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Issue - meetings
Appeals List - 30.05.19
Meeting: 30/05/2019 - Planning Committee (Item 21)
Minutes:
The Committee considered the report of the Head of Planning and Development setting out details of appeal decisions received since the last meeting. The Committee discussed both recent cases and appeal trends in general. Members were concerned that despite the Council having a relatively permissive Local Plan and being able to demonstrate a positive approach to housing delivery, in the cases where it did resist development, Inspectors appeared to be not affording sufficient weight to the Plan and to matters such as design quality.
The Major Projects Manager said that without assessing decisions in more detail and over a period of time, it was difficult to assess particular trends and provide advice, but the Officers would undertake a review and provide a digest. There were clear spikes influencing the statistics such as Gypsy and Traveller (G&T) appeals and in these cases non-Local Plan factors such as Equality Act considerations were potentially undermining planning policy. The outcome of the review could inform representations to Government and the LGA etc.
Members considered that the absence of public/affordable G&T sites might also be a factor in appeal decisions. It was acknowledged that the issue of G&T appeals was complex and it was suggested that a Working Group be set up to assess G&T appeals linked into the Local Plan review in terms of the effectiveness of existing policy and the evidence base.
RESOLVED: That the Development Manager be requested to (a) report back to a future meeting of the Committee on the establishment of a Working Group to assess G&T appeals linked into the Local Plan review in terms of the effectiveness of existing policy and the evidence base, and (b) provide a separate, more generic report on S78 appeals.
Note: Councillor Parfitt-Reid left the meeting during consideration of this item.