Issue - meetings

To consider a report by the Planning Policy Team Leader regarding the Examiner’s report into the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan leading to a Referendum on whether or not it should be brought into force as part of the statutory development plan.

  i.  Agrees that the District Council should act upon the Examiner’s report and recommended modifications, and progress St Neots Neighbourhood Plan to Referendum.

  ii.  That St Neots Town Council be requested to consider holding the Referendum in May alongside the planned elections to enable better community engagement in the process through larger turnout.

(Councillor T Sanderson, Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environmental Well-Being), was in attendance for this item).

The Cabinet received a report from the Planning Policy Team Leader, which was presented by two Senior Planning Policy Officers (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) regarding whether the Council should act upon the Examiner’s Report and recommended modifications, and if St Neots Neighbourhood Plan should proceed to a Referendum.

The process for determining whether a Neighbourhood Plan progressed to Referendum following the receipt of an Examiner’s report was agreed by the Cabinet in Minute No. 49.

St Neots Neighbourhood Plan was the first in Huntingdonshire to progress through Examination. The Examiner had accepted that, with appropriate modifications, the Neighbourhood Plan would meet the basic conditions against which it was required to be tested to be able to progress to Referendum.

The Examination of the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan took place during January to February 2015 with the final report being issued in February 2015.  The Examiner proposed a substantial number of modifications which had been discussed with St Neots Town Council.  The Examiner presented options for the Town Council to consider and had agreed with their preferred modifications which included deleting the chapter on Entertainment and Leisure in order to designate Riverside Park and Regatta Meadow as local green spaces.

The Cabinet was referred to the copy of the Neighbourhood Plan submitted for Examination and the document detailing the modifications required by the Examiner, as appended to the Officer’s report.  It was noted that it was the responsibility of St Neots Town Council to incorporate the amendments into a finalised copy of the Neighbourhood Plan.

It was considered that the modifications as now proposed would enable the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan to meet the basic conditions required and that there was no new evidence or a different view by the Local Planning Authority to require those identified in the consultation statement to be notified or for the Examination to be reopened.

Preparations would be made for a Referendum to be held on the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan in accordance with the Regulations and using the guidance provided by the Planning Advisory Service and Local Government Association.  The Cabinet were informed that a tentative date of 4th February 2016 had been reserved for the Referendum.

The Examiner was required to recommend the area to be covered by the Referendum.  In this instance it was recommended that the Referendum encompassed the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan area, as approved on 17th October 2013. 

At the Referendum the electorate would be requested to vote on the question: ‘Do you want Huntingdonshire District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for St Neots to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’

If the results were a majority ‘yes’ vote, the Council would be asked to adopt the Neighbourhood Plan at its next available meeting.  The Plan would then form part of the Statutory Development Plan for the area. 

The Cabinet was advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50

To receive a report on the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan.

With aid of a report by the Planning Policy Team Leader (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the report on the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan was presented to the Panel. Members were informed that after the Examination in February 2015 the Neighbourhood Plan could proceed to a Referendum subject to the modifications being made as recommended by the Examiner. A clean copy of the Plan, including the modifications could not be produced until the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environmental Well-Being) and Cabinet had approved the Plan for Referendum, at their meetings in November 2015.

Following a discussion regarding community involvement, Members highlighted their concerns that the Neighbourhood Plan may be rejected if there was to be a low turnout at a Referendum. In response, the Panel was assured that so long as a majority of those residents that voted were in favour, the Neighbourhood Plan would be adopted regardless of turnout.

In response to a concern that St Neots was losing out on Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money the Panel was reassured that to date St Neots had not missed out on any CIL money, which is due after the final planning conditions had been discharged. In addition, the Panel was reminded that Neighbourhood Plans had been intended primarily as a way for communities to develop a shared vision for how they want their area to developed and that getting more CIL money should be seen as a secondary bonus.

Members questioned the timings of the progression of the Neighbourhood Plan to Referendum, as it was submitted in April 2014 and was only being submitted to the Cabinet in November 2015. The Panel were advised that in hindsight the process could have been quicker. The process had been a learning experience for the Council, since the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan was the first in Huntingdonshire to be progressed this far in the process. The Panel was also informed that the Council was not in control of all the timescales: for example, the Neighbourhood Plan had to undergo a statutory six week consultation after submission before the Neighbourhood Plan was submitted to an Independent Examiner.

The Panel asked for further clarity on the timescales involved between submission, examination and Referendum of Neighbourhood Plans. In response it was clarified that the process as referred to in Item Number 38 would give a good indication of timelines, and that the Huntingdonshire Community Planning Support report, to be considered by the Panel in December 2015, would clearly set out the process.

Following concerns the Panel was reminded that the Neighbourhood Plans process should not be concerned with completion before the Local Plan was adopted. Neighbourhood Plans should be consistent with, and complement, both the adopted and emerging Local Plans, giving the Town or Parish some control of local planning issues such as the amount and location of development.

The Panel had recommended to the Cabinet that the timescales for the process of creating a Neighbourhood Plan should be made clearer.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40