The Local Plans Manager provided the presentation on the Local Plan Update.

The Local Plans Manager confirmed that the existing local plan is 7 years old and she explained why it needed to be updated. The Local Plans Manager confirmed they will be completing some informal roadshow events in communities over the summer to capture what peoples’ priorities are in specific areas especially post-pandemic.

The Local Plans Manager confirmed that there are currently around 230 sites that have been shortlisted for a more detailed assessment.

Councillor Redsell requested if she could be provided with a list of the 230 sites shortlisted.

The Local Plans Manager confirmed they are very similar to the 2017 sites identified in the Housing Land Availability Assessment on the website but she will also try and get a list from David Lock Associates.

Councillor Redsell thanked the Local Plans Manager for the presentation and commented that she had a great knowledge of Thurrock.

Councillor Redsell queried if the infrastructure levy will go back into the ward where the houses are built.

The Local Plans Manager responded that they are still waiting for a lot more information on the infrastructure levy and how it is going to work in practice. The assumption is that it would fund infrastructure at all scales however the difficulty is there will only ever be so much money in the pot and the infrastructure development plan will be key in identifying priorities if there isn’t enough money in the pot.

Councillor Redsell commented that we are not very good in this country at putting infrastructure in first before developments. Councillor Redsell commented that lorry parks for example should be included in the local plan as we only have one and it was estimated 10 years ago that 4 were needed and people are complaining about lorries parked up in the area.

The Local Plan Manager agreed that infrastructure wasn’t just limited to residential areas but that there are also infrastructure impacts associated with economic growth too.

Councillor Redsell also queried if members can attend some of the meetings with the community.

The Local Plans Manager agreed this would be possible and she would also be providing feedback from the groups to members if they cannot attend.

Councillor Arnold commented that effectively we are going to have to build a lot of houses or the Government is going to force us to. He would like to see the right sites come available at the right time and with the right infrastructure in place.

The Local Plans Manager agreed that if we don’t plan to meet our needs then someone else will and that could be through Government intervention. If we don’t have an up-to-date plan in place we could get into a planning by appeal type situation. She explained that she would advocate for the Council taking control of the process and the local plan needs to respond to the challenges we are facing. The Local Plans Manager clarified that the plan isn’t going to happen overnight and that they are looking at a plan for the next 15 -20 years.

Councillor Arnold stated that he enjoyed the presentation and commented that they needed to be thinking about the future generation and not actually what they believe is right now.

Councillor Redsell highlighted that there is also a large elderly population that need to be considered and their housing needs and bungalows need to be built.

Councillor Watson queried what the final local plan will look like, will it be borough wide or will it be broken down into wards.

The Local Plans Manager responded that the local plan would at a borough wide level have a key diagram that would show where the growth hotspots are going to be and then they would probably break that down into spatial planning areas or settlements and there would be a concept plan which would cover more detail.

The Local Plans Manager confirmed that we are a plan led system in the UK which means that plans have to be determined by policy. When a planning application comes in the Committee have to make a decision based on the policies that are in front of them and we are re-writing those policies at the moment so it’s important that people engage with them at this point.

Councillor Watson queried that if we are going to start building on undeveloped land such as greenfield sites this is going to fly in the face of the green and blue infrastructure policy.

The Local Plans Manager confirmed that it is really important that we have a strategy that sets out why we have got these spaces and why these spaces should be safeguarded and not built upon, but we have to realise in safeguarding them we need to look at other sites outside of the urban area. Being a green belt authority does give us some opportunity to be selective and it gives us some leverage over new developments to say if this site is going to be released we need these additional things to mitigate the harm.

Councillor Watson queried how the Community Panel will be chosen.

The Local Plans Manager stated that an expression of interest form will be put online and when it is live the community builders who work for Thurrock CVS will send it out to people they know. Applicants will be asked why they think they would be a good member on the panel and there will also be demographic questions to try and obtain a demographically representative panel.