Agenda and minutes

  The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, particularly Tim Hill, the new Chief Planning Officer and asked Members and Officers to introduce themselves for the benefit of the public in attendance

  There were no formal late items, however the Panel was in receipt of supplementary information which had been published and circulated prior to the meeting.  Members also received an addendum in respect of the employment sites which set out minor corrections to a number of comments within the papers before Panel (minute 22 refers)

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct

  There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests

  Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Mitchell who was substituted for by Councillor Towler

To consider a report of the Chief Planning Officer seeking Panel’s consideration and agreement of the site allocations set out in the submitted documents as a basis to prepare a Publication Draft Site Allocations Plan for formal consultation later in 2015

(report attached)

  The Panel considered a report of the Chief Planning Officer seeking consideration and agreement of the site allocations in respect of employment, green space and retail uses as a basis to prepare a Publication Draft Site Allocations Plan for formal consultation in 2015

  The Head of Forward Planning and Implementation introduced the report and set out the context of the proposals in relation to the Core Strategy which had been adopted in November 2014.  He stressed that at this stage, the proposals for site allocations would not form a plan but were the next step to preparing a draft plan which would then go out for public consultation, following consideration by the Council’s Executive Board

  The Panel firstly considered the proposals for employment site allocations, including those in the Aire Valley.  Large scale plans were provided and graphics and photographs of particular sites were displayed

  Members were informed of the level of employment sites with planning permission and the level of proposed allocations including mixed use, which would exceed the targets set out in the Core Strategy.  However there was the possibility that some of these sites would be lost, through further detailed work and the need for housing land and that the 24 hectares of surplus sites for general employment, above the District wide target, was a relatively small margin

  The Panel discussed the proposed site allocations for employment use, with the main issues relating to:

·  Thorp Arch which was considered to be a suitable site for employment uses and was previously developed land but was being considered for housing use, if used for housing this would result in the potential for Green Belt land being needed elsewhere to provide employment sites

·  the need to consider carefully the impact of any proposals at the Thorp Arch site in view of its proximity to two village communities

·  that some brownfield sites allocated for employment use would be better allocated for housing use

·  the figure for employment within the Core Strategy and that a lesser figure would have resulted in a lower figure for housing delivery

·  that an oversupply of employment sites at this stage was better than under provision

·  Nepshaw Lane Gildersome, which remained as an employment site allocation; concerns about the numerous attempts to bring the site forward for development; the views of Ward Members and Gildersome Parish Council that housing use was preferred and the possibility of Development Plan Panel changing the allocation of the site.   The Executive Member, Neighbourhoods, Planning and Personnel suggested that the most appropriate way would be for Officers to consider this particular site further and provide more information to a future meeting

·  the need for a pragmatic approach to site allocation, particularly in view of some sites which had been allocated 20 years ago and had still not come forward for development

·  a lack of connectivity within City Development leading to sites being allocated for employment use and then applications being brought to Plans Panels for different uses and the need to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Tuesday 13^th January 2015 at 1.30pm

  Tuesday 13^th January 2015 at 1.30pm in the Civic Hall