Council and democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 & 3, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL

Contact: Wendy Le, Democratic Services Officer  Email: Direct.Democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

12.

Items of Urgent Business

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

13.

Declaration of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

14.

Thurrock Local Plan Issues and Options (Stage 2) pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report was presented by the Corporate Director which outlined changes within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and was summarised in paragraph 3.1. With this, an update on the consultation paper ‘Issues and Options 2 (IO2)’ was given in regards to the implications the new NPPF would have on Thurrock’s plan-making process.  Comments taken from the Member Ward Meetings were also included in the report which would help to shape the Local Development Plan (LDP).

 

Councillor Baker arrived 7.15pm.

 

Councillor Pothecary thanked the Corporate Director for the report and sought clarification on the narrative around the report regarding the motion back in July 2018 that seemed to be around affordable housing and not social or low cost housing. Councillor Pothecary went on to say people had different terms on affordable housing in the meaning that it was not actually affordable. Pointing out paragraph 3.17, she noticed 48% of new dwellings built were needed to be affordable but paragraph 3.22 showed that 35% was available.

 

Then referring to appendix 1, section 3’s title ‘Development plans must…seek to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs’, Councillor Pothecary went on to mention the problem in this. Going on assumptions based in the report, it would then not be possible to meet the ‘objectively assessed needs’ which was 48% but only 35% could be attained, she asked for the Officers’ thoughts on this.

 

The Corporate Director agreed that the motion in 3.16 was on low cost affordable housing rather than on just affordable. Mentioning of two points, he went on to say that the IO2 was filled with questions particularly regarding housing and would give people the opportunity to give their thoughts on what percentage of affordable low-cost housing Thurrock actually needed. This would become clearer once the IO2 went to consultation.

 

Continuing on, the Corporate Director said the second point linked back to the standard methodology used for the number of homes needed which would fluctuate as autumn came around with more changes to come. It would be difficult to pinpoint a number. The challenge was what the service could do to deliver low cost housing and there were different mechanisms. The LDP was one mechanism which had to work within the NPPF and another was through Thurrock Regeneration Limited (TRL). Council housing could be attained through TRL to address the issue of social renting. There were also Housing Revenue Account schemes and the proposed abolishment of the debt cap, would enable local authorities to borrow more to get social rent housing. Low cost affordable housing was a priority for Thurrock and the Council could also help in other ways.

 

In response, Councillor Pothecary commented that a shift in thinking imaginatively on the LDP could be felt and the question of how people wanted Thurrock to be should be asked as well as the issues faced. This shift was not reflected well in the presented report and Councillor Pothecary felt more detail could have been reported on the important issues that had progressed.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

Establishment of a Task Force in relation to the Local Development Plan pdf icon PDF 60 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Presented by the Democratic Services Officer, the report proposed the establishment of a working group for the LDP which had been voted on by Members in the Committee meeting from 4 July 2018. The group would be called the Local Development Plan Task Force.

 

The Vice-Chair supported the idea of the task force as he felt the Committee would gain a major workload over the next 5 years alongside other projects. By having the LDP Task Force, it would save the Committee some time to look at other plans. The Chair agreed and said he was satisfied with the terms of reference attached in appendix 1.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.1  That the Planning, Transport, Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee established a working group under the title of Local Development Plan Task Force.

 

1.2  That the Planning, Transport, Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee adopted the terms of reference (attached as appendix 1) for the LDP Task Force.