The day started with the Planning Inspector hearing final matters that she felt had not been commented on elsewhere during the public examination of the Core Strategy. Only one person, Cllr Anthony Powers (IOC) was permitted to speak on matters that the Inspector felt had not been discussed at earlier hearings. Cllr B Matthews (Independent) wanted to raise matters but was not permitted as the Inspector felt that these had already been discussed at earlier hearings and she did not want issues repeated at this late stage as she felt it would prejudice what had been said by others earlier in the debate.
The Planning Inspector then came onto Main Modifications, which need to be made to the Core Strategy Local Plan for it to be found sound. Apparently Herefordshire Council had sent over some “Main Modifications” but the Inspector had not yet had time to look at them all. It was explained that Main Modifications would be subject to Sustainability Appraisal (or Assessment). The Inspector warned Herefordshire Council that if they were in any doubt as to whether a modification was Minor or Main, then they were to err on the side of caution and include the modification in the list of Main Changes. Once the Inspector is happy with the Council’s rewording of the Main Modifications, these changes would then go out to a 6-7 week public consultation.
Before that happens, the Planning Inspector first wanted to see evidence of an updated 5 Year Housing Land Supply (5YHLS). This will perhaps need to take account of new housing figures from the DCLG which the meeting heard are due to be published on 27th February 2015. The 5YHLS is important (see our earlier reports) and whilst this is a background document the Inspector said the 5YHLS would be subject to its own consultation. This consultation would only be for those who spoke on Policy SS3 regarding 5 YHLS and the consultation would only last for 7 working days. The 5YHLS and the Council’s “trajectory” for the delivery of new houses were identified as different but related, with the housing trajectory appearing as an Appendix to the revised Core Strategy document.
Debate then followed about the actual timing of the release of new documents and evidence, in particular how the public could identify where all this new information was available and what the changes to the Local Plan were, that would go out to public consultation. The Inspector seemed to indicate that there would be a published timetable about the sequence of the various changes and the dates of the consultations. She also requested that the Main Modifications be clearly identified as a separate Appendix on the Herefordshire Council website so that new evidence and any changes would be clearly identifiable and could be tracked from the earlier documents.
CPRE representative asked whether the public consultation would be affected by the “Election Purdah” when public consultations are not normally permitted. The Planning officers didn’t think this would be a problem, though Cllr Powers pointed out that Neighbourhood Planning groups had been told that their plans could not be consulted on in the “purdah” period. Herefordshire Council have previously sent out the following guidance “To avoid any consultations taking place within the pre-election period they will need to either start before 18 February or after 7 May”. The Planning Inspector explained that this was a matter for Herefordshire Council as to when they ran a public consultation. The Inspectors report would not be available until after she had received all the public responses to the consultation on the Main Modifications to the Core Strategy. Waste and Minerals is being considered separately to the Core Strategy, as is the Community Infrastructure Levy.
To date the only modifications and new evidence the Planning Inspector has publicly requested are listed on this document
The Planning Officers explained that the wording of Main Modifications may require other updates to ensure that there is consistency throughout the final Plan document. Council planning officers explained that consultants GL Hearn are on standby to resolve the matter of the 5YHLS and the 600 homes p.a. delivery figures.
Here for Hereford will alert followers through our social media when we hear of any of the consultations mentioned above, or the publication of any timetables regarding delivery of the Core Strategy.
