Planning Agents Forum Chy Trevail, Beacon Technology Park, Bodmin - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Planning Agents’ Forum

Chy Trevail, Beacon Technology Park, Bodmin 10 April 2019 David Edmondson Acting Head of Development Management

Structure of the morning

• Welcome – David Edmondson, Acting Head of Development Management
• Working differently! The area team approach
• Development Management update – Marshall Plummer, Strategic Manager
• Policy update – Hayley Jewels, Acting Head of Policy
• Changes to the Building Regulations – Peter Keam

Coffee break – Meet the Teams

• Non-mains drainage guidance – Robin Leivers, Environment Agency
• Drainage and development – Jackie Smith, Sustainable Drainage Lead Officer
• Question Time

Area Team Trial – two aspects:

• 1. Area Based Approach to Working

Small, multi-disciplinary team of development officers and support officers from:

• General Team
• Householder Team
• Admin and Support Team
• Enforcement Team
• Strategic Major Team

Dealing with all planning and enforcement related issues within the Liskeard and Looe and the Cornwall Gateway Community Network Areas

• 2. Process Review
• Development Management
• Enforcement

How can we reduce waste and make the processes more efficient?

Outputs – Area-based approach

• Improved knowledge of local area and

emotional connection

• Enhanced understanding of NDPs
• Opportunities to develop better

relationships (and subsequent trust) with Local Councils and Cornwall Councillors

• Reduced transport and motion waste
• Improved trust within the team – reducing

the need for double checking and double handling

• Breaking down the barriers that exist

between existing teams

Area Team Planning project - Aims

Quality Development Improve the quality of development Supportive Community Meet customer expectations Develop more positive relationships with Local Councils Positive Staff Increase job satisfaction Provide greater opportunities for learning Increased responsibility and empowerment Provide opportunities for promotion Reduce failure demand/unnecessary work

Area-based approach - benefits

• Improved communication – helping to develop positive working

relationships with stakeholders including Applicants, Agents, Local Councils, Divisional Members and Consultees.

• Enhanced case officer continuity – case officers can develop

knowledge and understanding of sites within their areas, which has the potential to improve the quality of decision making.

• Understanding of Neighbourhood Development Plans - case officers

will have the opportunity to develop understanding, whilst improving their knowledge of local issues, which should also improve the quality

• f decision making

Development Management process changes

• Change officer behaviour/priorities – Deal with it!
• Improved communication – Talk to people!
• Allocation of work pre-validation and introduction of front-screening
• Site notices
• No reports – simple approvals
• Self sign-off – simple approvals

Allocation of work, front-screening and posting site notices

• Work is allocated to the case officer prior to the registration and

validation of an application

• Case officer then front-screens the application to identify if the

proposed development is likely to receive officer support, if it would be contrary to the local development plan, or if there is fundamental information missing

• Front-screening can reduce the number of refusals and withdrawals,

providing Agents and Applicants with the option to improve submissions or potentially not proceed with a proposal that is unlikely to achieve a positive outcome.

• Site notices are sent to the applicant provided they live at the

application site. Asking the applicants to post site notices can help speed up the determination process.

Self sign-off and ‘no reports’

• Officers will be signing off their own cases where application is being

recommended for approval and where there are no objections

• Delegated reports are no longer being prepared for applications

where there are no objections – simple case notes are being prepared instead

• For other cases, simple reports tailored to the complexity of the case

will be used

• Reduced report writing for simple cases can free up officer time which

can then be put to other uses such as increased and more meaningful communication, negotiations to secure quality developments and speedier decision making.

Cornwall-wide Team

Meet the Team – Cornwall-wide

Our key aim : Improving the quality of development

Development Management update

Marshall Plummer Strategic Manager

April 2019

% delegated December 2018

Source: Table P134: District planning authorities1 - applications received, decided, granted and delegated and environmental statements received, by local planning authority

Planning Authority % Plymouth

98

South Hams

97

Torridge

97

Bournemouth

97

Torbay

97

Mendip

96

North Devon

96

South Somerset

96

UNITARY AUTHORITIES

96

CORNWALL

96

East Devon

95

Mid Devon

95

Teignbridge

95

West Devon

95

ENGLAND

94

Shire districts

94

North Somerset

94

Taunton Deane

92

Exeter

90

National parks

89

Sedgemoor

88

Dartmoor National Park

82

% Major and Minor granted to December 2018

Planning Authority % Exeter

94

Mid Devon

94

Plymouth

94

South Somerset

92

Sedgemoor

91

South Hams

90

East Devon

89

North Devon

88

Taunton Deane

88

CORNWALL

87

Torbay

87

National parks

85

Mendip

85

West Devon

84

UNITARY AUTHORITIES

84

Teignbridge

84

Shire districts

83

ENGLAND

83

Torridge

83

North Somerset

80

Dartmoor National Park

74

Bournemouth

71

Source: Table P131: District planning authorities1 - planning applications decided and granted, performance agreements and speed of decisions, by development type and local planning authority

% decisions granted to December 2018

Source: Table P134: District planning authorities1 - applications received, decided, granted and delegated and environmental statements received, by local planning authority

