Contact: Trevor Badley, ext 5795 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

That the Executive Member for Environment: North Hampshire and Spatial Strategy recommends the County Council to approve the Statement of Community Involvement, part of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework:

(i) for submission to the First Secretary of State;

(ii) for final public consultation, pursuant to Regulation 28 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004; and

(iii) as a basis for the plan-making and development control processes.

1.2 The Environment Policy Review Committee considered this item on 8 September 2005 and Members' comments will be reported orally at the meeting.

2. Reason

2.1 This decision supports Aims 2, 4 and 5 (Stewardship of the Environment, Building Strong and Safe Communities, and Improving Services) of the Corporate Strategy by contributing to Hampshire County Council's statutory requirement to prepare the constituent documents of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework, improving the quality of the planning documents produced through involving the local community and making the planning service offered by Hampshire County Council more accessible to the Hampshire community.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) is a statutory planning document, and there is no option to preparing one. Hampshire County Council is committed to the timetable for the production of the SCI, as this is set out in the statutory Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme. Preparing the Statement of Community Involvement jointly with the Cities is not an option, as each minerals and waste planning authority is required to produce the Statement of Community Involvement separately.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or Other Executive Member Consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor J K Glen

469Decn/TB

Contact: Trevor Badley, ext 5795 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report seeks approval to submit the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) to the First Secretary of State for consideration and subsequent examination before a planning inspector. This is a statutory requirement of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 and includes a six week public consultation process which is scheduled to start in November 2005. The November 2005 submission date is a commitment made in the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme, which came into effect on 21 July 2005.

1.2 On 23 May 2005 Cabinet approved an earlier draft of the Statement of Community Involvement for a first phase of public consultation under the 2004 Regulations, that consultation took place between 14 June-27 July 2005. All comments received during this, and an earlier informal phase of consultation, have been considered and several changes have been made to the SCI.

2. The Statement of Community Involvement

2.1 The Government is placing greater emphasis on encouraging local community involvement in planning. The SCI will explain how local communities and stakeholders can be involved in the plan-making process, and how the County Council will publicise and deal with planning applications. It sets out the steps that the County Council will take to facilitate this involvement, including meeting current statutory consultation requirements. The SCI is intended to be read and used by a wide ranging audience, with varying levels of familiarity with the planning system.

2.2 The SCI is attached.

3. Progress to Date and Next Steps

3.1 Between September 2003 and February 2005 there was an ongoing stakeholder dialogue process which brought together representatives from many sections 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 aspirations for the future of minerals and waste in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton. Ongoing community involvement required for the Minerals and Waste Development Framework, as set out in the SCI, will build on and develop the community involvement that has already taken place.

3.2 The consultation process and stages of preparation for the SCI are driven by the statutory requirements of the new planning system. A preliminary informal consultation using a questionnaire has already been undertaken. 401 questionnaires were sent out and 146 responses were received, a response rate of 36.4%. Responses were received from Minerals and Waste Planning authorities, Parish Councils within and adjacent to Hampshire, District Councils within and adjacent to Hampshire, individual members of the public, consultancies, residents associations, other interest groups, minerals and waste operators and Government agencies. These responses helped to shape the draft SCI which was subject to its first phase of statutory public consultation following approval by Cabinet on 23 May 2005. A detailed summary of this consultation is included in the attached extract from the Statement of Consultation Compliance.

3.3 The first phase of statutory public consultation took place between 14 June 2005 and 27 July 2005. As part of this consultation, some 855 letters with a copy of the draft SCI and a response form were sent to a wide range of stakeholders. The SCI and response form were also placed on the internet. Copies were placed in libraries across Hampshire and in District Council offices. Copies were also placed in Hampshire County Council Information Centres and Local Information Points. There were 73 responses to this consultation, again from a wide range of stakeholders. The responses have been considered and helped to influence the content of the final SCI.

3.4 The next stage: submission to First Secretary of State and final statutory consultation is programmed to begin in November 2005. Depending on the number and nature of responses received during this second statutory consultation, the SCI 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. Whether or not a public examination is required, an Inspector will prepare and submit to the County Council a binding report on the SCI, considering its suitability and soundness. The County Council is obliged to make any changes required by the Inspector, and then adopt the SCI. This is scheduled to occur in August 2006.

4. Changes to the Draft Statement of Community Involvement

4.1 The issue of neighbour notification was the key issue identified in the recent consultation process. Current development control practice, and proposals for site-related policy work, is to notify neighbouring properties within 50 metres of minerals or waste development sites in urban areas and within 100 metres outside urban areas. Many respondents felt these distances were inadequate, and should be increased. It is essential that the neighbour notification policy is both fair and consistent. It is therefore proposed to retain existing neighbour notification distances, but to recognise a need for some officer discretion in exceptional circumstances to increase the neighbour notification to include people known to be directly affected by the proposal at the time of the submission of the application.

