Agenda item

Maidstone Borough Local Plan (2017): Adoption

Minutes:

The Strategic Planning Manager presented this item to the Committee and informed the Committee that a working spreadsheet had been created to list any factual and typographical errors found in the Local Plan, in order that these be amended before being presented to Council on 27 September 2017.

 

Councillors Mrs Gooch, Perry and Spooner addressed the Committee as Visiting Members on this item.

 

The Committee noted that the Maidstone Borough Local Plan (2017) had been considered sound by the examiner subject to six modifications which could be found in Paragraph 2.22 of the report.

 

It was noted that the Committee were particularly concerned with the following allocated sites in the Maidstone Borough Local Plan (2017):

 

  • Policy H1 (51) North of Henhurst Farm, Staplehurst; and

 

  • Policy EMP1 (4) Woodcut Farm, Ashford Road, Bearsted.

 

In response to a question, the Officer advised the Committee that at this stage there was no legal mechanism  to remove any allocated sites contained in the Maidstone Borough Local Plan (2017), only that the Plan could be recommended for adoption to Council or not.

 

The Committee enquired as to whether the Local Plan could be changed at all in the future and the Officer advised that the Local Plan Review would take place by April 2021 and this would present the Council with the option to amend policies in the Local Plan if desired, as long as it was in compliance with the National Planning Policy Framework.

 

RESOLVED To Recommend to Council:

 

That the Maidstone Borough Local Plan (2017) in Appendix VI, subject to minor factual and typographical corrections, which incorporated the Inspector’s Main Modifications, and the Policies Map at Appendix VII be adopted.

 

Voting: For – 6   Against – 2   Abstentions – 1

 

 

Supporting documents: