Johanna Scrutton, Planning
Policy Team Leader, provided the Panel with an update on the
Kirklees Local Plan review process, advising the Panel that
this is the first of two invitations to
attend scrutiny, with today being the first to talk through the
local plan review process. The second
visit will be to come back later in the year to go through the
outcomes of the review and any next steps for a potential update of
the local plan.
In summary, the Panel was informed that it is a statutory requirement to publish a review of whether the local plan remains fit for purpose, and that has to be carried out, within five years from the date of adoption. For Kirklees, the assessment has to have been undertaken and taken through the cabinet process and be in the public domain by February 2024.
At the end of July 2023, the decision to start the review was taken by the Strategic Director David Shepherd, and this decision was put into the public domain through advertising the significant decision notice, through Kirklees together, local press releases and all social media platforms.
The appended
report, outlines that the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) template
has been used to undertake the assessment of the local
plan. The reason for using this
template is that the Local Government Association has worked with
PAS to develop this process, and it is a standardised approach
which is being promoted nationally.
It sets a standardised approach and allows benchmarking against other authorities. There is also the additional advantage that it feeds into a wider body of what PAS are producing on local plan making, which aims to get consistency across the country in the way that local authorities approach their decision making and their processes.
The Panel was directed to the template that was attached to the
appended report and advised that there are 14 main questions aimed
at looking at assessing the plan against current national planning
policy, and also against the Councils strategies and
policies.
It looks at the
spatial development strategy and whether Kirklees is delivering the
numbers of housing and employment that it said it would across the
plan period.
It also looks at the performance of the policies both individually
and the interrelationships between them.
The Panel was informed that to
inform that process, officers
have looked at all the national guidance and used ongoing
monitoring processes that feed into the annual monitoring report,
and spoken to colleagues across different services who use the plan
in the delivery of their work and their strategies.
As an additional level of trying to add robustness and transparency to the process, the Planning Officers Society has been commissioned to fulfil a role as a critical friend. They provided advice at the beginning of the process about their experience working with other authorities, which involved looking at the pros and cons of a partial or full review. Those outcomes are listed in the appended report, and they will also provide independent feedback on our assessment.
The assessment will go to cabinet on the 17 October 2023, seeking
ratification of the outcomes and to move forward with a local plan
update should the outcomes indicate this and then on to council on
the 15November 2023.
The Panel was advised that in terms of the next steps, the report outlines a potential programme should it be deemed necessary to move forward with the local plan update. This would mean the early part of 2024, would be putting the processes in place, concentrating on the evidence to guide a future strategy, identifying what type of place we want Kirklees to be and what levels of ambition. There would be early engagement towards August 2024, and a submission of a draft plan for examination, in March 2027. It is an ambitious programme, and the report sets out the aim to move forward with that.
In response to the information presented, the Panel made comment and asked questions including some of the following:
- It is positive to be liaising with officers from Barnsley to look at best practice, given that they have recently fulfilled this statutory requirement of a review, and also to be using the critical friend process and using the Planning Advisory Service template which gives some consistency between Kirklees and partner councils and authorities to avoid any pitfalls
- Can clarity be given to if there are any distinctions between preparing a new plan or a plan update, because it seems from reading the report, this is quite a thorough process to where it appears to be going through the entire local plan
- An important aspect of this is communicating with local residents to ensure they have faith in the planning process and making sure that any communication put out is robust
- Communication with local residents is vital as the local plan can often be seen by residence as an imposition, a foregone conclusion, and something that they don't have buy in or inclusion in the process
- It is recognised that there may be a need to go through a full review process as has been advised by the critical friend appointed in this process. Is it worth asking the question around cost and whether there are efficiency savings that can be made in this review process and still reach the same outcome
- The fact that we have fallen below the statutory requirements for land available for housing, does this trigger a renewal of the local plan?
- The last local plan was published before the Council declared a climate emergency, and it does recommend that climate emergency be a key factor in indicating whether an update is required, and therefore it is heartening that the council is taking a robust look at this
- In relation to the consultation, whilst most of this will probably be conducted online and will be a cost saver, it is important to be mindful that there are people who don't have access to the internet such as, the elderly, and some people with a disability and therefore it is making sure there are some provision in place to include all those groups
RESOLVED
That:
Johanna Strutton, David Shepherd and Edward Highfield be thanked for providing an update on the Kirklees local plan review process
The Panel supports the officer recommendation that the non-mandatory phases for public consultation be carried out
Officers look at the consultation strategy, which is the same as for LP1, and take any learning points with a view to be more inclusive