Agenda and minutes

Councillor Congreve welcomed all present, particularly the members of the public in attendance. The Chair clarified that this meeting was not part of the formal consultation process and representations would not be invited at this point, the Panels’ role today was to make recommendations to the Executive Board on the Site Allocations Plan. Executive Board would make the decision to release the documents for formal public consultation in the autumn – at which point public representations would be welcome. Finally, Councillor Congreve indicated his intention to revise the agenda in order to deal with a late item of business first on the agenda “Site Allocations Plan Leeds Bradford International Airport – employment proposals”.

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting)

There were no appeals against the refusal of inspection of documents

No exempt information was contained within the agenda

The Chair accepted one late item of business onto the agenda relating to Leeds Bradford International Airport employment proposals, as the matter was urgent and could not wait to be considered at the next meeting scheduled for 14^th July 2015, it required consideration at this meeting (minute 13 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 were received from Councillor C Gruen. Councillor P Gruen attended the meeting as her substitute.

To approve the minutes of the Development Plan Panel meetings held on 19^th May 2015 and 20^th May 2015

(minutes attached)

The minutes of the previous meetings held 19^th and 20^th May 2015 were submitted for approval. One Member sought clarification on the size of the employment element of the Headley Hall site (Minute 43, SAP Strategic Housing and Employment Issues (Outer North East) 20^th May 2015). Discussion followed where the employment element was confirmed as being 7Ha.

RESOLVED -  That the minutes of the Development Plan Panel meetings held on 19^th and 20^th May 2015 respectively be approved

Further to discussions held at the Development Plan Panel meeting on 16^th June 2015, regarding the Site Allocation Plan proposals for employment, retails and greenspace, to consider a report of the Chief Planning Officer providing additional information relating to of the employment land proposals at Leeds Bradford International Airport

(report attached)

Further to minute 4 of the Development Plan Panel meeting held 16^th June 2015, the Panel accepted the report of the Chief Planning Officer on Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA) employment proposals as a late item of business.

The report provided the requested further explanation and background information on the proposals to remove land from the Green Belt and allocate it for General Employment Use at LBIA. The matter required consideration at this meeting, as deferring it to the next scheduled meeting in July would be too late for the proposals to be included within the SAP report to be presented to Executive Board on 15^th July 2015.

The following documents were included within the report for consideration:

·  Report of DTZ study in relation to potential benefits of providing a commercial hub at LBIA (commissioned by LBIA)

·  Emerging Airport Access Masterplan (for LBIA)

·  A Surface Access Strategy prepared by Fore Consulting Ltd (for LBIA)

·  Assessment of Employment Needs for North West Leeds from BE Group (from Leeds City Council)

·  Route to 2030 A Strategic Development Plan (from LBIA)

The final two documents being despatched as supplementary documents in support of the late item.

The Chief Planning Officer highlighted the key points for consideration in support of the proposal to allocate land out of the Green Belt for employment uses and the request to support development of a Supplementary Planning Document as a basis to provide a detailed planning framework to help progress the airport master plan; in reflecting:

-  The contents of the DTZ report, particularly the projected increase in passengers from 3.3m to 7.1m by 2030, the  demands on the airport in terms of core operations, non-operational and supply chain; and the need for a commercial hub

-  The requirements for local growth identified in the BE report

-  The contents of the surface access strategy showing the short term expansion plans and the long term plans for a new road link to Gateway 1

-  The LBIA Masterplan document showing operational requirements and proposed air innovation park

The Director of City Development and the Chief Economic Development Officer presented information setting the growth of LBIA in the context of the wider Leeds City Region and providing comparable information with other city airports.

Emphasis was given to the 2013 DfT study which identified the potential growth of LBIA to 9.2m passengers and the need to support and facilitate growth through coherent planning, transport and economic policies. Members were directed to the March 2014 Council White Paper which recognised the wide reaching benefits of LBIA and supported Leeds City Region infrastructure improvements. That approach was subsequently approved by Executive Board in October 2014.

Details were provided on the authority’s consideration undertaken in respect of the economic case for the allocation of employment land, including:

·  Evidence gathered from business and data that shows a strong demand for modern manufacturing space in north west Leeds

·  The lack of options in terms of large sites for development in north west Leeds  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To consider a report of the Chief Planning Officer on the proposed Site Allocations Publication Draft Plan

(report and appendices attached)

Development Plan Panel (DPP) considered a report by the Chief Planning Officer on the Publication Draft of the Site Allocations Plan.

On 11^th February 2015, the Executive Board agreed the proposed site allocations for the Site Allocations Plan (SAP) and the Aire Valley Leeds Area Action Plan (AVLAAP) as a basis to prepare draft Publications Plans. The report now before DPP presented the Housing section of the SAP Publication Draft Plan, including site phasing (and safeguarded land); sites suitable for Independent Living; sites for Gypsies Travellers and Travelling Show people, consistent with the overall requirements of the Core Strategy and the scope of the Plan.

The report identified the changes made to the SAP since consideration of the proposed allocations at Executive Board on 11th February. These were as a consequence of further technical work; additional information being received; and updates to information on sites with planning permission.

Attached to the report were the following documents:

• the full Publication Draft Plan (including sections on Retail, Employment (with the exception of land at LBIA, which was considered just prior to this report) and Green space. These documents were, previously discussed at Development Plan Panel on 16th June and were included for information in order for Members to see the Housing proposals within the wider context of the Plan
• the draft Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of Policies and site assessments,
• accompanying relevant Plans. 

The Sustainability Appraisal was also attached to the report.

It was noted that, due to timescales involved, the report did not include all changes to the sites discussed at the meeting held on 16th June. Any changes agreed by DPP on 16^th June and at this meeting would be included in the report to be presented to the July Executive Board for consideration.

In presenting the report; Mr D Feeney, Head of Planning Policy (Forward Planning and Implementation) clarified that further technical work had been undertaken in respect of a number of late site submissions reported to Executive Board in February. These sites had undergone technical assessments and were considered to be unsuitable.

L Pickering, Forward Planning & Sustainable Development Team, provided a summary of the key areas set out in the covering report.

Phasing - In respect of the phasing of individual sites, the schedule at Table 1 of the report listed those sites where the proposed phase had been amended – taking into account highway infrastructure, the spread of an individual settlement across the three phases or its ability to be developed at any time. Two sites contained in Table 1, namely HG 2-49 land off Weetwood Lane, Headingley and 2-167 land off Old Thorpe Lane, Tingley had been included in error and therefore it was proposed that they remained in phase 2 and phase 3 respectively. 

School Use – Two sites (HG5-1 and HG5-7) which lay within Green Belt were proposed

Safeguarded land – Extensions had been made to the sites at HG3-1 (Ings Lane, Guiseley) and HG3-2 (Land east of Park Mills, Rawdon), to ensure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Tuesday 14^th July 2015 at 1.30pm in the Civic Hall, Leeds

RESOLVED – To note the date and time of the next meeting as Tuesday 14^th July 2015 at 1.30 pm