Apologies for absence were received from Councillors: H Bramer, Cabinet Member Major Contracts and AW Johnson, Cabinet Member Financial Management.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve both the draft Herefordshire Local Plan – Core Strategy 2011 – 2031 and the Community Infrastructure Levy preliminary charging schedule for consultation, and approve the consultation programme.

The Cabinet Member Environment, Housing and Planning presented the report of the Assistant Director Economic, Environment and Cultural Services.  It was noted that Cabinet received a document which provides updates to the changes proposed to the Cabinet version of the Draft Core Strategy as a result of the preparation of the draft Sustainability Appraisal and draft Habitats Regulations Assessment reports.

The following comments were made by the Cabinet Member:

• Thanked all staff that had been involved in the process of producing the documents before Cabinet for consideration.
• Referred to the recommendations of the report and advised that it was proposed that recommendation (b) be removed.
• The report before Cabinet was to agree the final consultation process prior to the Local Development Framework (LDF) being taken to the July Council meeting for approval.
• Work on the LDF began in 2007 and views were gathered through consultation to help shape and form the strategy.
• In July 2012 a revised timetable was put before and agreed by Cabinet.
• The Cabinet Member urged everyone to look through the consultation document and to make their comments.

The Assistant Director and his team made the following points to Cabinet:

• Referred to the key points summary of the report and that the draft plan was underpinned with an evidence base. 
• Stated the plan was envisaged to be visionary and fundamental to the places where people live and set in context for the future vision for the county as a whole. 
• The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), Neighbourhood Planning, the Local Transport Plan and the LDF are all related and provide an evolving context for development in the County.
• The River Wye is a special area of conservation and the key issue was the level of phosphates in the river.  In recent months significant progress has been made on resolving technical issues on water quality as a result of joint work with Welsh Water, the Environment Agency and Natural England.
• A website for the LDF, which had been proposed by the General Overview and Scrutiny Committee (GO&SC), was now live and accessible for the public. 
• Concern had previously been raised over the online consultation.  Cabinet was advised that new software was in place which would enable an immediate analysis of the comments made and provide a prompt turnaround with the results.
• Cabinet was advised that Appendix C to the report outlines the draft change schedule proposed for consultation.

The following are comments made during the Cabinet debate:

• There was a need to incorporate a greater amount of flexibility, to meet the aspirations of the Herefordshire communities and to take into account Members’ views from the seminars on neighbourhood planning.
• It was essential that the LDF was in general conformity with National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
• The proposals were key to the future of the economy of the county to ensure that the residents of the county had decent jobs and homes to live in.
• Consultation would be carried out with local businesses.  The market towns and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.