The purpose of this item is for Committee Members to provide comments to the Chairman on the Local Development Framework, prior to its consideration at Council on 19 July 2013.

The related Cabinet papers of 4 July 2013 can be accessed at the following web address:

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=251&MId=4888&Ver=4

The Chairman advised that the Herefordshire Plan - Core Strategy 2011-2031 (draft) was to be considered by Council on 19 July 2013.  He made the following points:

1.         As Chairman of the Committee, he would have the opportunity to speak for five minutes at Council.

2.         It was acknowledged that the officers had worked extremely hard but there was a perception that the Council was pressing ahead without fully considering the views of local communities.

3.         Reference was made to the allocation of land in Bromyard for residential development in the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan 2007.  It was commented that mistakes were made, with too much reliance given to the views of the Ward Members at the time, and this situation should not be repeated.

The Chairman invited views from attendees on the general policies.

General Policies

A Councillor in attendance, referring to the Place Shaping Policies, advised that ‘minimum’ had been replaced with ‘target’ in respect of affordable housing on strategic sites.  He considered this to be a significant weakening of the policy commitment to deliver affordable housing and the policy should revert to the original wording.  A Committee Member said that the position would depend on the economic situation and inward investment, therefore he considered a target percentage to be pragmatic.  The Councillor in attendance commented that there was a risk that affordable housing would be negotiated away, particularly as the Community Infrastructure Levy would be a non-negotiable charge.  The Assistant Director commented that the consolidated version of the plan would be presented to Council.  The Chairman suggested that this question be put to Council.

The Councillor in attendance said that there had been a change to the rural housing policies since consultation, with minimum housing numbers required in growth villages, the reason for the change and who requested it were questioned.  The Cabinet Member said that this was a question for Council; he subsequently added that changes had resulted from responses received and the analysis that had been undertaken.

The following points were made about the purpose of the agenda item:

a.         The Cabinet Member said that: he had come to listen; the ultimate scrutiny on this item would be at Council; in addition to the Chairman of the Committee being given time to speak, all Councillors would have an opportunity to speak; and this was not a pre-meeting of Council.

b.         The Chairman questioned the capacity to answer detailed questions at Council and said that areas of concern needed to be identified.

c.         The Vice-Chairman said that this Committee had the Local Development Framework before it for discussion and points could be cleared up ahead of the Council meeting.

d.         The Head of Governance said that is was the role of the Committee to scrutinise the proposal being put forward to Council but also noted the limited time available to the Committee.  He added that Council would get some comfort from knowing that the matter had been through the scrutiny process.

e.         The Cabinet Member said  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18