4.2 Consultation periods were also raised by several respondents, noting that the Hampshire Compact (covering good practice in public consultation in Hampshire and to which Hampshire County Council is a signatory) recommends allowing a 12 week response period to voluntary groups. Current practice by Hampshire County Council, as set out in the SCI, is to give all consultees the statutory six week period to respond to policy consultations, and 21 days for development control consultations. It is always a difficult balance between giving parties the time they want to respond to consultations and meeting statutory performance targets, Hampshire County Council, as are all planning authorities, is under considerable pressure to meet deadlines for the processing of applications and adoption of planning policy. On balance it is recommended that the statutory consultation periods are adhered to.

4.3 Presentation issues were raised, with some respondents seeking a more graphically presented document. This approach may add benefit to the SCI document, but to some degree it is a matter of taste and there has been limited time to substantially restructure the document. However, Hampshire County Council will ensure that a Plain English audit is undertaken on the finished document to improve its clarity and readability.

4.4 Definition of terms used, particularly relating to development control matters, was another issue raised. In each case the terms causing confusion have been clarified or re-defined. There were a wide range of other comments made and a summary of these, together with the County Council's responses to the these comments and the actions taken, are included in the attached extract from the Statement of Consultation Compliance.

4.5 The responses to this consultation indicated that some respondents, particularly some Parish Councils, viewed the County Council's proposals and approach regarding community involvement with an element of suspicion. This is unfortunate, as the County Council has always sought to provide the public with information as needed and as requested. However, it may reflect expectations that local views should prevail, which is unlikely to be realisable for minerals and waste planning which needs to achieve self-sufficiency for Hampshire in provision of facilities. It is hoped that the adoption of the SCI, following its public examination by an independent Planning Inspector, will increase the transparency and acceptability of the planning process.

5. Impact Assessments

5.1 The SCI will play a vital role in enabling the Hampshire community to influence and participate in minerals and waste planning issues. Given the emphasis that the Government is placing on community involvement, the SCI has been screened under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to assess whether there are any aspects of this document, or the minerals and waste planning service as a whole, that need to be changed to improve access by the Hampshire community to the planning service. The screening process is not as detailed as a full assessment. Screening is carried out to determine whether or not a full assessment is needed.

5.2 The screening exercise included consideration of age, gender, disability, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, poverty/social exclusion, localities and other aspects. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 is not considered to have an impact on the SCI. The result has indicated that it is possible that some members of the Hampshire community do not have equal access to the minerals and waste planning service in Hampshire. It is also clear that very little data is available on the characteristics of the users of the minerals and waste planning service. Collection of this data, by means of questionnaires and other means, needs to be given a high priority over the next year.

5.3 It will take time to build up the necessary information. It is therefore recommended that a review be undertaken within six months of the SCI going out to its final consultation (November 2005). If it is considered that enough data has been collected, a full Equalities Impact Assessment may be begun at that point. Otherwise, a further six months of data collection will be undertaken, again followed by a review and assessment if appropriate.

6. Conclusions

6.1 Hampshire County Council is supportive of the approach being taken by Government to increase the level of public involvement in the planning process. The SCI 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 enable them to contribute to minerals and waste planning in their local area. The first statutory consultation stage has been completed, and the SCI has been revised to reflect a number of comments made.

6.2 Approval is now sought to submit the SCI to the First Secretary of State, and to undertake the final statutory consultation stage. This is a statutory requirement, and the statutory consultation will take place along the lines of the previous consultation. It should be noted that this final consultation is intended to identify aspects of the SCI that consultees either support or object to. The responses made will determine whether there is a public examination in front of an Inspector or whether responses are dealt with by written representations. The responses will also influence the binding report prepared by the Inspector. It is unlikely that there will be any further amendments or alterations to the SCI until the Inspector prepares the binding report, and Hampshire County Council is required to make the changes identified by the Inspector. The SCI should therefore be considered to be in its final form and Hampshire County Council should reflect its provisions and requirements in its minerals and waste planning service from the date of the County Council's decision.

Recommendation

That the Executive Member for Environment: North Hampshire and Spatial Strategy recommends the County Council to approve the Statement of Community Involvement, part of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework:

(i) for submission to the First Secretary of State;

(ii) for final public consultation, pursuant to Regulation 28 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004; and

(iii) as a basis for the plan-making and development control processes.

469Rpt/TB