Agenda item

To consider questions from members of the public received in accordance with Procedure rule 9.

The Leader responded to three questions that had been submitted in accordance with Procedure Rule 9.2 from Mr D. Rose, Ms E. Morris and Mr I. McQuaid as detailed below.

a)        Borough of Redditch Local Plan No. 4 – Inspector’s Hearing

Mr D. Rose asked the following question:

With regard to the BORLP4/BDP what are the Leader's views upon the HM Inspector's concerns as voiced at the hearing on the 23rd/24th June and outlined in his note posted 13/07/15?

The Leader replied as follows:

I am familiar with the Inspector’s post hearing note and the initial response from officers to the Inspector.

The Inspector is tasked with providing independent scrutiny to the plan making process. This is a good thing. I am pleased that the Inspector has recognised the amount of work that has already gone in to preparing Local Plan No.4. Work on the emerging plan commenced in 2007.

As offered by the Inspector in paragraph 21 of his recent note, the Council's next steps will be to consider how to take the plan forward in light of the concerns raised. This piece of work is commencing (on both the SA and the evidence base as applicable). It is recognised that this extra work will delay plan making for several months but this relatively modest delay (in the context of how long it takes to prepare a plan) is necessary.

After the Local Plan examination for Local Plan No. 4 re-convenes the Inspector will let us all know of his final conclusions.  As you are no doubt aware the continued progression of Local Plan No. 4 will be very much in the public arena and via the Inspector you will be able to let your views be known about the next steps.

A supplementary question was raised about how the concerns raised by the Planning Inspector would be addressed by the Council and the approach that would be adopted in future to considering whether to undertake housing development in Webheath. 

The Leader responded by suggesting that this question had already been addressed in his previous answer.

b)        Borough of Redditch Local Plan No. 4 (BORLP4) – Sustainability Appraisal

Ms E. Morris asked the following question:

Regarding BORLP4/BDP and particularly the HMI’s concerns with the problematic Sustainability Appraisals, are you happy with the quality of this Local Plan and confident that the points he raised can be addressed by your officers?

The Leader explained that his answer to Mr D. Rose’s question also applied in his response to Ms E. Morris’s question.

A supplementary question was raised concerning the approach that would be adopted by the Council’s Planning Department to ensure that a fair approach was adopted to scoring when identifying sites suitable for development in the Borough.

The Leader’s response emphasised that he had no concerns regarding the approach that would be adopted by the Council’s Planning Department.  He also suggested that he had already addressed this question in his previous response.

c)         Planning Policy Documents – Funding

Mr I. McQuaid asked the following question:

What Council grants, allowances or funds are available to assist your residents in paying for external advice on planning policy documents?

The Leader replied as follows:

Unfortunately there is no grant.  Residents could turn to an organisation called Planning Aid, though there is no guarantee that assistance will be provided.

A supplementary question was raised concerning the use of residents’ personal finances to fund responses to draft copies of the BORLP4 and the extent to which the Leader believed that this expenditure was justifiable. 

The Leader responded to this question by referring back to the answers that he had already provided to these questions.