Agenda item

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation submits a report which outlines the main strategies and proposals of the submission for the City of Leicester Local Plan for public consultation in November 2022.

A presentation will also be made at the meeting covering the report and related details.

Members of the Neighbourhood Scrutiny Commission are invited to participate and contribute to the consideration of this item.

Members of the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission were invited to jointly participate in the agenda item.

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation submitted a report and a presentation which outlined the main strategies and proposed site allocations of the Local Plan for the City of Leicester. Members of the Heritage, Culture, Leisure and Tourism, and Members of the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commissions were recommended to note the key local plan strategies, policies, site allocations, and provisions for consultation and provide comment to the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation if they so wished.

All Members were requested in an email sent out earlier in the day, to submit their questions early to allow for a more detailed answer by Planning Officers present.

The Chair reminded Members present to limit any questions to be asked to the terms of reference of the Heritage, Culture, Leisure and Tourism Scrutiny Commission and the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission.

Grant Butterworth, (Head of Planning), Rachael Mkanza (Senior Planner) and Joseph Todd (Planner), were present to answer any questions put forward by Members of the two Commissions.

The Head of Planning presented the report and associated presentation and outlined the following:

·       Comments made during the meeting would be referred back to in Overview Select Committee on Tuesday, 27 September, before being put forward to Full Council on 11 October 2022.

·       The Draft Leicester Local Plan had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through since the last consultation, 3,500 representations had been received.

·       According to Government changes to Housing guidance and legislation, Leicester was required to increase the housing available by 35%, equivalent to 39,424 dwellings, or 2,464 per annum.

·       Policy changes and impacts on the hospitality sector, energy, environment, and public health and equalities had been assessed during the consultation stage to inform the plan and ensure the viability of the final proposal.

·       The current proposed submission for the Local Plan includes 4 strategic housing sites, of which the Leicester General Hospital, part of  land North of the A46 bypass had since been removed. A further 21 smaller sites had been removed on the grounds of representations, availability, biodiversity, and loss of open space.

·       The Strategic Growth Plan for Leicester and Leicestershire had sets the context for a Statement of Common Ground which had been signed by a number of Authorities, to secure redistribution of the shortfall number of 18,700 dwellings, and 23 hectares of employment land.

·       An error was noted in the report regarding the hectares the proposed plan was able to meet for employment need, with 30 hectares being the correct number. 

·       Regarding the Central Development Area (CDA), capacity for provision of dwellings had been increased from 4,900 to 6,286. The focus of the area was for commerce, retail, culture, leisure, and entertainment. Emphasis was placed on protecting and enhancing historic sites and environment, as well as to improve current open green spaces. Further detailed Tall Building policies in the form of Supplementary Planning Guidance would need to be developed for consultation post the adoption of the Local Plan in line with the Government’s New National Design Code.

·       It was noted that some green wedge will be lost, and quantity of public open space would be reduced, although removal of sites had reduced this loss significantly.

·       It was noted that there would be a 30% policy provision of affordable housing on greenfield sites

·       The Local Plan would link to Leicester’s Local Transport Plan and Transforming Cities Programme, to improve transport hubs and connections. The Plan would promote walking, cycling and sustainable transport.

Members of the Commission discussed the report, which included the following points:

·       An important factor was to meet the target set and to evidence that sites that were deliverable during the Plan period with and indication of when delivery might be achieved.

·       The next consultation stage tested the suitability for the Plan to be submitted to Government.

·       The Local Plan housing target had been informed by a range of factors including population growth, migration, and changes in housing markets, both locally and nationally. A new approach to setting housing targets was being developed by the Government.

·       The increase in planned dwellings in the Central Development Area had been assessed allowed for delivery with National Internal Space Standards.

·       Impact on green spaces would be minimised as much as possible and retained open spaces would be enhanced to mitigate any loss. Most of the Plan supply was planned to be delivered on brown field land..

·       The number of sites proposed on playing fields had been reduced to three sites at Manor House (Narborough Road), Judgemeadow Community College and Welford Road playing fields. Two of these would retain sports use on part of the site. Sport England had objected to a range of sites and the consultation response was an important factor in the assessment process.

• Decisions regarding the Council’s proposal to deliver the housing schemes on Council owned sites was a future matter for the Executive, and not set through allocation in the Local Plan. The Local Plan effectively established the acceptability of the principle of development, and subsequent decisions would be taken on the method of delivery, which would belong to the Council outside of the planning process. Future planning applications would be submitted to the Planning and Development Control Committee by whoever was developing the site after adoption of the Local Plan confirmed the acceptability of the proposed allocations. 
• With regard to issues such as heritage and archaeology at strategic sites such as Western Park Golf Course, it was confirmed that all proposed sites had been sifted through and investigated for suitability and deliverability.  Further detailed assessment and mitigation would need to be carried out at the planning application stage.
• Loss of open space such as at Rancliffe Crescent had been considered carefully in proposing sites for allocation including local sufficiency of provision and potential mitigation options on and off site.
• With regard to the allocation adjacent to the Great Central Railway at Redhill, it had been proposed to improve the facility in line with a previous Heritage Lottery Fund application. The whole of the allocation was not likely to be required as there were a range of constraints which would need to be considered in more detail when the scope of proposal was confirmed.

AGREED:

1.    That the Leicester Local Plan report be noted.

2.       That in taking decisions on the delivery of the allocations in the Local Plan (once it is confirmed), the executive seeks to maximise the social housing delivery on Council owned sites (wherever possible).

3.    That in regard to green spaces used for non-housing uses, (such as leisure) the green space impact should be minimised and mitigated and be fully justified.

4.    That new development should be designed to deliver a distinctive sense of place and character.

5.    That the recommendations be passed to the Overview Select Committee on Tuesday, 27 September 2022.