Issue - meetings

To receive the minutes and consider the recommendations and/or referrals from the following meetings of the Executive Committee:

8th March 2016 – there are no recommendations from this meeting

7^th June 2016 – there are no recommendations from this meeting

12^th July 2016 – there are recommendations from the Committee on the following matters:

Minute no: 16: Borough of Redditch Local Plan No.4 – Proposed Main Modifications;

Minute no. 17: Redditch Local Development Scheme July 2016 and Draft Statement of Community Involvement 2016;

Minute no. 18: Consolidated Revenue and Capital Outturn and Financial Reserves Statement 2015/16.

Copies of the reports to the Executive Committee are enclosed with this agenda and the minutes are enclosed in Minute Book 1.  Details of the recommendations are included in the agenda in front of the relevant reports

Members considered the minutes of the Executive Committee meetings of 8^th March 2016, 7^th June 2016 and 12^th July 2016.  The minutes from the March meeting were for information only as the recommendations had been dealt with at the last ordinary meeting of the Council.  There were no recommendations from the minutes of the meeting held in June.  There were a number of recommendations to be debated from the minutes of the July meeting of the Executive and these were discussed as follows:

Borough of Redditch Local Plan No.4 – Proposed Main Modifications

Members were reminded that the proposed modifications were those which had been put forward by the Inspector and it was clarified that the consultation referred to was in respect of those modifications only and not the plan as a whole.  The consultation period had been extended to take account of the holiday period.

Councillor Juliet Brunner proposed the following amendment:

“The consultation not to commence until the outcome of the ‘notice to hold’ has been formally decided by the DCLG and the Executive Committee and Council has considered a report on the outcome.”

Councillor Brunner explained that she had proposed the amendment due to Karen Lumley, MP having requested a “notice on hold” against the Local Plan No. 4.  It would therefore be prudent for the Council to await the outcome of that request before making a decision and entering into a consultation period.  A consultation could be a costly exercise and one which may have to be repeated should changes following the “notice of hold”.

Officers clarified the “Notice of Hold” process, which entailed the Plan being brought before the Secretary of State. This was a valid mechanism for the MP to use in order to put the Local Plan on hold. The following areas were debated by Members:

·         The Plan was “out of date” already as no account had been taken in respect of the Council’s membership of the West Midlands Combined Authority.

·         Potential flaws within the plan in respect of the location of both housing and commercial sites and the impact on the infrastructure of borough.

·         Whether the deferral of the Plan would impact on any of the Council’s neighbours, for example Bromsgrove District Council.

·         It was reiterated that the amendments within the report were merely those of the Inspector and that the Plan as a whole was not being consulted upon, as this process had already taken place.

·         Whether the Plan had taken into the account the true views of the residents.

Following debate the amendment was declared lost.

Members thanked Officers for their hard work and those residents who had taken the time to respond to previous consultations.  The Council had been transparent during the process and the Inspector was merely asking for a consultation to take place in respect of those amendments.  It was highlighted within the report that the consultation was not an opportunity to raise matters that either were, or could have been, part of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22