Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded from the remaining proceedings of the meeting, in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, as amended, on the grounds that exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, is likely to be disclosed.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

The Head of Planning reminded the Committee that due to the concerns voiced during the Planning Committee Meeting held on the 30th April, 2019, the meeting had been stood adjourned until today’s meeting, ensuring that Councillors were given more opportunity to fully understand the information provided, and that the meeting had now reconvened in accordance with Council Procedure Rules.

The Head of Planning continued by outlining that the purpose of the meeting was purely for the Planning Committee to consider the draft Local Plan and note it in advance of its consideration by Full Council.

Members were reminded that if they wished to raise issues outside the scope of the meeting, for example, in respect of site specific or local issues have an ongoing invitation to speak to the officers before the Plan was considered by Cabinet on 21st May, 2019 and proposed to Council for approval on 6th June, 2019.

Members commenced by raising their initial concerns and a Motion was proposed and seconded with regard to a proposed alternative recommendation.

The concerns voiced largely related to the amount of consultation undertaken in advance of the local plan, and a number of Members felt that there needed to be greater work carried out to fairly and adequately reflect the views of the Ward Councillors and the Communities it represented.

Members were assured that thorough and exhaustive consultation had been undertaken, and the consultation had in fact exceeded the amount recommended by the Planning Inspectorate, and the 1200 responses received as a result, had been taken into consideration when reviewing the Local Plan. Officers reported that more responses had been received in relation to this consultation than for any other public consultation that had been carried out and provided a breakdown to the Committee of where the responses had come from.

Officers also asked Members to pay heed to the risks of not formally adopting a Local Plan as the Authority could be at risk of Government intervention, at which point a Local Plan would be imposed on them, in which they would get no say or input eliminating any control they currently had. Doncaster was now in the last 20% of Authorities across the country who had not adopted a Local Plan.

Discussions were held with Members and Officers surrounding all the issues raised and a long debate ensued. However, there were still numerous points with which some Members of the Planning Committee were not happy and the majority of voting Members wished that the Local Plan be referred back to the Executive for further consideration in light of Planning Committee’s concerns.

RESOLVED that the Planning Committee feel that this report does not truly reflect the level of community consultation as expressed by the Elected Members concerns. Community views are vital and in consequence this Planning Committee cannot “note the report”, and refer it back for further consultation with Members and the Community.  We would welcome the opportunity to me meet with the Mayor and Cabinet to discuss our  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.