Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Place and Economy on the Local Development Scheme.

Cabinet had before it a report * from the Director of Place and Economy on the Local Development Scheme.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration outlined the contents of the report with particular reference to the following:

·         The report was about the need for an amended timetable for preparing a new Local Plan for Mid Devon.

·         Local Planning Authorities were required to prepare and keep up to date a development plan for their area. The Mid Devon Local Plan was adopted in July 2020 and work had commenced with preparing a new Local Plan that would cover the period to 2043.

·         There was a legal requirement to maintain a Local Development Scheme (LDS). The LDS was the project plan for preparing the Local Plan and included a timetable which set out the key milestones for each step of plan preparation. A new LDS was needed now. This followed a Government requirement for all local planning authorities to produce an updated LDS and submit those by no later than 6 March this year.

·         A new LDS had been prepared and was included in Appendix 1 to the report. The preparation of the new LDS had involved consideration of a number of important matters, including:

o   Progress already made with preparing a new Local Plan and remaining work needed,

o   Government reforms to the planning system, including:

§  a new National Planning Policy Framework,

§  new standard method for calculation housing need and increased number of new homes that needed to be planned for in Mid Devon,

§  a deadline for submission of Local Plans under the current system and the forthcoming introduction of a new plan making system,

o   Resources and capacity available,

·         The report included a detailed evaluation of 4 options for progressing the new local plan:

Option 1 - Prepare the Local Plan under the current 2004 Act system through the two staged approach to plan making including a second Regulation 18 consultation on Draft Policies and Site Options consultation and Regulation 19 publication (proposed submission) stage plan.

Option 2 - Prepare the Local Plan under the current 2004 Act system through moving straight to a Regulation 19 publication (proposed submission) stage plan.

Option 3 – Move to the reformed plan making system once this had been introduced and front load the process now though progressing technical studies, evidence gathering and develop emerging spatial development strategy and site development options.

Option 4 - Stop production of a new Local Plan and wait for the Government to introduce new regulations for preparing plans under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 expected in the summer 2025.

·         The merits of each option had been carefully considered and it was recommended that Option 3 was taken forward.

·         Option 3 was the most practicable option to produce a new Local Plan that provided sufficient opportunity for early public engagement and for the Mid Devon community to have a say on emerging proposals before the draft Local Plan was finalised. It would also provide more time to complete the preparation of the new Local Plan and the technical work that was needed to inform it, which would increase the likelihood of the Local Plan being found sound at its examination. While the forthcoming plan making regulations were not expected until the summer 2025, the Government confirmed on the 27 February its intention to progress the implementation of plan making reforms, including a requirement to prepare Local Plans in 30 months, included ‘gateway’ checks and also included two mandatory stages of public engagement. Risks could also be mitigated through frontloading work now that there was core to plan-making, including an emerging spatial development strategy and site options.

·         A new Local Development Scheme was included in Appendix 1, which included updated key milestones.

Discussion took place with regard to:

·         Risks and Mitigations of Option 3 and whether there was any chance of the current Local Plan timing out under that option. The current Local Plan would become five years old in July 2025 at which point the Standard Method would be applied to calculating housing need within the District. There would be a high probability that that would result in the Council no longer being able to demonstrate a 5 year deliverable housing land supply. That would happen irrespective of the options presented. The Government had announced on 27 February 2025 that it did intend to carry forward the proposals for a 30 month timetable for the production of local plans as part of its proposed reforms to the plan making system. This would include gateway checks and two mandatory stages for public consultation at the two key stages of plan preparation. This announcement gave the Council a much greater degree of confidence in what the new plan making system would look like, where the regulations for the new system had not yet been published. A locally produced and derived Spatial Development Strategy coupled with a locally produced and derived set of site development options would remain core to the new Local Plan under the new system and this work had already been progressed.

·         If the Government had not changed the National Planning Policy Framework or increased the Council’s housing targets by 67% then the Council would have been on track to deliver a new local plan for Mid Devon for submission by December 2026.

·         The requirement for two mandatory stages for public consultation would provide an early opportunity for the public and Parish Councils to comment on and help shape the emerging policies of the new local plan before it was finalised for submission for its independent examination.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The Local Development Scheme 2025 based on option 3 in Table 1 in this report and which was included in Appendix 1 and published on the Council’s website be APPROVED.

2.    A copy of the Local Development Scheme 2025 (Appendix 1) be submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by the Government’s deadline of the 6 March 2025.

(Proposed by Cllr S Keable and seconded by Cllr J Buczkowski)

Reason for Decision:

The new Local Development Scheme, set out a timetable for a new Local Plan, which would set the strategy for guiding new development in the district, allocate sites for housing and economic development, the provision of infrastructure, as well as policies for the protection of the environment and managing development.

Note * Report previously circulated.