Agenda item

The report will follow in a supplementary pack for this meeting after it has been published for the meeting of Executive Committee (due for publication on Friday 2 May).

The report on Redditch Local Plan Issues and Options Consultation was presented. It was remarked that the Issues and Options Consultation would be the first stage in the development of the new Redditch Local Plan and, if endorsed by full Council, would be released for a six-week public consultation period. The Issues and Options Consultation followed the Local Development Scheme (LDS) which had set out the timeline for Local Plan development.

The purpose of the Issues and Options consultation was to consult the public, statutory consultees and a range of stakeholders on what the new Local Plan should contain. This consultation was less detailed than future consultations to be held through the plan-making process (such as a ‘Preferred Option’ consultation) and as such the Council had some discretion over the format of this consultation. It was commented that the consultation document at Appendix A was designed by officers so that it was concise and clear to understand but contained all the necessary information.

The Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager provided an overview of the sections contained within the Issues and Options consultation document. Sections 1-3 provided background information on the Borough and the Local Plan process, section 4 detailed the reasons why the Local Plan review was required and what the process would be for its development. Section 6 contained the details of the ‘call for sites’ exercise which enabled developers and landowners to submit potential development sites which they wished to be considered for inclusion in the Local Plan review.

Sections 7 and 9-15 contained consultation questions. Section 7 covered the design coding which defined requirements for the physical development of the area. The detailed design code would be produced later in the Local Plan period and would be informed by the responses from this Issues and Options consultation. Section 9 looked at the key issues identified for Redditch Borough based on evidence base documents such as the Sustainability Appraisal scoping report, the Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA) and conversations held with elected members including through Planning Advisory Panel (PAP) meetings.

Section 10 covered the possible growth options, looking at possible broad locations for development based on the characteristics of Redditch Borough. It was noted that the growth strategy would be informed by what sites were available for development, the suitability of potential sites submitted through the Call for Sites exercise and on what the evidence suggested were the locations most sustainable for new development. The government-set house building target would also need to be considered which for Redditch Borough was now 485 new houses per year.

It was highlighted that among the changes in the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was the introduction of ‘grey belt’, defined as ‘land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and/or any other land.” This had potential implications in that some land in Redditch, which was currently protected by the Green Belt or in countryside, could be considered for development.

The Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager reported that for this consultation, the Council would be using an online consultation platform called

‘Commonplace’, which allowed consultees to choose the sections of the consultation document they wished to fill out and which had features such as ‘map pin’ which would enable consultees to drop a pin in the digital map to provide location detail for any issued referred to in the responses.

It was commented that the use of a consultation platform should make it easier to engage with ‘harder-to-reach’ groups such as young people. Paper copies of the consultation document would also be available in the Council’s temporary customer services centre, libraries and other locations throughout the Borough, and both email and paper responses to the consultation would also be accepted.

The following questions and comments were raised by Members during the discussion of this item:

·       Grey Belt – It was clarified that the Grey Belt was defined as land within the Green Belt comprising previously developed land or as land located within the Green Belt that did not strongly contribute to the main purposes of the Green Belt designation. It was explained that at the moment it was uncertain how Grey Belt would need to be considered by planners. Within the Redditch’s Issues and Options Consultation, developing on ‘grey belt’ was considered under option 2 in section 10.

·       Assessment of suitable sites for the Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Show-People Community – It was explained that this would be determined through this consultation process, including the assessment of need for this Community. A Member questioned the classification of travelling show-people under the above category. In response it was explained that classification of communities was determined based on legal definitions but this would also be reviewed based on feedback from these communities on how they identified themselves.

·       Areas available for development within Redditch – A Member commented that there were opportunities to redevelop some areas within Redditch, such as Auxerre House or parts of Salters Lane. An example was cited of Auxerre House which was an extensive four-storey building that could be demolished and/or redeveloped to provide high quality urban housing. It was noted that the consultees would have the option to prioritise this type of ‘urban renewal’ development under option 1 of section 10 within the Issues and Options Consultation.

·       Option for Members to attend meetings of the Planning Advisory Panel (PAP) remotely – The Officer confirmed he would find out whether remote attendance at future meetings of PAP could be accommodated (as hybrid meetings), or whether some meetings of PAP could be held entirely online.

·       Actual numbers of houses built in Redditch versus central government annual house building targets – A Member requested information on the actual numbers of houses built in Redditch over the last few years and whether these numbers met central government targets for those years. The Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager undertook to provide Members with this data.

·       Housing mix in the new Local Plan – A Member commented that building a greater proportion of higher council tax band housing would be beneficial in terms of council tax income; however, it was noted that from planning perspective council tax return was not a material consideration and could not be considered in the development of the Local Plan. Members also commented that housing mix needed to be the right type for Redditch demographic, including young people who were entering the housing market and elderly residents.

·       Mix of sites for development – An observation was made that utilising a limited number of large sites would likely lead to slower rates of house building as opposed to choosing a number of sites spread across the Borough. It was commented that the expediting of house building would not necessarily be enforceable through the Local Plan but would require parliamentary legislation.

·       It was highlighted that with the high house building targets there would need to be associated infrastructure and employment provided. It was noted that the employment numbers per area would be a metric set down by central government with the Council not having much option to adjust these figures.

·       Promotion of the Issues and Options Consultation – The Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager stated that the consultation would be advertised in the local papers and through a social media campaign. The consultation platform, ‘Commonplace’, would enable officers to see live response rates by postcode area, and focus groups could be organised over and above this 6-week consultation period. It was noted that a further email would be sent to all Councillors before the consultation launch, containing a link to the consultation document. Councillors could forward this email to residents to encourage responses.

·       Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and the district/borough level Local Plans – A question was asked on the implications of LGR proposal to create unitary authorities in the existing two-tier local government areas and how this would impact the individual Local Plans created by the borough / district councils within the proposed unitary areas. It was responded that it was currently unknown how this issue would be resolved, for example if all plans would be amalgamated within a unitary local plan or whether existing local administrative geographies would continue to apply within the unitary area.

·       Consideration of design costs and building regulations – It was noted by the officer that whether the Local Plan would require new builds to simply comply with the design and building regulations or enforce additional requirements above and beyond those regulations was not a straightforward issue to answer at the moment and would depend among other things on consultation responses received from within the building and design industry.

On being put to the vote, the recommendations as set out in the report were endorsed.

RECOMMENDED that

1)    The Council endorses Redditch Local Plan Issues and Options consultation document (Appendix A) for a six-week public consultation period.

2)    Delegated authority is given to the Assistant Director for Planning, Leisure and Culture Services following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Regeneration and Governance to make any minor technical corrections and editorial changes deemed necessary to aid the understanding of the documentation prior to final publishing.