1.        PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1     This is an informative report designed to update the Committee on arrangements made since the submission of the draft Local Plan to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 20 May 2016.

2.        INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.1     The Committee will be aware that the draft Local Plan was agreed for Publication and thereafter Submission at the meeting of Council on 25 January 2016. A successful ‘Publication’ consultation was held between 5 February and 18 March 2016 with nearly 600 individual comments made.

2.2     On 18 April 2016, this Committee considered a report summarising the key issues and approved a schedule of minor proposed changes to be submitted alongside the draft Local Plan and evidence base.

2.3     The draft Local Plan was duly submitted, as scheduled, early on the morning of 20 May 2016.

Programme Officer

2.4     Prior to submission of the draft Local Plan, officers sought expressions of interest and subsequently interviewed candidates for the position of Programme Officer from a list of suitably qualified persons provided by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS). After a successful selection process, Louise St. John Howe was appointed.

2.5     The role of the Programme Officer is to work on behalf of the Secretary of State’s Inspector, organising and managing the administrative and procedural matters of the Examination process. The Programme Officer is independent and whilst being employed by the Council, should have played no part in the production of the draft Local Plan to be examined.

2.6     Since her appointment, Mrs. St. John Howe has been working closely with the Local Plan Project Manager to collate information relating to respondents to the consultation, their comments and their wish to be present at the hearings. She has also been the main point of contact for the public in relation to the forthcoming Examination.

The Inspector

2.7     Shortly after the submission of the draft Local Plan, Mr. Robert Mellor BSC DIPTRP DIPDBE DMS MRICS MRTPI from the Planning Inspectorate was appointed by the Secretary of State. His task is to consider the soundness of the draft Local Plan, based on the criteria set out in paragraph 182 of the National Planning Policy Framework. Mr. Mellor has most recently been the appointed Inspector for the Eastbourne Employment Land Local Plan.

Examination Hearings

2.8     The Council has now been notified by the Inspector of his intended timetable for the Examination hearings and the topic areas that will be discussed at each session. The hearings schedule is included in Appendix 1 of this report. Thanks to the generous flexibility of Officers from other teams, Spatial Policy Officers have been able to secure the use of the Town Hall Chamber for all of the hearings, which provides a central, easily accessible venue which will be familiar to the majority of attendees.

2.9     Hearings are scheduled to commence on Tuesday 4 October at 10:00am and conclude on Thursday 1 December. There are fifteen scheduled hearing days with two additional full days and two additional half-days held as reserve dates.

2.10 The Inspector has given detailed consideration to the representations made during the Publication consultation in February and March 2016, as well as reviewing the evidence base, and has used these to produce a list of attendees for each session. Anyone the Inspector wishes to hear from will be contacted by the Programme Officer and invited to take part.

Publicity

2.11 To facilitate understanding of the processes by the public and to ensure that all interested parties are kept up-to-date, the Local Plan web pages on the Council’s website have been updated to reflect the forthcoming Examination, with dedicated pages for the Examination, the evidence, and other updates. The pages are kept under regular review by both the Programme Officer and the Local Plan Project Manager and updated with any information or correspondence between the Council and the Inspector.

2.12 In addition, information relating to the hearing sessions has been placed in a Public Notice in the Kent Messenger (print edition 5 August 2016) as well as in the Borough Update segment of the Downs Mail. All those on the Local Plan Consultee Database who have requested to be kept updated have also been notified by newsletter of the latest information.

Inspector’s Matters, Issues and Questions

3.        AVAILABLE OPTIONS

3.1     This report is intended as an update only and is not seeking any decision; as such, the only option proposed is to note the content of the report.

4.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1     As set out in 3.1, above, the Committee is recommended to note the contents of this report.

5.       NEXT STEPS

5.1     Officers will continue to liaise with the Programme Officer in regard to detailed planning of the hearing sessions and will work to address the Matters, Issues and Questions raised by the Inspector.

5.2     Officers are actively progressing discussions with a number of statutory consultees following their Publication representations with the aim of agreeing Statements of Common Ground in advance of the Examination hearings.

5.3     Further update reports relating to the draft Local Plan Examination are scheduled in the work programme for the Committee at its November 2016 and January 2017 meetings, at which time progress with the hearings and other relevant issues will be presented.

6.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

7.        REPORT APPENDICES

There are none

8.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

There are none.