Issue - items at meetings - Adoption of the Brighton & Hove City Plan Part 1

Report of the Acting Executive Director for Environment, Development & Housing (copy attached).

That the Committee recommend to Council that:

1)    The submitted Brighton & Hove City Plan Part One including its annexes and Policies Map, amended to include all the main modifications recommended by the planning inspector to make the plan sound, together with other minor modifications already noted by 16 October 2014 Policy and Resources Committee be adopted and published (including any consequential and other appropriate alterations for the purposes of clarification, improved accuracy of meaning or typographical corrections, being necessary) in accordance with Section 23 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and Regulation 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

2)    It notes that on adoption of the City Plan Part 1 a number of policies in the 2005 Brighton & Hove Local Plan will be superseded. These superseded policies are listed in Annex 4 of the City Plan Part 1 (a copy is placed in the Members’ Rooms and available on the council’s website);

3)    That the ‘Objectively Assessed Need for Housing: Brighton & Hove, June 2015’ study is approved as supporting evidence for the City Plan and further Development Plan Documents (summarised in Appendix 4).

141.1.     The Committee considered a report of the Acting Executive Director for Environment, Development & Housing in relation to Adoption of the Brighton & Hove City Plan Part 1. The purpose of the report was to recommend the adoption of the Brighton & Hove City Plan Part 1, following receipt of the Inspector’s Report that concluded the City Plan was sound. Once adopted the City Plan Part 1 would replace a number of policies in the 2005 Brighton & Hove Local Plan.

141.2.     Councillor Mitchell introduced the report and stated it was her pleasure to recommend to the report to Council for formal adoption after many years of work. The plan before the Committee reflected the importance of enhancing and improving the natural environment; providing jobs and homes, and serving to support residents, business and visitors. The plan would pursue local policies based on local priorities and this overarching strategy would enable and support neighbourhood plans through Part 2. Councillor Mitchell thanked the work of all Officers involved and extended special thanks to Councillor Mac Cafferty who had steered the plan during the previous administration as well Councillor C. Theobald for working with her on the cross-party working group.

141.3    In response to Councillor Wealls it was explained that the adoption of the plan would generally not change the emphasis on tall buildings in the western seafront area; the City Plan would continue to support buildings of 6-8 storeys in height and the urban design framework was unlikely to significantly change this.

141.4    Officers provided the following responses to questions from Councillor Mac Cafferty. There was a monitoring and implementation plan with the City Plan and intervention would be considered in much more detail in Part 2 of the plan, and Officers acknowledged that delivery was going to be a challenge as the proposed 660 per annum unit delivery figure was higher than the number delivered in the previous year. In relation to windfall sites there would have to be a review of delivery were the economy to fall into recession and this affect the construction market. In response to queries about permitted development for office to residential it was expected that this change would be legislated to become permanent, Officers would be undertaking work to ensure the current Article 4 was still applicable after this change.

141.5    In response to further questions from Councillors Mac Cafferty the following responses were given. Delivery in the 5-10 year period was likely to be the most challenging; however, to ease this, the inspector had agreed a long lead in period, but interventions would be necessary to ensure the market delivered in the 2019-2024 period. Demonstrating a five year supply of housing was critical to the delivery of plan, and part of the day to day role of the policy team would be to enable this. In relation to the density of brownfield sites it was explained that the City Plan, put a very clear framework in place that sought to protect the amenity of residents and ensure development was delivered against the policy framework.

141.6    In response to the final queries from Councillor Mac Cafferty the following was explained by Officers. There was a commitment in Part 1 of the City Plan to allow the authority to gathered evidence in relation to matters such as space standards, and see if there was a case to pursue this as a piece of policy work. The ambition for a district heating network in in the Eastern Road area was still part of the policy commitment and this was work that was being progressed. In relation to building standards and regulations these remained higher than the national standard generally, and closer to those of London Boroughs, water efficiency standards for residential properties were also high.

141.7    Councillor G. Theobald stated that the authority had done very well to progress the work to this point; he remained of the view that the city should seek to protect as much of its greenfield space as possible and focus development on brownfield sites. Whilst he still had concerns in relation to development on the urban fringe he was assured by a response from Officers that the urban fringe assessment was material for the consideration of applications on those sites, furthermore having an adopted plan strengthened the position of the authority to resist inappropriate development.

141.8    In response to Councillor Janio it was explained that exceptions to policy could be made where a case could be proved to do this; there were also options for flexibility, for instance in relation to viability issues. Councillor Janio congratulated Officers for the work on the plan, and asked that the Committee seek to monitor delivery of housing to ensure the Plan was not restrictive in allowing appropriate development to come forward.

141.8    The Chair thanked the work of Officers and put the recommendation to the vote.

141.9      RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND – That the Committee recommends to Council that:

1)     The submitted Brighton & Hove City Plan Part One including its annexes and Policies Map, amended to include all the main modifications recommended by the planning inspector to make the plan sound, together with other minor modifications already noted by 16 October 2014 Policy and Resources Committee be adopted and published (including any consequential and other appropriate alterations for the purposes of clarification, improved accuracy of meaning or typographical corrections, being necessary) in accordance with Section 23 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and Regulation 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

2)     It notes that on adoption of the City Plan Part 1 a number of policies in the 2005 Brighton & Hove Local Plan will be superseded. These superseded policies are listed in Annex 4 of the City Plan Part 1 (a copy is placed in the Members’ Rooms and available on the council’s website);

3)     That the ‘Objectively Assessed Need for Housing: Brighton & Hove, June 2015’ study is approved as supporting evidence for the City Plan and further Development Plan Documents (summarised in Appendix 4).