This report presents information for the committee to consider the extent to which the preparation of the Herefordshire Local Plan will look to deliver the objectives for Environment and Sustainability, as outlined in the County Plan 2020-2024, Herefordshire Climate Change Emergency resolutions and Executive Response, and other relevant Council strategies and policies, including the Success Measures provided in the Council’s County Plan 2020-2024.

The Committee gave consideration to the report as set out on pages 13-24 of the agenda, which provided information regarding how the preparation of the Herefordshire Local Plan will look to deliver the objectives for Environment and Sustainability outlined in the County Plan 2020-2024, Herefordshire Climate Change Emergency resolutions and Executive Response, and other relevant Council strategies and policies.

The Committee sought clarity regarding how the nine spatial options (comprising five strategic options and four rural options) set out at Sections 3 and 4 of the Spatial Options Consultation document from January 2022 were produced, and what meetings and/or workshops took place between Executive members and officers to inform the options selected for inclusion in the consultation. It was confirmed that, in compliance with the regulations setting out the Local Plan process, Herefordshire Council had a Local Plan Cabinet working group (comprised of Councillors Chowns, Harrington, Harvey and Tyler), which met a number of times to receive briefings whilst the options were formulated for the spatial options consultation, taking into account the assessed need for the County.

The Committee recalled that during the first phase of consultation around the new Local Plan, ideas were put forward for a spatial option focussed on existing rail infrastructure in the County, as well as an option for a new eco-settlement, but noted that the nine proposed spatial options in place at the beginning of the consultation remained materially unchanged. A query was therefore raised regarding whether these alternative ideas had been dismissed following meetings of the cabinet working group. The Cabinet member for Infrastructure and Transport confirmed that meetings took place during which preferred options were discussed, however, options were not excluded from the consultation based on Cabinet member preferences and the fact that there had been little material change in the options may simply have been reflective of the responses received to date. The Neighbourhood Planning Service Manager further advised that whilst there were an infinite number of options that could be consulted upon, the Council had to show that it had consulted upon reasonable and different alternatives, and that these were sufficiently scoped to enable the public to understand how they differed.

The Committee also recalled that an initial idea for a new market town appeared to be absent from the emerging proposals, although the Neighbourhood Planning Service Manager advised that this was considered as part of consultation option 5 and included a ‘call for sites’; however, only a small number of potential sites had come forward and these were being assessed for their environmental impact. It was explained that new settlements take on average 15-20 years to come to fruition and this would need to be demonstrated as deliverable within the lifetime of the new Plan.

The Committee expressed some concern at the prospect of development being focussed around market towns in the County, given that three of the towns have no railway stations and therefore the expectation would be further reliance on car use and pressure on existing road  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16