Agenda item

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Environment and Economy which sought approval; for changes to Halton’s Core Strategy Proposed Submission Document, for a period of further consultation on  a revised document.

 

The report advised that on 18^th November 2010, approval was received from the Executive Board to publish the Proposed Submission Core Strategy for an 8 week period of public consultation and for representations to be made.  Between 29^th November 2010 and 24^th January 2011 this period of public consultation, known formally as the Publication Stage in accordance with Regulation 27 of The Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2008, took place.  A number of stakeholders and members of the public asked for additional time to make representations on the Core Strategy and the final representations relating to this period of consultation were received in mid-February.

 

A total of 41 respondents, ranging from members of the public, neighbouring local authorities, Government agencies, landowners and developers made representations on the Halton Core Strategy Proposed Submission Document.  The representations ranged from support for the document and its contents, comments, and objections which related to the legal compliance or “soundness” of the plan.

 

The main policy areas questioned by respondents during the consultation period were:

 

·        Availability of evidence upon which the policies within the Core Strategy were founded upon;

·        Green Belt policy;

·        Daresbury Strategic Site;

·        Liverpool John Lennon Airport policy;and

·        Core Strategy plan period not covering the required period of 15 years from adoption;

 

The points raised by the public and stakeholders on these areas, plus the Council’s proposed way of addressing the comments were summarised in the report.  These major issues plus other matters raised through the consultation were summarised in Appendix B to the report.

             

Reason(s) For Decision

 

In order to avoid being found ‘unsound’ for procedural reasons, it was recommended that a period of further public consultation be agreed.

 

Publication of the Core Strategy Revised Proposed Submission Document must be carried out for a statutory minimum 6 week period to allow interested parties ample opportunity to comment and to avoid legal challenge.  As the Core Strategy was a Development Plan Document, publishing the document for public consultation required the approval of Executive Board.

 

Alternative Options Considered And Rejected

 

As discussed at paragraph 6.1, the Council was able to proceed to Submission.  Although the time and resource implications of undertaking a further period of consultation had been considered, given the scale of some of the issues raised in response to the Proposed Submission consultation, it was decided that in the longer term it would be more sensible to incur minor delays at this stage rather than to risk the Core Strategy being found “unsound” at Examination, resulting in a much longer delay and the Council having to cover the Planning Inspector’s costs, without a successful outcome.

 

Implementation Date

 

It was envisaged that the Core Strategy would be submitted to the Secretary of State in July 2011, with the examination phase commencing in Autumn 2011, to be followed by adoption of the plan in Spring 2012.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

1)      the changes to the Proposed Submission Document be approved for incorporation into the Core Strategy for the purposes of a secondary public consultation for a six week period under Regulation 27 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2008;

 

2)      further editorial and technical amendments that do not materially affect the content of the Halton Core Strategy Revised Proposed Submission document or the supporting documents be agreed by the Operational Director for Policy, Planning and Transportation in consultation with the Portfolio Holder and Leader of the Council as necessary, before they are published for public consultation; and

 

3)      the Halton Core Strategy be taken before Council later in the year prior to Submission to the Secretary of State for Independent Examination.