Contact: Trevor Badley, ext 5795 email: trevor.badley@:hants.gov.uk

1. Summary

1.1 This report considers the Draft Statement of Community Involvement, a Minerals and Waste Development Document of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework. Under Regulation 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004, the County Council is required to take this draft document through a preliminary public consultation exercise. The project plan of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework, known as the Minerals and Waste Development Scheme, identifies the period 14 June to 10 August 2005 for the first statutory consultation period for the Statement of Community Involvement. Approval from Cabinet is sought to take the Draft Statement of Community Involvement out to public consultation. No further decisions are sought at this stage, and the County Council will not be committed to any actions or additional use of resources at this stage.

2. Minerals and Waste Development Frameworks

2.1 Under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 minerals and waste planning authorities are required to prepare a Minerals and Waste Development Framework. The Framework comprises a series of Minerals and Waste Development Documents. The most important of these are known as Development Plan Documents and include the Core Strategy and Minerals and Waste Sites Plans, together with a Proposals Map to spatially illustrate the policies of these Development Plan Documents. These documents will be subject to a public inquiry.

2.2 Other documents within the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework include Supplementary Planning Documents (which provide more detail on the policies of the planning authority), the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (a three year project plan describing how the County Council will prepare the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework), an Annual Report considering the implementation of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework and the Statement of Community Involvement, which is not a development plan document, but is subject to public examination before an independent Planning Inspector.

2.3 Although some of the documents of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework will be jointly produced with Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council, the Statement of Community Involvement will be produced separately. The Statement of Community Involvement produced by Hampshire County Council will cover the administrative area of the County Council only.

3. The Statement of Community Involvement

3.1 Through the new planning system, the Government is placing a high emphasis on encouraging local community involvement in planning. The Statement of Community Involvement will explain to local communities and stakeholders how they will be involved in the preparation and review of planning documents, and in publicising and dealing with planning applications. It will set out the steps that Hampshire County Council will take to facilitate this involvement, including the current statutory consultation requirements. The Hampshire Statement of Community Involvement is intended for a wide ranging audience, with varying levels of familiarity with the planning system.

3.2 The Statement of Community Involvement briefly describes what is meant by the 'local community'. It sets out the stages the County Council will go through in preparing for any given planning policy consultation, the planning policy documents to be prepared over the next three years, the stages of preparation of a policy document and the approaches to community involvement that the County Council will use in reaching out to the local community, both in preparing and reviewing policy documents and in determining planning applications. Some information on consultees is included.

3.3 The Draft Statement of Community Involvement is attached.

4. Progress to Date and Next Steps

4.1 Between September 2003 and February 2005 there was an ongoing stakeholder dialogue process which brought together representatives from many sectors of the local community, together with a wide range of business interests and representatives from Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth City Council, Southampton City Council and Project Integra. One of the key outcomes of this stakeholder dialogue process was the publication of the document More from Less, which outlined community wishes and aspirations for the future of minerals and waste planning and management in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton.

4.2 More from Less is all about trying to manage material resources (including minerals and waste) in Hampshire. It introduces a different way of doing business, of thinking about how resources are used and what is done with the 'waste' that is produced. The Minerals and Waste Development Framework is one of the most important ways of meeting the wishes and aspirations expressed by the stakeholders during the production of More from Less. The ongoing community involvement required for the Minerals and Waste Development Framework, as set out in the Statement of Community Involvement, will build on and develop the community involvement that has already taken place.

4.3 The process of consultation and the stages of preparation that the Statement of Community Involvement is going through is driven by the requirements of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004.

4.4 A preliminary questionnaire consultation (under Regulation 25 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004) has already been undertaken. There were 401 questionnaires sent to selected consultees (including all councils in and adjacent to Hampshire); 122 responses were received, a response rate of 30%. These responses contributed to the preparation of the current draft Statement of Community Involvement.

4.5 Following Cabinet approval, the current Draft version of the Statement of Community Involvement will go out to consultation for six weeks under Regulation 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004. Comments received will be considered, and the Statement will be redrafted for further consideration by the County Council.

4.6 This final Draft, when approved by the County Council, will be submitted to the First Secretary of State for independent examination. The submission is programmed to take place at the beginning of November 2005 and a further six week statutory consultation ending in early January 2006 to comply with Regulation 28 Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 will take place. Depending on the number and nature of responses received during this second period of consultation, the Statement of Community Involvement may need to undergo public examination before an independent Inspector. The public examination, if it is required, is scheduled to take place during May 2006.

4.7 Whether or not a public examination is required, an Inspector will prepare and submit to the County Council a binding report on the Statement of Community Involvement, considering its suitability and soundness. The County Council is obliged to make any changes required by the Inspector, and will then adopt the Statement of Community Involvement. This is scheduled to occur in August 2006.

5. Conclusions

5.1 Hampshire County Council is supportive of the approach being taken by Government to increase the level of public involvement in the planning process. The Statement of Community Involvement has been drafted to help the local community, particularly those sectors of the community who are not familiar with the planning system, to better understand the process and to more easily contribute to planning their local area.

5.2 At this stage approval is sought just to take the Draft Statement of Community Involvement out to a first round of public consultation. This is a statutory requirement, and will include sending copies of the document (or information as to where copies may be obtained) to statutory consultees, planning authorities within and around Hampshire, parish councils within and around Hampshire and interested parties. This consultation exercise will provide further information and feedback from Hampshire residents and other stakeholders about how they wish to be consulted. Hampshire County Council will not be committing itself to additional use of resources at this stage.

Recommendation

That Cabinet approves the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework Draft Statement of Community Involvement as a basis for public consultation, pursuant to Regulation 26 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004.

328Rpt/TB