Agenda item

Statement of community involvement consultation, communications and programme to adoption

Meeting of General scrutiny committee, Monday 5 September 2016 9.30 am (Item 18.)

To seek the committee’s views having regard to the outcome of public consultation, on a revised draft statement of community involvement.

Minutes:

The Committee was asked for its views on a revised draft statement of community involvement having regard to the outcome of public consultation.

The Team Leader Strategic Planning presented the report. He commented that the document had not been updated for some 9 years and had been amended to reflect developments during that period, including increasing reliance on communicating online and not via post and hard copy documents, and new initiatives such as neighbourhood development planning, community right to build and neighbourhood development orders.

In discussion the following principal points were made:

· It was noted that there had been 48 responses to the consultation. This compared with 38 responses to the consultation in 2007. The view was expressed that this was a low response and in itself indicative of the council’s difficulty in communicating. The focus on online communication was questionable given the number of people in the County who did not have internet access. It should also be noted that two thirds of those who had responded to the consultation did not think that the consultation methods proposed would be effective. There was considerable interest in planning matters, as demonstrated by the number of neighbourhood development plans being prepared, amongst other things.

· The Team Leader confirmed that all Town and Parish Councils in the County had been consulted. The Neighbourhood Plans team had included information on the consultation in their newsletter but had not contacted NDP planning groups individually.

· The Local and Neighbourhood Planning Community Engagement Officer (LNPCEO) commented that she had produced a plain English version of the consultation document. Proposals to generate greater engagement included utilising public places such as libraries various networks and support groups.

· In response to questions, the Lead Development Manager commented;

· With reference to P53 paragraph 10.16 there was no legal requirement for an applicant to involve the community in their application at pre-application stage. However, the wording in that paragraph could be strengthened.

· The council’s software should be used to update the consultation deadline following the placement of site notices. He would issue a reminder to ensure that this was happening.

· He confirmed that care was taken to ensure that sufficient notices of an application were placed on and around sites.

· It was suggested that the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust should have been a consultee given its strategic role.

· In relation to the table of engagement methods at section 8.4 of the report it was suggested that consideration needed to be given to what communication resources were available to residents in different parts of the county and engagement methods tailored to address deficiencies. The LNPCEO acknowledged that engagement methods needed to be area dependent given the varying quality of parish council websites and other resources.

· A number of detailed comments on the text of the statement of community involvement were made and it was proposed that the following amendments should be considered by Cabinet (page numbers refer to the published agenda papers):

P 35 paragraph 2.6	Use of the word minimum should be changed.
P36/37 paragraph 5.4	The wording in relation to deprivation should be made consistent with that in other council documents.
P39 paragraph 7.1 bullet point 5	Amend to say that decisions should be based on all relevant evidence
P40 paragraph 8.4	Engagement methods should be tailored having regard to communication resources within geographical areas.
P51 paragraph 10.7	The wording should specify that neighbouring parish councils should also be informed of applications that affected them.
P51 paragraph 10.7	Correct contact e-mail address
P52 paragraph 10.12	The redirection criteria should be included.
P53 bullet point 4 line 1	Amend “large” to “larger”
P53 paragraph 10.16	Strengthen word “encourage” in line 3 of shaded box.
P54 paragraph 11.4	Clarify bullet point 2. An NDP can promote less development as well as more.
P54 11.5 bullet point 1	Rather than “cannot conflict with” the wording should state that neighbourhood development plans should be “in general conformity” with the Core Strategy.
P54 paragraph 11.7	Clarify reference to “next column”
P56 bullet point 3	Change “”can provide guidance” to “will”
P57 bullet point 2	It should be made clear that Herefordshire Council not the Parish Council has the final say.

P58 Section 12	Further consideration should be given to this section. Reference should be made to what will be done with monitoring information, monitoring should include the effectiveness of Neighbourhood plans to resolve conflict and be robust in managing development.
P59	Development Plan Document definition should make reference to relationship with NDPs.
P60 last line	Suggested 2012 should be 2015. Other references of this nature should also be checked and updated.
P61	The references to specific consultation bodies and general consultation bodies should be clarified. The language should be consistent.
P64	Reference should be made to the role of the local ward member in speaking at the Planning Committee
General points:	That work on the Constitution which included consideration of the role of the Planning Committee should be taken account of to ensure the Statement of Community Involvement was consistent with the Constitution.
	That there should be a broader consideration of methods of communication and the clarity of the message.
	To avoid references – for example to named consultation bodies becoming out of date, where feasible a reference should be made to the master source.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet be recommended to consider amending the revised draft statement of community involvement to take account of the amendments proposed in the above table.

Supporting documents: