Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors’ Moffatt and Simon Tagg.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

To receive Declarations of Interest from Members on items included on the agenda.

Minutes:

Councillor Jones declared an interest as an employee of Keele University.

3.

DRAFT JOINT LOCAL PLAN pdf icon PDF 368 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council’s Planning Policy Manager, Jemma March gave a presentation on the Draft Joint Local plan.

 

Members were advised that 824 representations had been received as part of the consultation resulting in 5494 individual points.  Seven petitions had been received in connection with specific sites.

 

The presentation outlined the aims and objectives of the draft plan, the current position and policies for: Strategy; Economy; Housing; Transport; Centres; Design and Heritage; Natural and Rural Environment; Environmental Resources and Infrastructure.

 

It was proposed that the Draft Local Plan would be consulted upon in two parts, (i) Policies and Strategies and (ii) Site Allocations.  At the end of the process both parts would be brought together and taken to Full Council for its adoption.

 

The Consultation would take place in April/May, 2020 and would accept online, written and email representations.  There would be drop in sessions and also information available on social media.

 

The Chair asked Members if they were in agreement with splitting the consultation into the two parts.  Members agreed with this approach stating that  it would give greater opportunity for each part to be dealt with and understood and also would give a better position in terms of scrutiny.

 

Councillor John Williams suggested that a better plan would be useful which showed the individual wards more clearly.

 

Mr Tom Lewis of Stoke on Trent City Council advised Members that the production of an interactive map was being looked into which would enable specific sites to be zoomed in on.  This was not yet available but it was hoped that it would be ready for the consultation process.

 

Councillor John Williams asked if Members could have a hard copy of a readable plan as not everyone had access to IT equipment.

 

The Chair suggested that this be put as a comment to the Cabinet.

 

 

The Chair informed Members that he would take the document a section at a time:

 

 

SECTION 4: OVERARCHING STRATEGY AND POLICIES.

 

Members requested a suggestion to the Cabinet that the document needed to be placed onto the website in a place where it could be easily found and accessed.  It was suggested that this be on the very front screen of the Council’s web page.

 

 

SECTION 5: ECONOMY.

 

Councillor Jones commented on the strategic development within the Keele University growth corridor.  He asked whether it was felt that the Council was at risk of ‘putting all of our eggs into one basket’ and what alternative sites/economic zones were being looked at. Ms March stated that alternative options had been looked at previously and the next stage would show reasonable alternatives /options.  Councillor Jones was advised that there was an ‘exceptional circumstances case’ in respect of growth at the University.

 

Councillor Jones asked what was meant by the term ‘local’ under point e of Policy E3.  He enquired whether ‘local’ meant ‘across the whole of Stoke on Trent’.  Ms March stated that there was perhaps a bit more work to do in relation to some references.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

URGENT BUSINESS

To consider any business which is urgent within the meaning of Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972

Minutes:

There was no Urgent Business.