Agenda item

To approve the setting up of a Tewkesbury Borough Plan Working Group in line with the Terms of Reference attached at Appendix 1 to the report.  

1.      That the Tewkesbury Borough Plan Working Group be set up in line with the Terms of Reference attached at Appendix 1 to the report.  

2.      That the Working Group be made up of five Members and that membership of that Group comprise Councillors R D East, D T Foyle, R Furolo, Mrs M A Gore and Mrs P E Stokes.

97.1           The report of the Planning Policy Manager, circulated at Pages No. 184-188, asked the Executive Committee to approve the setting up of a Tewkesbury Borough Plan Working Group, in line with the Terms of Reference attached to the report at Appendix 1, and to nominate five Members to form that Working Group.

97.2           In introducing the report, the Head of Development Services explained that the Tewkesbury Borough Plan would form part of the statutory development plan for the Borough. It would sit underneath the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy and would help to deliver the growth set out in the Joint Core Strategy by providing local planning policy guidance that was specific to the Borough, as well as making smaller scale allocations for development. The Borough Plan had previously been through an initial scoping consultation and a Regulation 18 Draft Plan consultation and Officers were now working on the development of a Regulation 18 Preferred Options Plan consultation. In order to progress that work it was essential that Officers worked closely with Members to deliver the most appropriate and sustainable strategy for future growth and this was the reason that a small Working Group was felt to be appropriate. The Group would provide a focussed review of Plan development and inform the approach to be taken as the Plan moved forward. The Preferred Options Borough Plan would ultimately still be reported back to Council to seek approval for it to be published for public consultation.

97.3           The Chair expressed the view that this was an essential Working Group to ensure the Borough Plan received the same Member engagement as had been achieved for the Joint Core Strategy through the Council’s Planning Policy Reference Panel. He felt five Members would be the correct number and that it would be appropriate for one of those Members to be a non-Conservative group Member. He proposed, and it was seconded, that the membership be agreed as Councillors East, Foyle, Furolo, Gore and Stokes. Some Members questioned whether another Group was needed or whether the work could be undertaken by the already established Planning Policy Reference Panel. In response, the Chief Executive advised that the Planning Policy Reference Panel had a wider membership and a remit to consider the issues and delivery of the Joint Core Strategy. The Borough Plan also faced a number of wide ranging issues and was concerned with governance around planning at Member and officer levels so he felt a specific Working Group would be helpful in focussing on the Borough Plan in particular. It would need less of a Reference Group approach and more of a project driven approach.

97.4           There was a suggestion that nine Members, rather than five, on the Working Group may be more appropriate but others were of the view that the number of Members was of less concern than those that were nominated being proactive and passionate about the Borough Plan. One Member explained that the Planning Policy Reference Panel had primarily been set up as a link between the work done by officers and the Joint Core Strategy Member Steering Group as there had been a lot of confusion about the direction the Joint Core Strategy was taking. The Joint Core Strategy structure had been particularly difficult due to the nature of three different authorities working together and this was not the case for the Borough Plan which was being developed by Tewkesbury Borough for its own use; for this reason he felt the structure and composition proposed for the Borough Plan Working Group was absolutely the best way forward.

97.5           Upon being proposed and seconded, it was