Cabinet Member: Councillor Dafydd Meurig
a)
Background and purpose
b)
Present a scoping
summary for a scrutiny investigation
c)
Nomination of members to serve on the investigation
Minutes:
a) Submitted - for information, the report of
the Cabinet Member, setting the background and purpose of the Supplementary Planning
Guidance (SPG) in addition to information based on the policies for SPG:
Maintaining and Creating Unique and Sustainable Communities. It was explained
that the SPG gave detailed and clear guidance on how the policies of the Local
Development Plan, which had been adopted by Gwynedd Council and Anglesey
Council in July 2017, were being used. It was added that the Plan's various
policies had an important role to play when supporting, maintaining and
creating unique and sustainable urban and rural communities, by ensuring that
Councils would meet their statutory duties to promote sustainable development.
The Full Council's decision on 28 July
2017 was to prioritise SPG Maintaining and Creating Unique and
Sustainable Communities when preparing the Development Plan guidelines.
Attention was drawn to the elements considered to be essential for unique and
sustainable communities, and the Development Plan's strategic objective
involved well-being and the Welsh language and culture - it was added that
including Policy PS1 set a local policy framework when considering these
aspects.
Submitted
- the draft timetable that had been set to prepare the SPG, outlining the
importance of having the opportunity to scrutinise beforehand, in accordance
with the Committee's wishes (it was noted that the timetable had been adapted
to address this).
In
response to an observation regarding the use of NCT20, it was noted that there
was more detail in the Local Development Plan and the guidance, once they had been
developed, would have a much stronger basis than what was in NCT20, which was
limited on some requirements. If an Inspector sided with the NCT20 viewpoint,
the Senior Planning Manager noted that he would be confident to support the
stance on the guidance and not on NCT20, because the decision would be based on
recent evidence. It was suggested that there was a need to ensure that
applicants were aware of this.
The information was accepted.
b) The Head of Democratic Services submitted a draft brief of the Planning and
the Welsh Language Scrutiny Investigation in response to the Committee's desire
to scrutinise that the consultation process on the SPG - Planning and the Welsh
Language, had been inclusive. He added that the Scrutiny Forum had agreed to prioritise
to the investigation and that a resource had been identified to support the
investigation. It was added that initial discussions had been held on the brief
with the relevant officers.
It
was highlighted that the investigation would report back to the Communities
Scrutiny Committee and to the Joint Planning Policy Committee. It was reported
that an application had been submitted for Anglesey Council to jointly
scrutinise with Gwynedd, but no response had been received. It was noted that
up to five members were needed to participate in the investigation, including
one member of the Language Committee.
A
request was made for the Joint Planning Committee's roles, and whether they had
a statutory role of scrutinisation by the Panel.
c) Resolved to accept the brief.
ch) Councillors Seimon Glyn,
Gruffydd Williams and Owain Williams were nominated in addition to Aled Evans
(Language Committee).
Supporting documents: