Agenda item - Withdrawal of the Core Strategy to Update and Amend

Extract from the Cabinet Meeting held on the 14^th July (to be circulated), together with a report of the Strategic Director: Place (copy attached).

14.1               Councillor Kennedy introduced the report and expressed her thanks to the officers involved in preparing the report and the Core Strategy to date.  She noted that there had been significant changes in the circumstances since the Core strategy was first prepared and the Planning Inspector had recommended that it be withdrawn from the examination process to allow it to be amended and updated in light of the changes.   She also noted that various proposals in the Localism Bill directly impacted on the planning process and would need to be taken into account in an update Core Strategy document.  It was intended to bring a report back to the Cabinet in October and then onto the Council meeting and she hoped that the proposed cross-party working group would be able to develop ideas and feed into the report.  In this respect, she could not accept the proposed joint amendment from the Conservative and Labour & Co-Operative Groups.

14.2               Councillor G. Theobald moved the joint amendment on behalf of the Conservative and Labour & Co-Operative Groups and stated that he felt it was inappropriate to have voting rights on a cross-party working group.

14.3               Councillor Mitchell formally seconded the amendment and stated that whilst it made sense to review the Core Strategy; it was not necessary to have voting on the cross-party working group.  She welcomed the resurrection of the working group and felt that it would be able to put forward views which could be taken into account as the revised strategy was developed.  She also noted that the Planning Inspector had raised concern over the council’s over-reliance on windfall sites for development opportunities and hoped that the working group would take this into account.

14.4               Councillor C. Theobald suggested that the main reason for the withdrawal of the Core Strategy was the Localism Bill.  She welcomed the proposed legislation in respect of the planning process and the ability for local people to determine how their local areas were affected from a planning perspective.  She hoped that further details would be brought forward for Members in regard to how the system would operate and asked for a time table of events to be made available to all Members as soon as possible.

14.5               Councillor Randall stated that he welcomed the opportunity to take another look at the matter, especially as the new Administration held different objectives in regard to sustainability and neighbourhood decisions than the previous one.

14.6               Councillor Kennedy noted the comments and stated that she hoped the cross-party working group would prove to be worthwhile and questioned how the resources that would be required to meet the proposals in the Localism Bill would be found; given the Government’s current stance and level of targets its was setting.

14.7               The Mayor noted that a joint amendment had been moved and put it to the vote which was carried.

14.8               The Mayor then put the recommendations from the Cabinet meeting as amended to the vote which were carried.

14.9               RESOLVED:

(1)        That the Secretary of State’s direction to withdraw the submitted Brighton and Hove Core Strategy from the examination process be sought for the reasons set out in Part 3 of the report; and

(2)        That the Cabinet be recommended to delete paragraph 4 of the Terms of reference of the Cross Party Working Group set out in Appendix 2 to the report.