Object

Representation ID: 10453

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Mr Kulwinder Rai

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

On the Council’s decision to save Policy 7S - OBJECTION

During the consultation for the Local Plan 2030 both I and several other parties – including parish councils – made clear that we had fundamental objections to Policies 5S, 6 and 7S.

The basis of the objections were that Policy 7S and in particular its two-part nature, were inherently unfair and not in accordance with the spirit of the NPPF. Criticism, was directed, in particular, the requirement to meet ALL five of the criteria in Part 2 (vi-x) was considered to be inherently unfair and unreasonable, not to mention virtually impossible to meet.

The Local Plan 2030 was adopted on 15th January 2020. The impact of policies regarding development in the Countryside was immediate. Multiple Planning Committee meetings in Q1/Q2 of 2020 questioned the logic and common sense of the aforementioned policy on multiple occasions, overturning Officer recommendations for planning application refusals.

The Council’s begrudging response was to issue a Planning Policy Briefing Note to try and explain the logic of Policy 7S.

https://bbcdevwebfiles.blob.core.windows.net/webfiles/Planning%20and%20Building/local-plan-2030/planning-policy-briefing-local-plan-2030-policies-5S-6-7s.PDF

Subsequently, the Council also cunningly changed the Planning Committee’s terms of reference so that fewer small-scale applications involving Policy 7S were presented to it for consideration, with such applications now delegated for officer decision-making.

Now, as part of the Local Plan 2040, the Council is proposing to save these 7S without reviewing its fitness for purpose in any way, its presumption being that the policy remains acceptable (at least, to itself!)

It should also be noted that the decision to now save the policy is wholly contrary to the explicit promise that was made in the May 2020 Planning Policy Briefing Note, which stated:

‘In particular, Policy 7S seeks to restrict development in the countryside to exceptional situations and there are risks of unintended consequences if the policy is not applied strictly, so it will be monitored to see if it achieves its intended purpose. Future reviews of the plan will provide the opportunity to amend policies if necessary.’

The plan is now being reviewed and yet there has been no mention whatsoever in the supporting documents of what monitoring, if indeed any, has taken place.