To consider the Joint Local Development Plan as amended by the Inspector’s binding changes and to make a decision regarding its adoption.
Minutes:
Submitted – the
report by the Cabinet Member for the Environment, recommending that the Council
approved the Joint Local Development Plan as amended by the Inspector's binding
changes.
An
explanation was given of the content of the report and attention was drawn to
an error in the map of Llanrug in the paper version. He explained that the
report was detailed and confirmed that it satisfied and complied with the
legislative requirements (Planning Act (Wales) 2015, Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004,
Town and Country Planning (Local Development Plans) Regulations 2005, Planning
Policy Wales and the Local Development Plan Manual (2015)).
Adopting the Plan
would set out detailed policies to manage developments up to 2026; facilitating
the provision of new developments needed to meet the needs of local
communities; enabling the Council to achieve its housing and economic
development strategies. Refusing would leave the Authority without an adequate
plan or policies to protect the County's lands and would give Developers an
opportunity to appeal against a decision to refuse based on the fact that a
Plan / Policies were not in place.
It was highlighted
that, based on local evidence, the Plan's housing policies were planning for
3712 houses for the Gwynedd Planning Authority area between 2011 and 2026. With
the Plan already in its sixth year, it was confirmed that this figure included
homes which have already been built or which have received planning permission.
The residual figure for the remainder of the Plan period will be 1366 which is
an average of 137 new homes a year.
When comparing the
old strategy with the new Plan, it was reported that the old strategy tended to
focus on large development within our towns but that this plan now focused on
smaller allocations. Attention was also drawn to the pioneering policies which
had been included in the Plan.
It was proposed and seconded that the
Council:
i.
adopted the Gwynedd and Anglesey Joint Local
Development Plan 2011 to 2026 as amended by the changes recommended by the
Inspector in his report about the Examination (dated 30 June 2017)
ii.
published the adopted Plan, the Adoption Statement,
the final SA/SEA Report and the HRA report
iii.
gave delegated powers to
officers to correct any typing and grammatical errors, deal with any minor
matters or errors, as well as any other necessary presentational matters and
consequential changes (which are required in response to recommended changes in
accordance with paragraph 1.10 in the Inspector’s report), before publishing
the final Gwynedd and Anglesey Joint Local Development Plan
iv.
that the Supplementary
Planning Guidance, which were adopted to support policies in the existing
development plans, continue to be material planning consideration in
determining planning applications, where appropriate, until they were
superseded or were withdrawn.
In
response to concerns voiced to him that the new supplementary planning guidance
intended to be established were not adequately reflected in the proposal, the
Cabinet Member proposed to add clause v to the recommendation to address this,
namely
v.
That the Supplementary Planning
Guidelines identified in Appendix 9 of the Plan would be prepared, giving
priority to:
-
Maintaining and Creating Unique and Sustainable
Communities SPG
-
Affordable Housing SPG
-
Local Market Housing SPG
-
Type and Mix of Housing SPG
-
Planning Obligations SPG,
in
accordance with the Plan's monitoring framework time-frame.
During the discussion, the following
observations were noted in objection to the recommendation:
·
That the Plan did not do enough to save the Welsh
language - that there was a risk of losing the language. That the Plan had not
scientifically measured the impact on the Welsh language and no evidence had
been submitted to monitor the impact on the language
·
That no changes had been made to the housing figures
agreed following the publication of the 2011 census which had shown a reduction
of 4% in the number of Welsh-speakers. That information requested in relation
to the impact of development on the language since 2011 had not been received
and without this information, the Council was not in a position to accept the
Plan.
·
That 1700 representations had been proposed during the
2015 consultation - many of which were objections, but many had been
disregarded as the Council claimed that there was no robust evidence to support
them.
·
That the risks of adopting were higher than the need.
·
That the details and evidence contained in an independent
report regarding the Plan's detrimental impact on the language had not been
considered.
·
That it needed to be refused and an opportunity sought
to adapt the Plan appropriately and submit an enterprising and pioneering plan
which would be suitable for our Welsh-speaking communities.
·
That the County's identity would be in jeopardy if we
were to accept an inappropriate, destructive plan which lacked imagination.
·
That there had been insufficient consideration to keeping
the number of houses down and ensuring enough affordable houses.
·
That the scheme had not given enough consideration to
social fairness.
·
That the response was not forceful enough for the
residents of Gwynedd.
·
That there were too many open market houses
·
That the rural areas were
deprived of housing
·
That there had not been
enough consultation with the public
·
That new members had not had
an opportunity to consider and understand the information in full
·
That threats from Welsh
Government resulted in making poor decisions. That the Council found itself in
a position of being forced to make a difficult decision. If the Council were to
refuse, Welsh Government would adopt the Plan on its behalf. This wasn't good
enough.
·
That the Plan delivered on the orders from Welsh
Government and undermined local democracy
During the discussion, the following observations were noted in favour of
the recommendation:-
·
That the Plan responded to
the demand for new houses for local people in Gwynedd. That much of the County's
housing stock was in a poor condition. That this was an opportunity to hold
innovative and pioneering discussions with housing associations on the plan's
direction. That the ambition was to improve the standard of living for the
residents of Gwynedd with good quality housing.
·
That the Plan was unique - it contained robust and
pioneering policies in the interests of our communities.
·
That the plan should be adopted in full because
without a development plan, we would have no control over sites outside development
boundaries which would lead to negative social and linguistic effects. Refusing
would harm the language more
·
That it was accepted that the plan was not perfect,
but that the report was a live document with an opportunity for it to be
adapted annually, as required, by holding regular discussions, reviewing and
monitoring. Consequently, for example, it would be possible to increase the
number of affordable housing, if required.
