Issue - meetings

To receive a report from the Landscape Officer on Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire 2014 Supplementary Planning Document.

A hardcopy of the Supplementary Planning Document has been circulated to Cabinet Members only. To access a copy of the document online, please click on the following link which will direct you to the District Council’s Planning Consultation Portal:-

http://consult.huntsdc.gov.uk/portal

Approved the adoption of the Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire Document as Supplementary Planning Policy Guidance and authorised the Head of Development to approve any minor consequential amendments to the text and illustrations prior to publication, after consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Housing Strategy.

Further to Minute No 13/24 and by way of a report by the Landscape Officer, Planning Services (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) Members were acquainted with the outcomes of the consultation exercise undertaken on the draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) – “Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire”.

Members were reminded that the new SPD had been prepared to update, clarify and replace the existing SPD document adopted by the Council in 2006. The document reflects the publication of the National Policy Framework (NPPF) and Planning Practice Guidance on Renewable and Low Carbon Energy.

Having noted the document had been endorsed by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environmental Well-Being) and the Development Management Panel, the Cabinet

RESOLVED

(a)  that the Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire Document be adopted as Supplementary Planning Policy Guidance; and

(b)  that the Head of Development be authorised to approve any minor consequential amendments to the text and illustrations prior to publication, after consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Housing Strategy.

To receive a report from the Landscape Officer on Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire 2014 Supplementary Planning Document.

A hardcopy of the Supplementary Planning Document has been circulated to Panel Members only. To access a copy of the document online, please click on the following link which will direct you to the District Council’s Planning Consultation Portal:-

http://consult.huntsdc.gov.uk/portal

(Councillor D B Dew, Executive Member for Planning and Housing Strategy, was in attendance for this meeting).

With the aid of a report prepared by the Landscape Officer (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel gave consideration to the revised Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire 2014. Councillor D B Dew, Executive Member for Planning and Housing Strategy, reminded Members of the need to revise the SPD on Wind Power, which was adopted by the Council in 2006. There had been significant changes in national and local planning policy, various permissions had been granted and a number of turbines had been constructed throughout the District. He went on to report that the revised SPD would strengthen the Council’s case at Public Inquiries and the general course of the planning process.

In response to questions, it was confirmed that paragraph 17.24 of the SPD addressed the matter of separation distances, which had previously been raised by Members. This matter had been the subject of a study undertaken by consultants and Members were advised that recent cases had established that the Council should not specify absolute numbers but that it could identify where cumulative effects were likely to occur.

Having been informed of the Development Management Panel’s deliberations on the SPD and received assurances that it was sufficiently robust to withstand an appeal, it was

RESOLVED

  that the Cabinet be recommended to endorse the recommendations contained within the report by the Landscape Officer.

To consider a report by the Head of Development.

(A copy of the proposed SPD document has been sent separately to Members).

The Panel was invited to comment, by way of a report by the Head of Development (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) on the content of an updated supplementary planning document (SPD) relating to “Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire”.  A copy of the SPD and the revised statement of consultation had been circulated separately to Panel Members.

The Head of Development reported that the new SPD would consist of two parts.  The first would replace that adopted in 2006 and better reflect the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and recent Planning Practice Guidance on renewable and low carbon energy.  It would also acknowledge the development of a methodical approach to landscape sensitivity, seek to overcome inconsistencies in the previous SPD and recognise the need for guidance on the siting and design of small turbines.  Part 2 would respond to concerns in respect of cumulative impacts of wind turbine development.  Both the NPPF and Planning Practice Guidance had confirmed that cumulative landscape and visual impact needed to be addressed as part of a Planning Authority’s renewables strategy.

Although not comprehensive, the Executive Councillor advised that the update SPD would provide more robust evidence and stronger support for the Council’s position on wind energy development in the District at public inquiries and during the development management process.  Councillor Dew added that it would be his intention to re-visit the SPD in early 2015 to develop policies on other forms of green energy. 

Members raised questions in respect of the scale of development, turbine group sizes in terms of the assessment of landscape sensitivity and separation distances.  Officers also responded, in detail, to two proposed amendments to the SPD which had been outlined in a letter received by Members from the Stop Molesworth Windfarm Action Group.

Having expressed their satisfaction with the responses received, the Panel

RESOLVED

  that the content of the proposed Supplementary Planning Guidance on Wind Energy Development in Huntingdonshire 2014 be endorsed and the Cabinet be recommended to adopt the SPD as Council policy.