Note – the status of Neighbourhood Plans in the District may be found via this link
https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-services/planning-and-building/neighbourhood-planning/
Minutes:
The Planning & Development Manager explained he had several updates on changes to planning policy. He presented a summary of these changes and advised Members that his summary and links for more information would be included in the minutes of the meeting, as follows.
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Following adoption of CIL at Council in November 2017, WLDC commenced CIL charging for all developments given planning permission after 22 January 2018. Permissions granted before this date cannot have CIL applied retrospectively – this would include any site gaining Outline Planning Permission prior to 22 January too.
CIL was introduced by the Government to try to ensure that when land is developed, it comes with the necessary infrastructure to support it such as schools, public transport and leisure facilities.
As members will be aware, CIL will be charged on almost all new buildings to ensure that development contributes towards the infrastructure needed to support growth in an area. Exceptions to CIL charging, for example self-build development, are set out in guidance previously circulated to Members at full council. Previously many smaller developments made no specific contribution towards infrastructure, even though, collectively, they could place significant demands on local facilities. CIL will change this.
Planning Officer reports will include a section to show whether or not CIL is applicable to a development, including for any applications brought before Planning Committee to determine. More details at CIL can be found here: https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-services/planning-and-building/community-infrastructure-levy-cil/
5 Years Housing Land Supply Update
At the meeting of the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee in January the Joint Planning Team delivered the latest update to the 5 year housing land position for Central Lincolnshire. Members will be aware that this update sits alongside the new Local Plan and sets out a delivery timetable for developments across the area. Planning authorities are required to maintain an annually updated housing supply report and to ensure that at least 5 years supply of developable land is in place across the plan area. Where this cannot be demonstrated the Local Plan may be considered out of date, as previously experienced in West Lindsey. For this reason, and as previously raised with Members, support for the strategic sites set out in the plan is essential in order to maintain a healthy supply position and ensure planning policies continue to carry full weight.
The latest position is not significantly different to the previous annual report, however it does reflect a slightly reduced position. This results from the slowdown in on-site delivery of new homes rather than any reduction in granting planning permissions, which has been significant during the past 12 months. Therefore it is essential to work with the development industry to understand ways that the Council can assist in encouraging a higher pace of delivery of new homes across the area, where planning permissions have been granted. For this reason there is now a strong corporate focus on enabling development to encourage on-site delivery.
The five year supply report shows that the local plan area has a 6.19 years of supply at this time. The full report can be found here: www.central-lincs.org.uk
Neighbourhood Plans
Members will be aware that at Council on 22 January two Neighbourhood Plans were made, becoming formally adopted as part of the development plan. These followed successful referendums in Lea, and for Scotter. A number of other plans are now at an advanced stage, including in Cherry Willingham, Great Limber, Osgodby and Willoughton where draft plans have, or will shortly be, submitted for consultation.
Dedicated Neighbourhood Plans Officers continue to work extensively with a high number of groups on emerging plans, on potential reviews of plans already made and also to provide advice to areas where neighbourhood plans are perhaps not achievable or where different forms of support have been requested.
This professional advice is backed up by a partnership with the organisation ‘Community Lincs’ under a 3 year Service Level Agreement. This additional line of support is proving to be particularly beneficial in helping new groups set-up and in getting plans back on track in areas where plans have stalled. It also provides an important way of ensuring the correct advice is provided to groups and that at all times the advice given keeps pace with the changes to legislation and guidance that impacts on neighbourhood plans. Links to copies of individual neighbourhood plans have been provided to Members previously, alternatively the full suite of plans and updates on the status of every plan underway can be accessed here: https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-services/planning-and-building/neighbourhood-planning/
It is important that if members receive interest for any new neighbourhood plans in their area all enquiries are directed to the officers. This ensures that the interest is properly recorded and is the quickest means of ensuring that the relevant parish council or group are contacted to discuss options around establishing a group and seeking funding. Groups are invited to contact neighbourhoodplans@west-lindsey.gov.uk.
Fee increase for planning applications in effect from 17 January
Following changes in legislation in late December 2017, Local Planning Authorities implemented a 20% increase in planning fees with effect from 17 January 2018. The proposal for this increase was supported at Council earlier in 2017 and represents the first change to fees since 2012.
The change has been widely communicated to all users of the planning service, including any developers or agents that have previously worked in the district and has been extensively covered in the local press and social media. See https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-council/council-news/planning-fees-increase/ for details.
Brownfield Register published 31 Dec 2017
A new Brownfield register has been published in line with new legislative requirements introduced last year in the The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017, previously reported to Prosperous Communities Committee. To be included on the register the sites are tested against a number of criteria, including site size, constraints, location and sustainability and have been extracted from the Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA) which will be updated by the Joint Planning Team annually. These include:
· Sites that have been granted planning permission and are either under construction or not started
· Sites submitted as part of the SHELAA call for sites
· Sites within West Lindsey District Council's ownership; and
· Any other sites identified for assessment through this process
The Council has been somewhat ahead of this curve particularly in Gainsborough with seeking to bring forward vacant Brownfield sites, launching the Housing Zone and putting policies in place in the new local plan that promote development on brownfield sites in suitable locations. Further details at: https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-services/planning-and-building/planning-policy/evidence-base-and-monitoring/brownfield-register/
A Member of Committee enquired whether the introduction of CIL had had any impact on the number of planning applications received and whether it would affect only new applications or existing ones as well. The Member also asked whether there was any involvement from Officers with Neighbourhood Plan groups when it was nearing time of review for an individual plan, as not everyone had been aware of the need to review a plan once it had been agreed.
The Planning and Development Manager explained that as CIL had not been implemented until the beginning of 2018 it was too early to fully comment on its impact. There had been significant positive feedback in relation to the clear communications from the Planning Team. If the decision for an existing application was made after the implementation of CIL, it would be liable for being charged under CIL. Anyone who this was likely to have impacted was contacted well in advance of CIL coming into effect. The impact of CIL would be monitored over the coming months and reviewed after approximately 12 months.
With regards to the support available to Neighbourhood Plan groups, it was explained that the need to review any given Neighbourhood Plan should be included in group considerations and the Examiner would look for provisions to review as necessary when considering each application for such a plan. The Planning and Development Manager explained that groups were encouraged to use the Officer support available to them through the council and also to connect with ‘Community Lincs’.
A Member of Committee then enquired of the Planning and Development Manager what could be done to stay ahead of the five year plan and to counteract negative factors such as developers ‘sitting on land’ rather than developing it. The Planning and Development Manager explained that although local authorities did not have powers to deal with ‘land-banking’, West Lindsey District Council had been proactive in encouraging, enabling and facilitating development and a lot of work had been done to incentivise ongoing development.
The Planning and Development Manager reiterated that the full details, along with the relevant internet links, would be circulated to Members within the minutes of the Committee.