Winchester City Borough Council Local Plan Advisory Group Meeting

Apologies were noted as above.

None.

A point was raised regarding item 8 of the previous minutes and specifically the statement:

“Following a request, the chairperson agreed to discuss with officers whether a “top 10” list could be created that gave members a summary across all sections of the key issues raised from the consultation.”

The chairperson advised that he would be discussing this matter with officers and would report back to advisory group members.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 24 November 2021 be approved and adopted.

Councillor David Killeen, Chair, Hursley Parish Council addressed the meeting. He informed that the parish council supported a need to maintain existing settlement gaps, specifically between Oliver’s Battery and Hursley and Hursley and Otterbourne. In addition, the parish council felt that the City Council’s Local Plan should not take up housing allocations from neighbouring district councils. Councillor Killeen raised four further questions concerning;

• The impact of carrying out a Neighbourhood Plan at the same time as the City Council’s Local Plan.
• The methods of feedback to the City Council regarding the SHELAA sites.
• The rationale for omitting Standon from the Local Plan.
• Whether SHELAA sites HU03 and HU011 were the same site.   

The Chairperson and Adrian Fox (Strategic Planning Manager) responded to the points raised and Mr Fox advised that he would respond in further detail to Councillor Killeen regarding SHELAA site HU03. The Chairperson thanked Councillor Killeen for his contribution.

The Chairperson introduced the item and informed the group that the intention of the meeting was for officers to report back on the responses and the analysis of the final seven topics from the Strategic Issues & Priorities consultation. These topics were:

1.    Sustainable Development Objectives

2.    Carbon Neutrality

3.    Biodiversity and the Natural Environment

4.    Conserving and Enhancing the Historic Environment

5.    Homes for All - specialised housing

6.    Creating a Vibrant Economy

7.    General Responses

Members of the advisory group had been supplied with the background documents on each topic as part of the agenda pack.  At the end of each topic, members would have an opportunity to provide further comments before the group were asked if they supported the recommended way forward for each.

Adrian Fox (Strategic Planning Manager), Steve Opacic (Strategic Planning Projects Officer), Joan Ashton (Senior Planning Officer) and Bethany Stokes (Planning Officer) provided the advisory group with a presentation that had previously been circulated to members regarding the “Responses to the Strategic Issues and Priorities consultation".  The presentation was available on the council’s website at this link.  The presentation provided members with the analysis and proposed a way forward for each of the seven topics listed above. Each topic was discussed, with members comments and questions raised as follows:

Sustainable Development Objectives: Analysis & Way Forward.

·         Balancing the pressures of economic growth, increased housing development and the impact on existing residents and the environment.

·         The number of available brownfield sites and the amount of housing that could be accommodated on this land

·         The opportunities and challenges of conversions of office developments into residential properties.

Carbon Neutrality: Analysis & Way Forward.

·         Understanding the impact on viability in terms of how far the Local Plan policies can go to address carbon neutrality.

·         Understanding how other councils were addressing these issues of carbon neutrality within their Local Plans.

·         The importance of site selection which can have a significant impact on climate change. 

Biodiversity and the Natural Environment: Analysis & Way Forward.

·         The timing and any potential issues of the Partnership for Southern Hampshire (PfSH) Green Belt commission and the City Council’s regulation 18 timescales. (Mr Fox to advise group members of the dates of the breakpoints referred to in his response)

·         The policy requirements relating to the development of former Ministry of Defence sites.

Conserving and Enhancing the Historic Environment

·         Whether the city council had sufficient resources to support communities with producing Conservation Area Appraisals

·         Further information regarding the production of the Buildings at Risk register (Mr Finch to advise group members of further information on this point)

Homes for All - specialised housing

·         The importance of student accommodation being sited close to a university campus to minimise the impact on local roads and environment and working with the Universities to enable this.

·         How to respond to residents increasing requirements for self-build opportunities.

·         Gypsy & Traveller Sites – the benefits of expanding existing sites versus finding new sites and the challenges involved in generating an accurate estimate of need.

Creating a Vibrant Economy

·         The importance of quantifying any gap in requirements for smaller, more traditional manufacturing units in the district and the appropriate policy to address any gap.

General Responses

·         Whether there was an opportunity within the Local Plan process for further, detailed conversations and community engagement to be undertaken that could build on and supplement the survey type engagement undertaken to date.

These questions were responded to by officers and the Chairperson accordingly.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the presentation and update be noted

2.      That officers consider the points made by members