Agenda item

(A period not exceeding 20 minutes for questions and statements from

members of the public and Elected Members to the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones. Questions/Statements should relate specifically to an item of business on the agenda and be limited to a maximum of 100 words. As stated within Executive Procedure Rule 3.3 each person will be allowed to submit one question/statement per meeting.A question may only be asked if notice has been given by delivering it in writing or by e-mail to the Governance Team no later than 5.00 p.m. of the third working day before the day of the meeting. Each question or statement must give the name and address of the person submitting it. Questions/Statements should be sent to the Governance Team, Floor 2, Civic Office, Waterdale, Doncaster, DN1 3BU, or by email to Democratic.Services@doncaster.gov.uk)

Councillor Jane Cox submitted the following question to Mayor Ros Jones:-

'As you know, I sat on the local Climate Commission and took an active role in speaking up for residents about how we can all make small changes which, collectively, have a big impact. There was a commitment to updating residents with a regular column, in the local press, with what action DMBC has taken to address climate change. How will this be integrated into the 'new ways of working', which now make a Cleaner and Greener Doncaster a priority.'

In the absence of Councillor Jane Cox, Mayor Ros Jones asked for the following written response to be forwarded to Councillor Cox following the meeting:-

Thank you for your question Cllr Cox.

It is very important for us to take our residents along on the journey of addressing climate change and its impacts on the borough, as well as making Greener and Cleaner a priority, particularly while we are implementing new ways of working.

I will ensure you are provided with a full briefing note, which hopefully provides a more detailed response to your question but in short…

Since the declaration of the climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019 the council, in partnership, has put in place a range of projects which will contribute to our efforts to address and mitigate climate change. Some of this work includes:

·      Implementation of the actions from the Environment and Sustainability Strategy by both the Council and external partners.

·      Delivery of the Environment Services Improvement Plan which consists of short-term actions to achieve initial, step-change improvement in key areas of environment service delivery, including projects such as Naturalisation of appropriate green spaces and delivery of a Fly tip and Litter Action Plan.

·      6 projects focusing on flood alleviation to help the borough adapt to changes in the borough resulting from climate change.

·      A number of mini programmes contained within the wider Localities work that align with efforts to address climate change.

·      Application of Towns Fund accelerated grants which helped improve green spaces in the borough and the requirement for future Towns Fund and Levelling Up Fund projects to demonstrate how they minimise the effect of climate change.

·      Inclusion of Greener and Cleaner as a cross cutting goal and specifically ‘Tackling Climate Change’ as one of our 8 priorities.

·      Continued engagement with residents to inform DMBC work through Doncaster Talks and other channels.

We regularly report how the Council contributes to this agenda via a number of different channels for example the Quarterly Performance Monitoring report which is publically available. In addition Team Doncaster will be reviewing its operating model in the light of an agreement on Doncaster Delivering Together over the autumn period.

I hope this provides some assurance on our progress.

Councillor Nick Allen submitted the following question to Mayor Ros Jones:-

'My question relates to the Local Plan, Item 7. How confident are you that the proposed Local Plan is fit for purpose and do you feel officers have consulted with local people adequately? There has been much negative feeling about the Local Plan in Bessacarr ward, particularly in parts of Lakeside and Rose Hill, where land has been disposed of despite significant public opposition.'

In the absence of Councillor Nick Allen, Mayor Ros Jones asked for the following written response to be forwarded to Councillor Allen following the meeting:-

I am confident that the Local Plan is fit for purpose. I can say this as the Plan has been through a robust and comprehensive process over a 7-year period to reach the milestone of now being ready to adopt, including being examined in public by a Government appointed Planning Inspector and been found to be ‘sound’ and ‘legally compliant’. The Council undertook extensive consultation as part of the Plan’s preparation; indeed the Inspector notes in his Report that there has been more stages of consultation carried out by the Council than what was required by the relevant legislation. For example, there was a full public consultation on which sites should be supported for new development in the emerging Local Plan in September 2018. There were some objections to the Rose Hill site following the close of the consultation, as well as a few objections to 2 remaining Brownfield plots at Lakeside. Council Officers considered all responses and made a number of changes to decisions around which sites should be supported in the next iteration of the Plan, albeit it was not considered appropriate or justified to remove either the Rose Hill or Lakeside plots from the Local Plan for reasons that I will come onto.

All 3 sites are existing development opportunities that have been identified for development since the last time a statutory development plan made decisions about new sites back in 1998 via the Unitary Development Plan. They could have come forward at any point since then. Indeed, one of the plots at Lakeside adjacent to the Lake was granted Full planning permission for over 300 new apartments back in 2009, albeit this scheme was not implemented and a fresh application for a much lower density housing scheme was submitted and approved more recently.

The Local Plan is retaining this status quo therefore having carried out a robust sustainability appraisal and site selection methodology process to check that they still meet the criteria as being sustainable and deliverable housing allocations. Removing sustainably located, urban, and Brownfield sites, as in the case of the 2 plots at Lakeside, would have required additional new sites to be found which, based on the choices available, would have likely needed to be more Greenfield, Green Belt and/or Countryside sites, on the periphery of the Doncaster Main Urban Area.     

Objectors had further opportunity to engage in the Local Plan process when the Council published the draft Plan in August 2019. Objections to some of the housing sites in the Plan, including Rose Hill, were made and discussed in front of the Government appointed Planning Inspector. The Inspector was fully aware of local opposition to the Rose Hill site being re-allocated for housing when he considered the soundness of the Plan. This is evidenced via the Inspector’s specific reference to Rosehill at paragraph 147 of his Final Report, as follows:

“The housing allocation at The Avenue / Rosehill, Cantley is owned by the Council who has, for many years, allowed public access and for it to naturally vegetate meaning that it has at least some of the attributes of Local Green Space. However, it is allocated for housing in the UDP, and it provides a rare opportunity to provide a significant number of new homes well located within the main urban area. The Council as local highway authority considers that safe and suitable access can be provided, and there is no substantive evidence to lead me to a different conclusion. I am therefore satisfied that the allocation is justified…” 

Policies in the Plan (both in general and specific to the sites) require appropriate mitigation and contributions. For example, in relation to the Rose Hill site, new public open space; buffering and protection of the woodland/Local Wildlife Site to the north of the site; layout of the development will be informed by a Tree Survey and existing boundaries expected to retain trees and hedgerows where possible, with enhancement of the planting along the railway corridor. With respect to access and highways concerns, a Transport Assessment and Travel Plan will be required and will need to assess the operational capacity of the network and identify measures required to mitigate against this.

These are some examples of what is expected by planning policy to make sure the site comes forward sustainably, including addressing some of our residents’concerns. Approval for the sale of the Rose Hill site for residential development was given at Cabinet in September 2017 and is part of the Council’s disposal programme to support new housing delivery across the borough. A preferred developer has been identified following a marketing exercise and the developer has carried out usual site surveys in advance of submitting a planning application.

All of the above will of course have to be considered in detail via the subsequent planning application process before any development can take place. This stage also allows for further public consultation, and I am sure you and our residents will take the opportunity to continue to put forward your views at that point too. Thank you.