The Chairman welcomed Members to the meeting, advised that the Council had agreed to change the name of the Panel to the ‘Local Plan Panel’, and reminded those present that the meeting was being recorded.

The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park. Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chairman has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

The Chairman outlined the emergency evacuation procedure.

To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 8 February 2018 (Minute Nos. 484 - 489) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 8 February 2018 (Minute Nos. 484 – 489) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

(c)          Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the room while that item is considered.

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

In response to a comment regarding the Housing Infrastructure Bid, Councillors Bowles and Gerry Lewin advised that they would be happy to declare a DNPI in respect of the item called ‘Looking Ahead’, if it was considered necessary.  Post meeting note: it is not necessary for DNPIs to be declared.

The Principal Planner introduced the report, and drew attention to the copy of the draft questionnaire that had been tabled at the meeting. He referred to the Panel meeting in February 2018 that had agreed for officers to prepare the draft documents attached to the agenda, and thanked Members who had taken the opportunity to make comments since that time.  He asked Members to consider if the right sort or questions were being asked, as the document was for a wide audience.  He also advised that a session would be arranged for Members of the Panel at a later date, to work through the questions in the document.  Members were also asked to let officers know if there were any questions in particular that should be focused on.

The Principal Planner clarified that the document was still in draft format and so it would be proofread and some of the photographs would be updated.  He envisaged that the consultation would start on 27 April 2018 and end on 8 June 2018.  He referred to the tabled questionnaire, explained that the purpose of it was to rate priorities, and said that the public would have an opportunity to respond to the full document or the questionnaire or both.   The consultation would be promoted via the Planning Policy mailing list (circa 3000 people), social media, parish councils, libraries and Council offices.

The Principal Planner advised of an amendment to the wording of the recommendation as it would not be necessary for the Chairman to agree the questionnaire, as it had been tabled at the meeting.  He also clarified that the recommendations from the meeting would be considered by the Cabinet Member for Planning as an individual delegated decision, as there was no scheduled Cabinet meeting until May 2018.

The Chairman invited Members to make comments, page by page.  The Chairman proposed, and the Vice-Chairman seconded, the updated recommendation.

A discussion ensued as to why it was proposed that the questionnaire would be anonymous, why there were two different documents to respond to, how the data would be analysed and presented to Members; and what the purpose of the consultation was, with the suggestion that decisions had already been made?

Following debate, it was agreed that the questionnaire would be updated to ask for the respondent’s name and address, and officers would look at including appropriate wording to meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations.  The Chairman refuted an allegation made that decisions had already been made.  The purpose of the consultation was explained.

An amendment was proposed by Councillor Mike Baldock as follows: “that the results from the questionnaire are present to Councillors in a tabulated format to show comments and the comments from the Council (i.e. in the normal format).”  This was seconded by Councillor Monique Bonney, who spoke in support of the amendment.

A discussion ensued on the amendment, during which the Head of Planning advised that Members would have access to all the consultation responses, however, officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 591.

At 9.40pm, the Chairman adjourned the meeting for five minutes.

The Principal Planner introduced the report, which asked the Panel to agree the ‘New Garden Communities’ Prospectus.  He explained the purpose of the prospectus was to invite submissions from landowners and developers, drew attention to key parts of the prospectus in particular regarding vision and standards, and outlined the 16 week consultation period as set out in the report.

Members discussed the report, and a Member made comments regarding the timing of the consultation, the length of the submission process and whether a site had already been decided on.  Another Member considered that the document was well-written and suggested an amendment to the wording at the bottom of page 54 of the agenda, to change ‘should not’ to ‘cannot’.

Another Member asked for financial implications of the consultation, and considered that the Council should prioritise on other work such as parking standards.

The Vice-Chairman proposed and Councillor Bowles seconded the recommendations in the report, saying that if the Council was forced to build more houses, he would rather look for one, two or three sites rather than affecting all wards.

Officers answered Members questions and the Head of Planning confirmed that pre-application discussions had taken place with Quinn Estates regarding a planning performance agreement which was an agreement available to all developers and would not prejudice the outcome of any planning application.  There was no such agreement in place regarding the KSP, but there was for Wises Lane, and he clarified that the funding in the agreement was for the estimated planning officer time on pre-application work and work arising from the determination of any future planning application.

In response to a question regarding the map that would be inserted into the document, the Principal Planner advised that it would be a map of Swale in the context of its surroundings, and would be Ordnance Survey based and similar to that used in economic development promotion material.  The Principal Planner also confirmed that links would be provided in the document to the ‘Looking Forward’ document and the report prepared by Peter Bretts, as referred to on pages 8 and 41 of the agenda.

The recommendations were put to the vote and agreed.  Councillors Mike Baldock and Monique Bonney asked that their vote against be recorded in the Minutes.

Recommended:

(1) That subject to the document being updated to reflect the feedback at the Local Plan Panel Meeting, the document ‘New Garden Communities’ Prospectus be published to invite submissions from parties interested in developing such communities in Swale.

(2) That the final version of the launch Prospectus be agreed by the Chairman.

(3) That the arrangements for the advertising and launch of the Prospectus and the opportunities to receive further updates upon close of the submission deadline be noted.

At 10pm Members agreed to the suspension of Standing Orders so that the meeting could complete its business.