Issue - meetings

To consider report by the Head of Operations seeking the endorsement of an Open Space Strategy for Huntingdonshire.

Recommended to Council the adoption of the draft Open Space Strategy for Huntingdonshire 2011 – 2016 and supporting action plans.

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Operations (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) to which was attached a draft copy of the Open Space Strategy for Huntingdonshire 2011 – 2016 which had been produced to promote the environmental benefits of open space and would assist the planning process as an evidence based document when discussing section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy tariff with developers.

In discussing future priorities, the Executive Councillor for Environment and Information Technology reported that officers would be seeking to maximise opportunities for renewable energy on the Council’s land holdings, with the Strategy being used to inform future decisions.

Having noted the deliberations and conclusions reached by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Social Well-Being) on the content of the strategy in relation to the maintenance of sites and the need to develop the concept of localism within the document, the Cabinet

RESOLVED

that the contents of the Open Space Strategy for Huntingdonshire 2011-2016 and supporting action plans be approved.

To consider a report by the Head of Operations seeking the endorsement of an Open Space Strategy for Huntingdonshire.

20 Minutes.

(Councillor C R Hyams, Executive Councillor for Operational and Countryside Services, was in attendance for consideration of this item).

With the aid of a report by the Head of Operations (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel gave consideration to the content of a draft Open Space Strategy for Huntingdonshire. Members were advised that the Strategy aimed to provide an overarching vision of what the District’s parks, open spaces and other public spaces would look like over the next 10-15 years and would primarily be used to aid the planning process, in particular, as a tool to lever Section 106 funding into the District.

The Chairman commented that the adoption of the Strategy could encourage the perception that the Council would take responsibility for or assist with the maintenance or development of all the sites identified within the document. Additionally, the Panel has recommended that the Strategy should incorporate a detailed analysis of the implications of Localism for the achievement of its aims. In response, Members were informed that work on the Strategy commenced in 2009, at a time when the Council was operating under different political and budgetary conditions. The Panel received assurances that the ongoing process to update the Strategy would include an appreciation of recent developments, including Localism.

The Panel discussed the terminology used to classify the different types of open spaces that exist together with the classes of open space that had been included within the Strategy. Members endorsed the decision to adopt an approach that was consistent with Planning Policy Guidance No 17. Having suggested that the Strategy should differentiate between sites that the public would visit free of charge and those that required payment for their use, the Panel noted that the Strategy would be regularly be updated and revised editions published. Having been encouraged to provide Officers with information on the open spaces identified within the Strategy, the Panel

RESOLVED

  that, subject to the comments outlined above, the Cabinet be recommended to endorse the content of the Open Space Strategy for Huntingdonshire.