Agenda item

Report number PLA615 by the Economic Development Portfolio Holder.                    (Enclosure)

DECISION:

The Cabinet agreed to:

1.                  Note the work completed to date on producing the core documents of the Local Development Framework (LDF);

2.                  Endorse the extension of the preferred options consultations for the Core Strategy and the site allocations and Development Control policies;

3.                  Agree to the revised LDF timetable appended to this report (Appendix 1) as the basis for the revision of the Local Development Scheme ;

4.                  Send a letter to the Department for Communities and Local Government and copied to the Government Office for the East Midlands expressing concern over the lack of sufficient guidance from central government and the implicit costs of unexpectedly having to extend work .

Considerations/Reasons for decision

(1)               Report number PLA615 by the Economic Development Portfolio Holder on the status for Local Development Framework for South Kesteven and seeking endorsement for the extension to the preferred options consultation that was undertaken on the Core Strategy and Housing and Economic DPD (revised timetable attached as appendix 1);

(2)               Letter dated 11^th August 2006 from the Department for Communities and Local Government, attached as appendix 2 to report PLA615;

(3)               National examinations of the soundness of LDF core strategies where the first two submitted were deemed unsound by the Planning Inspectorate and concerns that preferred options work undertaken by SKDC could also be found to be unsound, causing abortive work;

(4)               GOEM recommendations that the council extend or redo consultation on preferred options to reflect more fully Government guidance set out  in PPS12, which required full consideration of all options;

(5)               Amending the timetable would mean that the next stages of the plan would be prepared in the most cost-effective, resource-effective and timetable-effective way;

(6)               Delays would mean that the LDF could be aligned with the emerging Lincolnshire Spatial Strategy, which would have a plan period to 2026 and increase the housing target;

(7)               Housing allocations in the old Lincolnshire Structure Plan could prevent the Council from meeting its affordable housing targets;

(8)               The identified need to produce three Area Action Plans for Grantham and Stamford and a supplementary planning document for affordable housing.

Other options considered and assessed:

1.                  To progress on to the next stages of the Core Strategy and Housing and Economic DPD, i.e. the submission draft consultation and retain the timetable for production of all LDF documents as set out in the Local Development Scheme (April 2005). The risks with ignoring advice from Government Officer and progressing with the production of the Core Strategy and the Housing and Economic DPD as originally timetabled were significant. The option should not be pursued as the Government’s view on the matter as set out in the DCLG letter dated 11 August 2006 (Appendix 1). Progressing with the LDF based on the current timetable would result in an adopted Core Strategy and Site Allocations that fail to reflect the emerging Regional Spatial Plan. The lifespan of the documents would be extremely limited because key issues such as housing figures would be out of date when the document is adopted.