·
That it was possible to create unique supplementary
planning guidance for Gwynedd which would protect our communities, not kill
them.
·
That the Plan tackled significant challenges -
building houses to satisfy local needs, strengthening rural and urban
communities, protecting the environment and creating economic opportunities.
·
That speaking for the use of the Welsh language across
all Welsh Authorities remained a priority. The future of the Welsh language
relied on good jobs locally, our schools' language policy and the status of the
language in communities.
·
If Gwynedd Councillors did not accept the
responsibility, the responsibility would be thrown back to Cardiff to the
Minister who wasn't as sympathetic.
In response to a
question regarding the implications of not adopting the plan and what the next
steps would be considering the time-frame and costs, the Monitoring Officer
noted that there was a duty placed on the Council to prepare a plan and
attention was drawn to the risks of not adopting the plan which had been listed
in the report. The Senior Planning and Environment Manager added that it would
be difficult to control developments in future and prevent developments which
would have an impact on our communities without a plan.
During the discussion, proposals
were made to defer making a decision on grounds of:
·
seeking more time to complete an independent
linguistic assessment and accept more specialist information in the planning
field.
·
in order to invite the Minister to hold a public
inquiry as they could not agree on the way forward and request written advice
within the specialist planning law field on matters relating to the legality of
the Plan.
·
for Welsh Government to postpone the decision in order
to share information with new Members and undertake further work on the supplementary
planning guidance, particularly the language guidance
·
to stand up and ask Welsh Government for additional
time to improve the content of the plan.
In response to the
proposals, the Monitoring Officer noted:
·
That there was no legal obstacle to adopting the plan
at the meeting.
·
That there was a statutory duty on the Council to
reach a decision on adopting the Plan within eight weeks of the date of
receiving the Inspector's report (30 June 2017) unless the government had given
its permission to extend the period. That such permission had not been
received. Deferring for an indefinite period and beyond the eight weeks would
not be in line with this statutory duty.
·
Noting the binding status of the Inspector's report,
that the Government would prioritise adoption and in relation to its response
to similar situations in other councils, such an application was not likely to
receive a favourable response.
In response to a
question regarding why it was not possible to act under the Council's
Constitution and second a proposal to defer the decision, the Monitoring
Officer highlighted that the Constitution was subject to the law and that a
proposal which would result in a decision contrary to the law could not be
accepted.
In response to a
question regarding whether an independent legal opinion on the legality of the
Plan was worth the entire Council's consideration and that there was a right to
implement this on grounds of failure to reach agreement, the Monitoring Officer
noted, as he had advised the Council, that he would not deviate from the advice
he had given to the committee.
A registered vote was called for on the amendment and over a quarter of
members present voted in favour of this.
In accordance with the Procedural Rules, the following vote was recorded
on the recommendation:-
In favour (30)
Councillors Craig
ab Iago, Steve Collings, Stephen Churchman, Annwen Daniels, Simon Glyn, Gareth
Griffith, Annwen Hughes, John Brynmor Hughes, R.Medwyn Hughes, Sian Wyn Hughes,
Peredur Jenkins, Anne Lloyd Jones, Berwyn Parry Jones, Huw Wyn Jones, Dafydd
Meurig, Linda Morgan, Dafydd Owen, Dewi Owen, Edgar Owen, Rheinallt Puw,
W.Gareth Roberts, Mair Rowlands, Paul Rowlinson, Angela Russell, Dyfrig
Siencyn, Gareth Thomas, Ioan Thomas, Hefin Underwood, Cemlyn Williams and
Gethin Glyn Williams.
Against (30)
Councillors Menna
Baines, Dylan Bullard, Glyn Daniels, Anwen Davies, Elwyn Edwards, Alan Jones
Evans, Aled Evans, Peter Garlick, Selwyn Griffiths, Alwyn Gruffydd, Louise
Hughes, Aeron M Jones, Aled Wyn Jones, Charles Jones, Elin Walker Jones, Elwyn
Jones, Kevin Morris, Linda Wyn Jones, Sion Jones, Cai Larsen, Dilwyn Lloyd, Roy
Owen, Jason Parry, Elfed Roberts, Mike Stevens, Eirwyn Williams, Elfed
Williams, Gareth Williams, Gruffydd Williams and Owain Williams.
Abstaining (4)
Councillors Freya
Hannah Bentham, Dylan Fernley, Eric Merfyn Jones and Dewi Roberts.
As the result of the vote on the amendment was tied, the Chair used her
casting vote in favour of the recommendation.
Resolved,
i.
to adopt the
Gwynedd and Anglesey Joint Local Development Plan 2011 to 2026 as amended by
the changes recommended by the Inspector in his report about the Examination
(dated 30 June 2017)
ii.
to publish the
adopted Plan, the Adoption Statement, the final SA/SEA Report and the HRA
report
iii.
to give delegated powers to officers to correct any
typing and grammatical errors, deal with any minor matters or errors, as well
as any other necessary presentational matters and consequential changes (which
are required in response to recommended changes in accordance with paragraph
1.10 in the Inspector’s report), before publishing the final Gwynedd and
Anglesey Joint Local Development Plan
iv.
That the Supplementary Planning Guidance, which
were adopted to support policies in the existing development plans, continue to
be material planning consideration in determining planning applications, where
appropriate, until they are superseded or are withdrawn.
v.
That
the Supplementary Planning Guidelines identified in Appendix 9 of the Plan are
prepared, giving priority to:
-
Maintaining
and Creating Unique and Sustainable Communities SPG
-
Affordable
Housing SPG
-
Local
Market Housing SPG
-
Type
and Mix of Housing SPG
-
Planning
Obligations SPG,
in accordance with
the Plan's monitoring framework time-frame.
Supporting documents: