REPORT OF THE

EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT-

NORTH HAMPSHIRE AND SPATIAL STRATEGY

PART I

HAMPSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK - STATEMENT OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

1. As part of its Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework, the County Council is required, by statute, to produce a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). This document explains 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.

2. In May 2005, the Cabinet approved the draft SCI for preliminary consultation purposes and the first phase of a comprehensive statutory public consultation took place between 14 June 2005 and 27 July 2005. There were 73 responses to the consultation from a wide range of stakeholders. These ranged from comments on specific issues through to those of presentation and clarification of terms used, and have been carefully considered and used as appropriate to influence the content of the final SCI. The responses to the consultations were initially considered by the Environment Policy Review Committee on 8 September when reconsideration of the issues of neighbour notification and the consultation period for planning applications was recommended. The Executive Member for Environment - North Hampshire and Spatial Strategy concurs with this view and, at the time of printing, is currently examining a proposed re-wording of those sections.

3. Approval is now sought to submit the SCI, as set out in Appendix I, (but subject to a re-wording of the sections referred to in paragraph 2 above, details of which will be circulated at the Council meeting for consideration) to the First Secretary of State and to undertake the final statutory consultation stage. This is a statutory requirement, and the 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.

4. The recommendations support Aims, 2, 4 and 5 (Stewardship of the Environment, Building Strong and Safe Communities, and Improving Services) of the Corporate Strategy by contributing to the 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 the County Council more accessible to the Hampshire community.

RECOMMENDATION

That the County Council approves the Statement of Community Involvement, part of the Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework, as set out in Appendix I (as amended) to this report:

(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.

JONATHAN K. GLEN

Executive Member for North

Hampshire & Spatial Strategy

8eR55905

REPORT OF THE

EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT-

NORTH HAMPSHIRE AND SPATIAL STRATEGY

PART II

GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION PAPER : "PLANNING FOR HOUSING PROVISION"

1. On behalf of the County Council, the Executive Member has commented in detail on the Government Consultation Paper "Planning for Housing Provision". The Consultation Paper sets out a proposed new approach, the purpose of which is to allow the planning system to be more responsive to the market, while continuing to balance other social and environmental objectives and recognising that plans need to be reviewed in response to significant changes in the housing market. It also seeks to allow significant and unexpected changes in circumstances to be understood and addressed, and their consequences managed.

2. Whilst the importance of local planning authorities providing enough land in plans to deliver sufficient housing for the population of their respective areas is recognised , the Executive Member has highlighted a number of concerns including the following:-

· the mismatch between SEERA's sub-regional boundaries and housing market areas.


· the need to take into account other factors as well as market demand, as housing provision needs to be integrated with planning for regeneration, employment, transport and other infrastructure.


· the potential problems arising from the fact that once sites are allocated as part of a five year supply to be rolled forward as land is developed, developers will be able to bring forward the land at any time regardless of whether it is brownfield or greenfield land reducing the likely proportion of development on brownfield land.


· the best way to help those in genuine housing need is to put more investment into affordable houses. In order to have any significant impact on the price of housing, a huge number of additional houses would have to be built which would have a significant adverse environmental impact.


· the proposed approach will increase the burden on local planning authorities and regional planning bodies as there will be additional work and costs associated with providing evidence on a housing market area basis as proposed (rather than a district basis) and in maintaining a five year rolling land supply.


The full text of the County Council's response is available on Hantsweb and on request from the Director of Environment.

3. This decision supports Aims 2 and 3 of the Corporate Strategy (Stewardship of the Environment and Achieving Economic Prosperity) by influencing proposed new planning policy for housing provision.

JONATHAN K. GLEN

Executive Member for Environment -
North Hampshire & Spatial Strategy

8eR55905