Agenda and minutes

To declare any personal / prejudicial interests for the purpose of Section 81(3) of the Local Government Act 2000 and paragraphs 8 to 13 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

  The following Members declared personal/prejudicial interests for the purpose of Section 81(3) of the Local Government Act 2000 and paragraphs 8 to 13 of the Members Code of Conduct

  Councillor Carter and Councillor Blackburn – declared personal interests in item 8 ‘Local Development Framework – Update and Progress Report ‘ through being members of the West Leeds Regeneration Board which had been consulted on proposals for the West Leeds Gateway AAP  (minute 22 refers)

  Councillor Harker – declared a personal interest in item 8 ‘Local Development Framework – Update and Progress Report’ through being a trustee of the Thackray Medical Museum which is sited on the edge of the EASEL AAP (minute 22 refers)

  Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Blake, Congreve and J Procter

To approve the minutes from the Development Plan Panel meeting held on 15^th August 2006

(minutes attached)

  RESOLVED – That the minutes of the last Development Plan Panel meeting held on 15^th August 2006 be approved as a correct record

To consider the draft Annual Monitoring Report for 2006

(report attached)

  The Panel received a first draft of the Local Development Framework (LDF) Annual Monitoring Report

  Officers advised Members that work was still ongoing to obtain the information which was not available when the report was prepared, and that further discussion was being undertaken with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to clarify the indicators the LDF will be monitored against

  RESOLVED –

(i)  To note the contents of the draft AMR for 2006

(ii)  That a further draft report would be presented to the next

meeting

To consider a report by the Director of Development providing a brief overview of the stages which have been reached in the preparation of the documents which will comprise the Local Development Framework (LDF)

(report attached)

  The Director of Development submitted a report setting out the current position and next steps on various documents which would comprise the Leeds LDF

  Additional information comprising leaflets advertising consultation events for West Leeds Gateway AAP, a summary and comments from the informal, Regulation 25 consultation on the EASEL AAP and information relating to the 9 tests which will comprise the Test of Soundness against which Development Plan Documents (DPDs) will be measured, were circulated at the meeting

  Officers spoke to the report and provided the following information:

  Statement of Community Involvement (SCI)

  This was currently with the Planning Inspectorate, with the Inspector’s report anticipated in December 2006.  Once the SCI had been approved it would need to be adopted through the Council’s processes and would become the route map for how consultation on planning issues would be conducted

  City Centre AAP

  Following Regulation 25 consultation, the responses received have been considered with officers now working on a set of Preferred Options, focussing on the following key areas:

  Open Space – with work on mapping the existing green areas in the city centre being undertaken together with aspirations for new spaces including pedestrian and cycle routes being considered, including how these would link with other developments

  Proposal areas, ie areas which have the potential to be significantly redeveloped over the next 10-15 years – with discussions being undertaken with major landowners, ie the LGI and the Universities on their aspirations

  Transport – with internal meetings being held to develop an innovative transport strategy

  Members were advised of a proposal from Metro to extend the loop road south of the city centre.  Whilst this was considered a radical suggestion and had implications for bus routes and car parking, it could lead to greater pedestrian areas, for example around Leeds Parish Church and City Square

  Whilst further public consultation would be carried out in Spring 2007, officers requested an informal session with Panel Members to discuss the Preferred Options at an early stage ahead of a formal report to Development Plan Panel

  Concerning the informal consultation which had been carried out, officers advised that whilst there had not been a huge response, the comments made represented a good balance of different interests with comments from both the community and statutory bodies

  EASEL AAP

  Details of the Regulation 25 consultation process were provided.  Officers stated that the response had been positive and that through working with Yorkshire Planning Aid, areas of the community which were usually hard to reach had been engaged, although work was still needed to target younger people and Asian men.  A range of events held at different times through the day had proved successful as had a system to obtain immediate feedback on proposals

  Further work would be undertaken on baseline information and a draft set of Preferred Options would be drawn up with consultation on these being anticipated in February/March 2007

  Officers were reminded of the need for this work to be advanced quickly to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

  Further to minute 11 of the meeting held on 18^th July 2007. where approval was sought to establish an LDF Consultation Advisory Group, with the Chair being a member of the Development Plan Panel, Members were asked to confirm the nomination made at that meeting

  RESOLVED – That Councillor Cleasby be nominated as Chair of the LDF Consultation Advisory Group

Tuesday 5^th December 2006 at 1.30pm in the Civic Hall

  Tuesday 5^th December 2006 at 1.30pm in the Civic Hall