Agenda and minutes

          Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Burton and Councillor Serluca.

          Councillor Winslade attended as substitute.

          Councillor Winslade declared that she had received written correspondence from Bidwells Property Consultants and also from Mr Dale McKean, a local resident of Eye.

          The Legal Officer requested confirmation from the Committee that all Members had received the same two pieces of correspondence and all Members declared that they had received both items.

The Committee received a report which sought its comments on the draft Peterborough Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) (Proposed Submission Version) prior to its presentation to Cabinet on 8 November 2010. The Committee was advised that this would be its last opportunity to view and comment on the document as a Committee.

The Site Allocations DPD covered the entire unitary area of the authority except for the city centre of Peterborough. The city centre was subject to its own equivalent plan (the City Centre Area Action Plan), which was due in 2011.

Members were advised that the Site Allocations DPD was considered to be the second most important statutory planning document for Peterborough after the Core Strategy. With regards to views of the public, it was probably the most sensitive planning document as, unlike the Core Strategy, it allocated specific sites for new development on a map. The public could therefore see what had been proposed in their community.

The Core Strategy was responsible for setting the headlines and ‘broad’ areas for growth and the Site Allocations DPD translated the Core Strategy into actual proposed development sites.

         Members were further advised that the final stages of preparing the Site Allocations DPD were now being reached. Numerous consultations had taken place over the past 2-3 years, all of which had influenced what was to be included in what was known as the ‘Pre-Submission’ version of the plan. If approved by the Council, it would be made available for formal public comments and then ‘submitted’ to the Secretary of State, together with any comments received from the public. This therefore meant that the public’s comments submitted at that stage would not be considered by the Council, but rather by an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State. Under the current regulations, the Inspector had the final say on whether to accept or reject such objections.

         The Site Allocations DPD had been prepared on the assumption that the Core Strategy would be found to be ‘sound’ by the Core Strategy Inspector. The Core Strategy hearing sessions had been scheduled to close on 15 October 2010 and it was hoped that the Inspectors report would be provided in time for the Cabinet meeting due to be held on 8 December 2010. If the Inspector found major fault with the Core Strategy then the Site Allocations DPD would be likely to require change, or even a complete re-think, however this situation was considered to be unlikely.

         The Principal Strategic Planning Officer addressed the Committee and gave an overview of the document, including the changes that had been implemented since the previous round of consultation and the process that was due to be followed going forward.

The key points highlighted to the Committee were as follows:

·        In 2008, consultation had been undertaken on all sites that had been submitted for development across the city

·        Comments from the consultation had been taken on board and the sites had been assessed against detailed criteria

·        A document,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.