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 infrastructure, thereby increasing pollution and threatening achievement of the Council’s identified active travel and climate change ambitions set out in the County Plan. The Cabinet member for transport and infrastructure confirmed that the objectives of the County Plan were fully considered as part of the formulation of options, and whilst it was acknowledged that rail infrastructure in the County was limited, the market towns did benefit from other forms of transport infrastructure to a greater extent than the rural settlements in the County, which made them better equipped to accommodate growth. Pressed to offer a guarantee that the emerging place shaping option from the third consultative stage would lead to reduce car usage, the Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Transport said that it was hoped this would be the outcome, however the Committee expressed continued reservations. The Committee also asked whether the option for development focussed around the existing railway line at Pontrilas had been abandoned. The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure confirmed that the option had not been completely removed from the table, however, the Local Plan needed to demonstrate its deliverability up to 2041, and there were currently too many uncertainties around the deliverability of such a project to make it viable for inclusion as a leading option.

It was suggested that the Local Plan process itself seemed somewhat illogical insofar as the consultation process was being conducted before a number of the commissioned evidence based reports had been received, and a query was raised regarding whether the evidence reports should have been commissioned at an earlier stage, given the Council would have been aware of the need to refresh its Local Plan. The Neighbourhood Planning Service Manager confirmed that a number of evidence based reports were in production which would help to frame the strategy, but it was a requirement to consult upon options and alternatives in tandem with the commissioning of reports, and it was important that the reports were as up-to-date as possible at the time the Local Plan goes to examination; commissioning reports too early carried an element of risk, whereby, if the process becomes delayed for any reason, then they may need to be recommissioned and further updated before examination could take place. It was reiterated that there would be further rounds of consultation still to follow, including a further engagement on preferred options and ranking settlements to be undertaken with parish councils and the local community in the autumn of 2022, which would incorporate previously omitted scoring for roads, public transport and flooding, thus taking much greater account of sustainability issues.

Some members of the Committee raised concern that when the Council previously debated and subsequently decided against a bypass for Hereford, there was an undertaking from the administration that money would instead be spent on transport improvements in rural areas, but it was suggested that this had not materialised, whilst at the same time budget pressures were leading to cuts in rural bus services which were already in short supply. This again raised the concern that developments in rural areas would lead to increased car usage as residents did not have access to reliable alternatives. The Neighbourhood Planning Service Manager advised that around 120 villages were earmarked for being taken out from the current Core Strategy when the new Local Plan emerged, as it was recognised that many were unsustainable from a transport perspective. The villages that would remain on the table were those with improved access to local services and facilities, particularly schools, shops and transport.

The Committee noted that there was a steep drop in the number of responses from the initial spatial options consultation (1,200) to the later policy options consultation (250), and queried whether this was an indication that residents were unaware of the staged approach to consultation and considered that having responded to the first exercise there was potentially no purpose to comment further. It was also noted that of the 3,700 visitors to the Commonplace website during the place based consultation, only around one third (1,100) submitted a response; the Committee suggested it would be of interest to learn what deterred the two thirds of visitors who did not respond.

The Committee noted that there was an ongoing risk of changes to planning policy at a national level, and the Neighbourhood Planning Service Manager confirmed that a number of local authorities have currently paused development of their Local Plans due to the continued uncertainty, however the ambition was to continue the process in Herefordshire as it was recognised that a new Plan was both wanted and needed. It was acknowledged that there was a delicate balance to be negotiated between pursuing the Council’s environmental and sustainability objectives, whilst at the same time delivering upon assessed needs. The detail setting out how this balance would be achieved would be contained within the wording of the relevant policy documents to follow, rather than within the high level options presented at consultation stage.

Given the varied nature of the debate undertaken during the meeting, the Committee decided that in order to accurately articulate its feedback to the Executive it would be useful to document its findings and any recommendations in a summary report to be drafted following the meeting, for approval at the next meeting of the Committee on Friday 18 November 2022.

It was resolved that:

A summary scrutiny report be drafted for approval by the Committee at its next meeting, setting out the evidence considered, key observations and any recommendations to the Cabinet.