Issue - meetings

To receive a progress report in respect of the Borough’s Local Development Framework.

The Chief Officer: Planning and Transport presented his report on the Local Development Framework which set out policies and proposals for the development and use of land in an area taking account of social and environmental factors.

The LDF was a portfolio of documents.  The one main adopted document with development plan status was the Core Strategy which set out the overarching strategy for the area, including the level of housing growth.  A list of the Council’s adopted documents was contained in Appendix 1 to the report.

The two key development plan documents proposed for preparation over the three year period from August 2011 to August 2014 were the Site Allocations DPD and commencement of the Core Strategy Review in March 2012, requiring a full assessment of the Borough’s development needs for the period to at least 2031 and to allocate sites to meet those needs.

The Localism Act included a number of changes to the planning system including:

• Abolishing regional policy
• A new duty to co-operate with neighbouring local authorities
• Neighbourhood Planning allowing communities to shape and influence where they live and work.  Neighbourhood Plans needed to conform with strategic national and local policies and could not be used to block the building of new homes and businesses, particularly if a need for growth had been identified.

However many requirements would remain in an amended form including retention of the LDF in the form of a Local Plan; Supplementary Planning Documents where they bring forward sustainable development at an accelerated rate and did not add financial burdens to development; and the duty to monitor the implementation of planning policies for local people in the interests of transparency.

Arising from questions –

·         Neighbourhood Planning would be a challenge for the Parish and Town Councils.

·         Bracknell Forest would suffer the consequences of developer led planning if the Council did not plan for the future.  Unsustainable development should be avoided where possible.

·         The Council already collaborates with other Berkshire authorities.  The Council would become a “flood authority”.  There was some short term funding for this but it may in the future  be a funding issue.

The Panel noted the documents that currently formed part of the Bracknell Forest Borough LDF and the stage reached in the preparation of other documents that would eventually form part of the Bracknell Forest Borough LDF on adoption.