Agenda item

            The Sub-Committee received a report of the Strategic Director, Environment which sought approval for the publication of the draft Southern Widnes Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for the purposes of Statutory Public Consultation.

            Members were advised that the Mersey Gateway Regeneration Strategy was an important element of the Mersey Gateway Project that built upon the adopted vision that it was “more than just a bridge” but the “catalyst” for regeneration and investment throughout Halton, Cheshire, the Liverpool City Region and the North West.

            The Regeneration Strategy was concerned with how the bridge could deliver a new context for place-shaping, set the agenda for a sustained economic, social, physical and environmental regeneration programme over the next 20 to 30 years and re-connect the communities of Runcorn and Widnes.

            The Regeneration Strategy covered an area in excess of 20 square kilometres within the Borough of Halton, including the Southern Widnes SPD area. The area was agreed with the Council to provide a statutory planning basis for policy development due to its influence on the Local Development Framework.

            Several key elements of this SPD had been informed by the Mersey Gateway Regeneration Strategy, building upon some of the principles, objectives and development opportunities set out within the document. A number of proposals described in this SPD were therefore based upon the preferred option as expressed in the Mersey Gateway Regeneration Strategy agreed by the Council’s Executive Board on 19^th June 2008.

            Members were advised that Southern Widnes had been identified within the Halton Unitary Development Plan (UDP) as one of the six Action Areas in the Borough that required significant development or redevelopment in order to secure their regeneration. This SPD was therefore supplementary to Policy RG1 (Action Area 1 Southern Widnes) in the Halton UDP.

            The purpose of the Southern Widnes SPD was therefore to establish and identify potential development  or improvement opportunities within the area that arose from the existing context and the proposals of the Mersey Gateway Project in order to help sustain the existing community and deliver regeneration benefits to the area. This current draft had been prepared by GVA Grimley for the formal stages of public consultation.

            The Southern Widnes SPD was specifically designed to:

• Ensure a suitable standard of development;
• Improve the visual and environment quality of the area;
• Create a “sense of place”;
• Improve accessibility particularly to the Silver Jubilee Bridge and Widnes Waterfront; and
• Improve sustainability of the West Bank community by introducing new employment, housing and a neighbourhood centre.

Members were advised that Sustainability Appraisal, Habitat Regulations Assessment and Statement of Consultation were all set out in detail in the report and it was noted that they would be available for public consultation, alongside the draft Southern Widnes SPD.

            Once the formal public consultation exercise had been conducted, the responses would be recorded and taken into account. It was intended that a further report would then be taken to the Executive Board, seeking formal adoption of the revised Southern Widnes SPD.

         RESOLVED: That

(1)   the draft Southern Widnes SPD be approved for the purposes of statutory public consultation for a six week period;

(2)    the comments received at the stakeholder consultation stage, as set out in the Statement of Consultation and responses to them be noted;

(3)   further editorial and technical amendments that did not materially affect the content of the SPD be agreed by the Operational Director – Environmental and Regulatory Services, in consultation with the Executive Board Member for Planning, Transportation, Regeneration and Renewal, as necessary, before the document is published for public consultation; and

(4) the results of the public consultation exercise and consequent recommended modifications to the draft document be reported back to the Executive Board for resolution to adopt as a Supplementary Planning Document.