To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.
Minutes:
Mrs Ferguson referring to Item 3 on the agenda (Minutes of Previous Meeting) stated that the minutes show that the county and district councils have worked together on details of road provision for an urban extension to Cullompton, and the Cabinet discussed road widths and existing traffic complaints. Why, then, have the county and district councils not worked together to provide any details of roads and access points needed for a quarry and processing plant at Penslade?
The minutes of the Cabinet meeting of 22nd October 2015 state that Devon County Council commissioned work to acquire additional technical evidence related to access arrangements to the proposed East Cullompton Urban Extension and that Mid Devon District Council’s contribution would be approximately £100,00. Yet there is no information on access arrangements for a quarry and plant at Penslade. Why does a local plan for urban development need more technical evidence on roads in order to be legally sound but a local plan for minerals does not require any?
The Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration in response stated that Mrs Ferguson had raised concerns as she considered it is inconsistent that the District Council liaise so proactively with Devon County Council’s Highway department on a number of planning proposals but have not done so with regard to minerals proposals at Penslade Quarry.
The fundamental difference between the Penslade Quarry proposal and the examples cited in Mrs Ferguson’s question were that these examples related to the District Council’s role as local planning authority. Whereas Devon County Council was the planning authority with respect to Minerals applications as well as acting as the Local Highways Authority with responsibility for roads. Therefore, the District Council’s jurisdiction did not cover minerals applications or plans. Indeed, the District Council was a consultee only on the County’s Minerals’ Plan in a similar way to Parish Councils.
Mrs Ferguson had also raised specific concerns regarding the ‘tests of soundness’ which applied to the Local Plan and whether those also apply to the County’s Minerals’ Plan. Both plans were required to meet the tests of soundness as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The County Council will need to demonstrate the soundness of the Minerals’ Plan to the satisfaction of an Independent Inspector. We were aware that Mrs Ferguson took the opportunity to make representation to Devon County with regard to their Minerals’ Plan. Mrs Ferguson was aware that Mid Devon District Council also submitted representations to the County Council, which included transport related comments.
The key differences in the approach that we have to take in compiling our Local Plan were that we have to consult with Devon County as a Highway Authority. When Devon County Council compiled their Minerals Local Plan they worked with their own Highways Department to assess any issues.
We do have sympathy with Mrs Ferguson’s concerns and we would recommend that she continued to direct her comments to Devon County Council who have responsibility for both Minerals Planning and Highways.
In addition with regard to the Local Plan, the highway network did involve the M5 and therefore we have to liaise with Highway England along with other statutory bodies.
Mr Marshall referring to Item 10 (Tourism Action Plan) on the agenda asked the following questions:
1. Nowhere within the text of Item 10 can I see any reference to the Mid Devon Tourism Study, would Members be aware of any obvious or other reason for the lack of information.
2. I would be interest to know as to whether any Cabinet Members have read the extremely comprehensive and independent 41 page Mid Devon Tourism Study commissioned by this Council?
3. The following question assumes that at least one Cabinet Member has read the Study – therefore in light of the information within the final Mid Devon Tourism Study, would Members consider it good value and good use of public money to carry out further market research into what is lacking in this Council’s Tourism Strategy, when information from the last 20-30 years clearly indicates the reasons as to why Mid Devon is consistently the poor relation of tourism within the whole of Devon.
The Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regenerations stated that he would provide answers to the questions when the item was discussed however with regard to question 2, he confirmed that he had read the G L Hearn document, which had formed part of a planning study within the auspices of the Local Plan.