Object

Representation ID: 9060

Received: 12/11/2021

Respondent: Colmworth Parish Council

Agent: Troy Planning + Design

3.1. Section 33A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, as inserted by section 110 of the Localism Act 2011 requires the council to cooperate with other local planning authorities and other ‘prescribed bodies’ in preparing and developing development plan documents and other local development documents so far as it relates to a strategic matter.
3.2. Local authorities must fulfil the legal requirement to cooperate with the Duty to Cooperate prescribed bodies by “engaging constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis” on cross boundary strategic matters from the commencement of preparing the Local Plan to submission of the Local Plan to the Secretary of State for examination.
3.3. There is no reference in the consultation documents or the supporting evidence to the ouncil’s legal requirements to discharge its Duty to Cooperate as part of the plan-making process. Given the potential for strategic development proposed in close proximity to neighbouring authorities and clear cross boundary strategic matters one would expect cross boundary working on these matters to be active, ongoing and constructive from the commencing of Local Plan preparation.
3.4. Furthermore, BBC purports its main purpose for undertaking a Local Plan update is to ensure compliance with Policy 1 of the adopted Local Plan. A key part of this policy is where it states that “The review will also serve to build stronger working relationships with adjoining and nearby authorities and may result in the preparation of a joint strategic plan based on a wider geography”. Yet the Draft Local Plan fails to acknowledge how BBC has worked with adjoining and nearby authorities or address whether a strategic plan for the wider geography is still being pursued or has been shelved and any reasoning for this.
3.5. BBC has also failed to comply with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 which states that:
“(6) Where a local planning authority have co-operated with another local planning authority, county council, or a body or person prescribed under section 33A of the Act, the local planning authority’s monitoring report must give details of what action they have taken during the period covered by the report.”
It is therefore impossible to determine what Duty to Cooperate activities have taken place since commencement of local plan preparation as BBC has not made this information available.
3.6. In any case Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) states that authorities should make any statements of common ground (SOCG) available on their website by the time they publish their draft plan so that communities and stakeholders have a transparent picture of how they have collaborated:
Authorities should have made a statement of common ground available on their website by the time they publish their draft plan, in order to provide communities and other stakeholders with a transparent picture of how they have collaborated.
3.7. There are no published SOCGs with any prescribed bodies for communities and other stakeholders to demonstrate that BBC has fulfilled the legal and policy requirements of Government.
3.8. The PPG explains what a Statement of Common Ground should contain. The PPG also tates that “The level of cooperation detailed in the statement is expected to be proportionate to the matters being addressed. The statement is expected to be concise and is not intended to document every occasion that strategic policy-making authorities meet, consult with each other, or for example, contact prescribed bodies under the duty to cooperate. The statement is a means of detailing key information, providing clear signposting or links to available evidence on authorities’ websites.”
3.9. As there is no mention of cross-boundary strategic matters or joint working in the Draft Local Plan or its supporting documentation, it is impossible to comment on this topic apart from saying that the Council is clearly not discharging its legal Duty to Cooperate as required by Government.