Agenda item

Councillor Osman Dervish, Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services and Community Safety, introduced the report

Cabinet was reminded that the Council was required to prepare a Local Plan for the Borough.  A Local Plan was the statutory Development Plan for an area which set out the long-term strategic planning priorities and objectives, opportunities for development and clear policies on what would or would not be permitted and where.  Local Plans were introduced by the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) regulations 2012 and replaced the previous system of Local Development Frameworks (LDF).

The report sought Cabinet approval for the first statutory stage of public consultation which was required in order to start the process of progressing a new Local Plan for the borough.

The report set out further detail on the reasons for preparing a Local Plan, the statutory process that must be followed and the individual elements of work that were needed to feed into the Plan.

The report also sought Cabinet approval to publish the Local Development Scheme (LDS) which was a statutory document setting out the plans and policy documents that would be prepared and a timetable for their delivery.  The LDS was not subject to consultation.  

The report noted that the preparation of the new Havering Local Plan would be closely linked to the preparation of the Havering Community Infrastructure Levy.

Reasons for the decision:

The decision to prepare a new Local Plan for Havering had been taken for the following reasons:   

-          The Local Development Framework (LDF) was published in 2008 and was now due for review

-          There had been significant changes to the planning system and national and regional policy since adoption of the Havering Local Plan 2008.  This included publication of the NPPF 2012 and London Plan 2011.

-          To aid decision making and further improve the quality and appropriateness of development in the Borough

-          To retain control over local decision making

-          To support progression of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

-          To provide clarity for the business sector and stimulate investment

-          To increase/ enhance funding opportunities

-          To respond to any pressure that arises for a neighbourhood plan(s)

-          To respond to recent planning legislation changes

Other options considered

The option of not taking forward a new Local Plan and continuing to rely on the Local Development Framework had been considered and rejected for the following reasons:

-          It was a statutory requirement for every local planning authority to have a Local Plan 

-          Over time the Local Development Framework would become increasingly out of date and eventually would not provide sufficient policy support for refusing inappropriate development within the Borough.

-          Progression of the Havering CIL Community Infrastructure Levy was dependent on progression of the Local Plan.

Cabinet approved:

1.            The preparation of a new Local Plan for Havering which will replace key documents within the Local Development Framework.

2.            The Local Plan Consultation Questionnaire (attached as Annex 1 to the report) for public consultation.

3.            The Local Development Scheme for publication (attached as Annex 2 to the report)