Planning Authority % Mid Devon

95

South Hams

94

South Somerset

94

Plymouth

93

Mendip

93

North Devon

93

Exeter

93

Sedgemoor

93

CORNWALL

92

East Devon

91

West Devon

91

Taunton Deane

91

Torridge

90

North Somerset

90

National parks

90

UNITARY AUTHORITIES

89

Shire districts

89

ENGLAND

88

Torbay

87

Dartmoor National Park

87

Teignbridge

86

Bournemouth

77

Appeal decisions

xxxxx

Development Management Update

 Submitting pre-apps  CIL validation requirements and issues  Clarification - definitions for ecology surveys/what report is needed  Fees for conversions to holiday lets  Extensions of Time

Planning Policy Update

Agents Forum 10 April 2019

Hayley Jewels, Acting Head of Planning Policy

Community Infrastructure Levy

 Introduced 1 January 2019  Submission of a CIL Additional Information Requirement Form is now a validation requirement for planning applications  From: development creating new floor space  Spent: where infrastructure needed to support development  15-25% going to Town & Parish Councils  Recommendation to Cabinet in May -after the local share, 5% administration share and share to areas with zero CIL charge, remainder of the strategic share to be allocated via a bidding system  Work is now proceeding on the processes for the bidding system.

Housing Supplementary Planning Document

 Overview and Scrutiny committee endorsed the document in March  Will be published for statutory 4 week consultation in April 2019  To Cabinet for adoption in July 2019  Aims to facilitate better quality planning applications for housing development  To speed up the determination of applications and any viability negotiations by providing clear guidance  Information on various affordable housing products  Design of affordable housing  Local need and cluster parish approach  Specialist Housing , including extra care housing  Promotes a positive approach to self and custom build housing  Increases the off-site contribution to £102,000 per dwelling - in line with cost of providing the AH unit

• n site

Planning for Built & Natural Environment Quality SPD

 Guidance being developed on creating good quality development, including green infrastructure (GI)  Will incorporate open spaces standards, sustainable urban drainage, accessibility and non-vehicular transport and design guide and a review of highways design guide  Internal stakeholder sessions largely complete  Engagement with developers and agents to commence May  Adoption as SPD – Summer 2019

Biodiversity Guide and Net Gain approach

 Existing biodiversity guide adopted 16 October 2018 – a material planning consideration  Document will be updated to include ‘net gain’ approach and will be amalgamated into built and natural environment design quality SPD  Mechanism being explored to implement a first phase of net gain requirement for major

• developments. Initially this is likely to require

submission of net gain calculations for such sites  There are ecological benefits in maintaining existing natural boundaries for example  We will be in contact with our DM officers and agents prior to the launch date to provide clarity on the calculation

 To replace the 2000 Tipping and Restoration Strategy (and inform 2014 ROMP application  Restoration & Tipping study completed following stakeholder workshop  Secondary Aggregates Tip Study to be produced by Council Officers in association with Imerys Minerals Limited  Restoration & Tipping SPD to be published for public consultation – summer 2019

St Austell China Clay Restoration and Tipping Strategy

Local Plan Review

• Monitoring against our Local Plan shows that we are delivering against its

main targets, therefore no need to immediately instigate immediate formal update through statutory process

• Need to take a different approach to thinking about future growth to

create positive narrative for Cornwall

• Looking at an alternative approach to setting a strategic direction across

whole directorate which could permit a more creative, positive and long term approach.

50_50 Strategy – a vision for the future

• Fundamentally this is about a dialogue to reach

a broader consensus of future growth

• 50_50 Strategy – a concept which would

encapsulate a plan to 2050 with a longer 50 year vision and framework for Council policy documents and frameworks across the Directorate to follow.

• Cornwall’s Environmental Growth Strategy runs

until 2065

• Shared understanding of future change –

climate change, changing demographics, technological advances, declining biodiversity etc

• Engagement with various stakeholders,

members and the community has commenced and will continue throughout the year, with a Strategy to be produced in Summer 2020. The formal update of the Local Plan and other policy documents will cascade from this in 2021/22

Housing Delivery

The Housing Delivery Test - an annual measurement by Government of how well authorities are delivering housing. Applies standard approach to measure the net additional dwellings provided against the homes required, using both national statistics and local authority data. Requires that at least 95% of the required housing for each area are delivered each year. Councils that fail to deliver against the test must to complete an Action Plan outlining how they propose to address the requirement. How is the HDT calculated? Whilst relatively simple, the calculations used in the test can be confusing. Briefly; the requirement calculation method relies on a blend of the following statistics for each area:  the Council’s housing requirement;  the mean affordability ratio for Cornwall; and  an average of 10 year household projections over the last 3 years  Cornwall passed the first test, delivering 133% against the number of homes required.  Reasonably confident that we will pass again in 2019

Neighbourhood Planning in Cornwall

• 117 area designations
• 37 NDPs submitted
• 28 examinations held and 5 NDPs currently at examination
• 26 made plans
• See the latest position at

www.cornwall.gov.uk/neighbourhoodplanning

Thank you / Meur ras

If you have any questions or comments localplan@cornwall.gov.uk

Coffee break – Meet the Teams