Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk setting out its list of Outstanding Actions.

A Member requested that the call for a special, informal meeting to discuss housing specifically be added to the list of outstanding actions. She also questioned whether the Sustainability SPD could feature here.

The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director reiterated that he would be liaising with his sustainability officers to provide a more targeted timeline around the production of the Sustainability SPD and agreed to include this information in the list of outstanding actions. With regard to the housing issue, he stated that whilst he was not opposed to this, he had some concerns as to singling out certain issues that would be discussed with the Local Plans Sub-Committee when they came to review the Plan as a whole. He stressed that he felt that this Sub-Committee was the most appropriate forum for this detailed discussion to take place. The Deputy Chairman agreed that this was how the matter should be progressed. It was underlined that those who were not members of the Sub Committee were still able to attend these meetings as observers.

Another Member commented that a wider, informal discussion on social housing would be of use in terms of ensuring that everyone was better informed and should include members of this Committee, the Community and Children’s Services Committee and the Housing Sub-Committee. This could then feed into the Local Plans Sub-Committee’s discussions on this particular point. She asked that Officers consider taking this forward.

Another Member focused on the Daylight/Sunlight – Alternative Guidelines action stating that there had been a proposal from a previous member of this Committee to take a unique approach on this and questioned progress on this. The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director reported that Officers were still waiting on a high-level professional consensus from the BRE, underlining that he felt that there was a vulnerability in the City taking a different approach which it could not sustain in an appeal. It was confirmed that draft guidelines were expected from the BRE in the near future and that City Officers were meeting frequently with them on this. The Member thanked the Chief Planning Officer for this update and stated that he also shared these concerns around this proposal.

A Member questioned the need for the dates listed against actions and noted that some had now been in progress for almost three years. Officers clarified that the progress of some of these actions were dependent on external parties/factors and others were dependent on quite onerous consultation processes and the infrequency on some other key Committees meeting to also consider proposals such as the Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area SPD.

RECEIVED.