority to  progress with a masterplan. A further report will be going back to Cabinet in March 2024, to seek endorsement for a partnership led approach.

The masterplan will set out a longer term vision for Marsden and identify priority projects, this is both from a commercial, and a transport master planning point of view that will help the council and partners pursue future funding opportunities.   It will build on local engagement and there has already been positive engagement to date, and that is where the proposed Community Partnership comes in to help embed a community and place led approach that can shape the masterplan.

The Council remains the accountable body in developing the masterplan, and the partnership will help to shape the vision, provide local insight, oversee community engagement and support the Council as an advisory body.

The Panel was shown an overview of Marsden, which highlighted key locations in the village, including local sports facilities, the train station, canal and New Mills.

With regard to the community led approach, the Panel was informed that the aim is to form a partnership made up of ten local invited representatives, with no more than nine or ten members including one representative from each of the following: - Marsden Community Trust, Marsden Community Association, Kirklees Council, Ward Councillor, local businesses, local landowner and/or developer, youth based/sports group, community group/organisation and local schools.  Following attendance at this scrutiny meeting and the Cabinet meeting in March, work will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

-          The Panel will receive an update on the progress of the Kirklees Local Plan.

-          The Panel are asked to note the revised national planning policy and implications for the Local Plan update programme.

Contact: Johanna Scrutton, Planning Policy and Strategy Group Leader, and Mathias Franklin, Head of Planning and DevelopmentTel: 01484 221000

Cllr Graham Turner, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Regeneration introduced the item, advising the Panel that this is likely to be the first of many updates as the Local Plan is rolled out.  Progress is being made, however, as the Panel will appreciate, these things take time, and there is short capacity within the Planning Department, however reasonable progress is being made and things are moving forward.

Johanna Scrutton, Planning Policy and Strategy Group Leader, provided the Panel with an update on the Local Plan Review, advising that the review was undertaken in the summer 2023, in order to get it through the process before the end of the five year period, which for Kirklees was February 2023.  A report outlining the process to be taken was presented to the Scrutiny Panel in September 2023. 

The Panel was reminded that the assessment was based on the Planning Advisory Service Review template which looked at three main topics covering 14 questions, regarding the delivery of the spatial strategy, whether there were any Council priorities that had impacted on the plan, and whether the plan policies themselves were still compliant with local plan guidance.

The review outcome indicated that the plan was out of date in several areas including, the lack of five year land supply, the Council not meeting its housing delivery targets, and the potential for employment delivery.  There were known sites that were coming forward, however they had yet to enter the planning process in terms of the Council's priorities.  While the Local Plan was found to be sound in terms of sustainability, the Council's climate action plan was developed after the plan was adopted, therefore, the review provided an opportunity to relook at plan policies to assist towards net zero.

In terms of the planning policies, service users were spoken to, monitoring for development management in applications and appeals were looked at, and most of the policies were still found to be working.  It is also important to stress that the whole of the plan is not out of date, the Local Plan National Planning Policy Guidance and the supplementary planning documents will continue to be the main tools that will be use in determining planning decisions.

The Planning Officers Society were invited to give an independent view on whether it should be a partial or a full review.   In their opinion, because of the interrelationship between the strategy, the planning policies, the cost and transparency to communities, it was determined that it would be better to do a full review.

The Panel was informed that in order to address the situation that the Council did not have a five year land supply, an interim housing position statement was produced, and that was presented to scrutiny in November 2023 and taken to Cabinet in December 2023.  Work has also been undertaken on a revised Local Plan timetable, which is not just the timetable for the local plan, but a whole range of other planning policy documents and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Panel will consider its work programme and Forward Plan of Key Decision items relating to Growth and Regeneration.

Contact: Jenny Bryce-Chan, Principal Governance Officer

RESOLVED:

That the panel work programme and Forward Plan of Key Decisions be noted.