Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Cabinet Member for Environment.

That the Council:-

1.    Approve the final version of the Delivery Agreement – Gwynedd Local Development
Plan (which has incorporated the amendments following the public consultation
period).

2.    Agree to submit the Delivery Agreement to the Welsh Government for their approval.

3.    Delegate the right to the Head of Department to make editorial changes for accuracy as required.

The Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Dafydd Meurig, submitted the report which asked for the Full Council's approval to the Delivery Agreement and an agreement to be submitted to the Welsh Government for approval. It was explained that the report related to the lengthy process of creating a Local Development Plan and that this was the first step in this process, i.e. adopting the Delivery Agreement.

It was noted that the Delivery Agreement could be seen in full in the Agenda papers

as well as the context and reference to the process of creating the contract, as well as

a timetable and steps.

Details were provided of the journey of the Delivery Agreement to date, which included

a public consultation and reference was made to some of the observations received.

It was noted that specific comments had been made about the impact and the

robustness tests and the possibility of amending them to consider the impact on the

Welsh language as a part of the tests. A summary was provided of the robustness

steps relating to the suitability of the Plan, propriety of the Plan and the Plan's ability

to deliver. Reference was made to the response to the comment which was included

on page 169 of the Agenda.

It was noted that the Planning Policy Working Group and the Cabinet had considered the observations from the consultation in full; concern was expressed at the low number of responses. It was reported that the work of creating the Local Development Plan would commence after it was approved by the Government; this could take around four weeks.

Members were given an opportunity to make observations and ask questions. 

A member commented that no changes had been made to the Plan following the consultation observations and he believed that this tended to happen often after consultations. The explanation from the Cabinet Member for Environment regarding why the comments had not been accepted was appreciated, but it was believed that there was a need to consider the reliability of the Government's assessments when dealing with the impact on the Welsh language.