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 12 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

No interests were declared

  No apologies were received

To approve the minutes of the Development Plan Panel meeting held on 9^th November 2010

(minutes attached)

RESOLVED-  That the minutes of the Development Plan Panel meeting held on 9^th November 2010 be approved.

  The Chair referred to a recent successful High Court challenge to the Secretary of State’s revocation of the Regional Spatial Strategy and that this decision would not be appealed, although the Secretary of State had announced it was his intention to introduce legislation which would abolish the RSS.   Whilst this intention was also subject to a legal challenge, the fact remained that currently the RSS remained in place, together with the targets it contained

To consider a report of the Director of City Development setting out the LDF Annual Monitoring Report for 2010 and providing information on areas where monitoring work continues to be established and areas of further work where the LDF evidence base is to be developed

(report attached)

  Members considered a report of the Director of City Development setting out the Annual Monitoring report (AMR) for 2010 and seeking Panel’s agreement to refer the report to Executive Board for approval prior to its submission to the Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government

  The Head of Forward Planning and Implementation presented the report and informed Members that the AMR was a statutory requirement as part of the Local Development Framework and covered the period 1^st April 2009 to 31^st March 2010.  He also referred to the situation regarding the RSS and the forthcoming Localism Bill which was seeking to introduce changes to the planning system.  However, it was understood that the LDF would remain in place and provide the spatial planning framework for the use of land in the city and be a key mechanism to deliver the spatial objectives of the Community Strategy (Vision for Leeds)

  Officers outlined the main points of the AMR, which included:

·  the progress on key milestones

·  the work undertaken on AAPs; the withdrawal of the City Centre and EASEL AAPs and the conversion of the West Leeds Gateway AAP to a SPD (now adopted)

·  the current position on the Natural Resources and Waste DPD, following consideration by Development Plan Panel and Executive Board, this was to be subject to public consultation for 8 weeks from 15^th December 2010

·  SPDs, including the adoption of the Street Design Guide SPD; the Tall Buildings SPD and the on-going production of the Sustainable Design and Construction SPD

·  evidence based work, including the SHLAA which was approved in February 2010 and on-going studies in respect of retail and town centres and updates to the 2006 Employment Land Review and 2007 Leeds Strategic Housing Market Assessment

Housing

·  that the number of completions had decreased and were likely to remain low for some time, with less than 1000 units completed to September 2010

·  that the projected net completions for 2010/11 was 1955

·  that whilst there were many planning approvals, large numbers of these had not started or completed

·  that 93% brownfield development had been delivered in 2009/2010 and 94% between 2004-2010

·  that figures from the Leeds Settlement Hierarchy showed that major and small settlements were sustaining development although the main urban area of Leeds had seen a decrease in the housing market

Employment land

·  that development levels of the employment sector mirrored that of housing land, with completions in employment floorspace being the lowest since AMR reporting commenced in 2003

·  that the boom which had generated a large number of office schemes had dried up and that now much of employment development was on industrial sites

·  that the Aire Valley continued to provide a stream of employment developments, with this expected to rise in the future

·  to note a minor typing error in table 22, which should read 31-Mar-2010 and not 2009

·  that a critical examination of employment land indicated that approximately 100 ha did not meet the grade required in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Tuesday 4^th January 2011 at 1.30pm

  It was agreed that the meeting scheduled in January would be cancelled but that the next meeting would take place on Tuesday 1^st February 2011 at 1.30pm in the Civic Hall, Leeds