Resolved:  That all items on the agenda be web-cast.

No apologies were received.

There were no substitute members.

It was noted that Cllr Lusty and Cllr English were visiting Members and both wished to speak on agenda item 43, ‘Call-In: Core Strategy Housing Target Distribution of Development.

There were no disclosures of interest of whipping Cllr Paine disclosed that he had been lobbied in relation to Agenda Item 8, Call-in: Core Strategy Housing Targets and Distribution of Development.

Resolved:  That all items be taken in public as proposed.

The minutes of the meeting dated 27 July 2010 were agreed subject to an amendment of minute 20, paragraph 3 where toll should be replaced with tow. 

Resolved:  That subject to the amendment of minute 20, paragraph 3 to replace “toll path” with “tow path”, the minutes of the meeting held on 27 July 2010 be agreed as a correct record and duly signed by the Chairman.

Interview with:

·  The Leader of the Council, Councillor Chris Garland;

·  The Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Councillor Malcolm Greer; and

·  The Chief Executive, Alison Broom.

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Mrs Fran Wilson and Councillor Tony Harwood to the meeting and invited them to set out the reasons for the call-in. Councillor Harwood stated that through the Local Development Framework the Council had the opportunity to influence the growth of the borough. He thought that the report could have been better written, that it was too weighted and that it should consider the localism agenda. He stressed the need to plan for local sustainable developments with solid infrastructure and that it was not necessary to test everything.

Councillor Mrs Wilson agreed with Councillor Harwood’s comments. She queried the size of a Strategic Development Area (SDA), stating that she had received conflicting figures, one of 2,500 and one of 5,000, and questioned that if this was the case the 8,200 figure put forward for testing would be too small to support an SDA and therefore there would be no validity in testing the 8,200 option at all. Councillor Mrs Wilson stated that the Council was open to scrutiny and that any option tested should have evidence to support testing. She commented that the 11,000 figures set out for testing within the report did not have this evidence in place. Councillor Wilson also commented that the administration need to be clear if they wanted an SDA or not.

The Chair invited Councillor Chris Garland, Leader of the Council to respond. Councillor Garland stated that he agreed with some of the points made by Councillors Harwood and Wilson, however, although the case for a SDA had been weakened it was still too early to rule out the possibility entirely. He made it clear that the report would not be withdrawn but would be superseded, that meaningful data was being sought and that detailed testing would be carried out on all options.

Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Councillor Malcolm Greer informed the Committee that he agreed that it would be wrong not to test all the options so that sound decisions could be made. Alison Broom Chief Executive of the Council stated that the report was already in the public arena but that there would be a further report going forward in the process which would be going through this committee. Mrs Broom acknowledged the weaknesses in the original report however; the Committee noted that the associated risk was low.  Mrs Broom advised the Committee that no direction had been received from the Cabinet on a preferred option and the analysis being undertaken would be objective.

The Chairman invited visiting Members to present their concerns to the Committee. Councillor Clive English stated the need for sound evidence and concern about greenfield sites stating that it was easier and cheaper to develop greenfield sites than others. Councillor Richard Lusty expressed the importance of Officers and Members working together, he suggested this could be achieved through the Local Development Document Advisory Group (LDDAG), playing a greater role in the development of the Core Strategy. In response Mrs Broom suggested that LDDAG be requested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

6.30pm to 8.55pm.