Agenda item

            The Sub-Committee received a report of the Strategic Director, Environment which sought approval for the publication of the draft Runcorn Town Centre Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for the purposes of statutory public consultation.

            The Mersey Gateway Regeneration Strategy was an important element of the Mersey Gateway Project that built upon the adopted vision that is 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 reconnect 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 Runcorn 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 Merseyside Gateway Regeneration Strategy, agreed by the Council’s Executive Board on 19^th June 2008. This was especially relevant for the de-linking arrangements for the Silver Jubilee Bridge adjoining Runcorn Town Centre as described below and in more detail in the draft SPD.

            This SPD updated and built upon the Council’s previous 1997 Runcorn Town Centre Strategy and the draft Runcorn Old Town SPD drafted in 2007.

            In light of the opportunities presented by the Mersey Gateway Project and the identification of Runcorn Town Centre as an Action Area for regeneration and development in the Mersey Gateway Regeneration Strategy, the Runcorn Town Centre SPD had been revisited. This current draft had been prepared by GVA Grimley for the formal stages of public consultation.

            Members were advised that for the purposes of the Runcorn SPD was therefore to establish and identify potential development or improvement opportunities within the area that arose from the existing context and the proposals within the Mersey Gateway Regeneration Strategy in order to help sustain the existing community and deliver regeneration benefits to the area.

            The proposals set out in the Runcorn Town Centre SPD were specifically designed to:

• Enable Runcorn Town Centre to prosper without damaging the health of any other centres;
• Safeguard and strengthen the centre’s role as a safe and accessible place to shop, work and enjoy;
• Co-ordinate public and private investment decisions;
• Improve the economic prosperity of the Borough through the creation of new employment opportunities; and
• Ensure the highest standards of design and architecture.

             The report set out the sustainability appraisal habitat regulations Habitat Regulations Assessment and the Statement of Consultation and it was noted that these would be made available during the six weeks formal period of public consultation alongside the draft Runcorn Town Centre PSD.

            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 Executive Board, seeking formal adoption of the revised Runcorn Town Centre SPD.

            RESOLVED: That

(1)   the draft Southern Runcorn 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.