To inform members of the comments received to the Draft Polytunnels Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) published for consultation purposes in June 2008 and to consider appropriate changes. 

The Team Leader Local Planning presented a report about the comments which had been received to the draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which had been prepared to provide planning guidance about polytunnel development.  He said that it aimed to supplement and expand upon the policies which were contained within the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan. The document had been under preparation for some time and had involved a considerable amount of consultation and information gathering. The process had started In July 2007 when the Council had published an Issues Report and had sought the views of Parish Councils, statutory undertakers, interested organisations, growers and stakeholders about the form that the document should take. This was followed by structured consultation events with representatives from the farming/growing community and with local individuals and representatives from interested lobby groups. The consultation process followed the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement and the comments which had been received had helped to shape the draft SPD. 

The draft SPD was endorsed by the Committee in April and approved for consultation purposes by Cabinet in June.  Consultation took place from 26th June to 8th August 2008.  The Team Leader Local Planning said that a summary of all the comments which had been made to the draft was set out in the report and that an additional letter of representation had been received from a local resident.  In summary the request was for the reference to the zone of tranquillity being retained, because the buffer zone would not be as effective. The resident was of the view that a fifty-metre zone did not afford enough protection to a dwelling and should be increased to seventy-five metres from the boundary of a dwelling, which would better follow DCLG advice in respect of delegated powers on the proximity of polytunnels, and that the seventy-five metres would remain a viable piece of land for accepted agricultural use and be a truly useful tranquil buffer zone.

The Team Leader Local Planning advised that the SPD was aimed at assisting all those involved about the requirements and issues to be addressed in any polytunnel development through:

·               helping to clarify the forms of development that would require planning permission;

·               setting out the planning issues associated with the erection of polytunnels;

·               setting out the UDP policies that will need to be addressed;

·               make clear the additional information that would need to accompany an application; and

·               set out the Council’s pre-application planning guidance.

The draft SPD had prompted many and varied comments from parish councils, residents groups, growers, statutory bodies, support groups, environmental groups, researchers and the local public. Many comments had been made with specific reference and knowledge of current local situations.  All the proposed changes were shown in the final version of the SPD at Appendix 1 in the report. All written comments received had been summarised along with a Council’s response in Appendix 2. The summary would be included in a full Consultation Statement to be published with the adopted SPD and an accompanying Sustainability Appraisal. 

The main changes proposed were:

·         redraft Section 2 – Planning Context, to simplify advise and interpretation of when development requires planning permission;

·         update to use latest Defra statistics on soft fruit production;

·         firm up requirements for applications to consider all/associated development of a polytunnel proposal (whole farm plans);

·         redraft section on surface water/water quality/pollution prevention to encourage sustainable drainage systems;

·         provide further clarification on table top growing;

·         clarify the protection to be afforded to AONBs;

·         clarify guidance related to noise and buffer zones; and

·         re-order guidelines

The Committee discussed the various aspects of the document and noted the extensive number of comments that had been received.  The Head of Planning and Transportation pointed out that in was an extensive and innovative area of work which was already being referred to by the planning inspectorate and would be used by other local authorities.  The Chairman thanked the officers for their hard work in preparing such a comprehensive document.

RESOLVED THAT:

the Cabinet Member (Environment and Strategic Housing) be requested to agree the changes to the draft Polytunnels SPD as identified in the report and to the document being adopted as part of the Council’s Local Development Framework.