Agenda and draft minutes

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.

There were no exempt items.

There were no late items.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

Members did not declare any interests at the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Finnigan and Councillor J Heselwood.

To receive and consider the attached minutes of the previous meeting held on the 30^th of January 2024.

RESOLVED- That the minutes of the Development Plan Panel meeting held on the 30^th of January 2024, be approved as an accurate record.

The report of the Chief Planning Officer provides Members of Development Plan Panel with an update on the ‘Local Plan Update – Your Neighbourhood, Your City, Your Planet’, following an interim update given in January 2024 after the close of consultation on Pre-Submission Changes on the 11th December 2023.  This plan has the objective of supporting the Council’s Best City Ambition Net Zero Pillar through a range of policies including around design, placemaking, flood risk, green and blue infrastructure, biodiversity and net zero carbon buildings.

The report of the Chief Planning Officer provided Members of Development Plan Panel with an update on the ‘Local Plan Update – Your Neighbourhood, Your City, Your Planet’, following an interim update given in January 2024 after the close of consultation on Pre-Submission Changes on the 11^th of December 2023. This plan had the objective of supporting the Council’s Best City Ambition Net Zero Pillar through a range of policies including around design, placemaking, flood risk, green and blue infrastructure, biodiversity and net zero carbon buildings.

The Group Manager for Policy and Plans presented the report, providing Members with the following information:

• As this was the first meeting of the new 2024/25 municipal year, and there were new Members appointed to the Panel, a summary was provided to outline the process for the development of the Local Plan Update (LPU1) and familiarize Members with the context and terminology.
• Members were presented with the documentation that comprised the existing local plan (Unitary Development Plan, Aire Valley Leeds Action Plan, Leeds Core Strategy, Site Allocation Plan and a Natural Resources and Waste Plan), then the plans that were in preparation, which aimed to streamline ease of access and understanding, through the future adoption of LPU1 and Leeds Local Plan 2040 (LLP2040).
• Policies set a vision for the future of development in Leeds, with a focus on brownfield land and Regeneration and key targets for housing and employment were to be reviewed as part of the updated policy suite.
• LPU1 had been devised in line with the Council’s climate emergency declaration of 2019 and associated requirements.
• Officers and the Panel had been working on the new policy suite to address five broad stands – carbon reduction, flood resilience, green and blue infrastructure, placemaking and sustainable infrastructure.
• The five topics had been outlined as part of the regulation 19 consultation and an overview of each was provided as;

o  Carbon reduction aimed for whole lifecycle carbon assessments, carbon neutral developments, ambitious sustainable construction standards, renewable energy generation, heat networks and energy storage.

o  Flood risk polices were to consider functional flood plains, breach modeling, climate impacts, safe routes of access and escape, drainage and making space for water.

o  Green and blue infrastructure set out plans for increased tree planting, enhanced environment protection, green space provision, increased bio-diversity through Bio-diversity Net Gain and local food production.

o  Placemaking emphasized increased quality of design, health impacts, resistance to drive thru takeaways, complete, compacted, connected places and sustainable travel options to local amenities.

o  Sustainable infrastructure included support for mass transit, new rail infrastructure, development of Leeds Train Station and it was noted that previous digital connectivity policies had been superseded by building regulations.

·  The Written Ministerial Statement of 2023 (WMS) was outlined to have impacted the implementation of LPU1, with the notion that new local plans were not to exceed building regulation standards.

·  The target emissions rate, set out in the WMS, was not the proposed energy efficiency model proposed for LPU1, which was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The report of the Chief Planning Officer provides a progress update for Leeds Local Plan 2040 (LLP2040). This will update planning policies relating to the overall strategy for development across Leeds up to 2040, including the amount, type and location of housing, economic, minerals and waste development needed; the approach to the City Centre and local centres; transport and connectivity; and set standards and criteria against which planning applications can be assessed. This paper provides a summary of the key themes and issues emerging from the consultation that was undertaken on the scope of this Plan in early 2023, and the evidence base that has since been and is still being developed to underpin the Plan. It outlines the intention to take an area-based approach as the starting point for planning for housing development that meets local needs in different parts of the District. It also outlines the approach to considering and assessing specific sites, and the next steps leading up to consultation on the ‘issues’ and ‘options’ for the Plan intended to take place in November 2024.

The report of the Chief Planning Officer provided a progress update for Leeds Local Plan 2040 (LLP2040). This will update planning policies relating to the overall strategy for development across Leeds up to 2040, including the amount, type and location of housing, employment, minerals and waste development needed; the approach to the City Centre and local centres; transport and connectivity; and set standards and criteria against which planning applications can be assessed. The report provided a summary of the key themes and issues emerging from the consultation that was undertaken on the scope of this Plan in early 2023, and the evidence base that had since been and was still being developed to underpin the Plan.

The Principal Planner from City Development, presented the report, providing Members with the following information:

• The plan making process was outlined as the framework for how development takes place and what is required in regard to material considerations. It was a multistage process, with a consultation conducted on the scope of the plan from February to March 2023. The next round of consultation was scheduled to consider the issues and options for the plans.
• LPU1 was focused on the climate emergency, whereas LLP2040 was a wider update of other policy areas.
• The initial consultation responses had focused on seven key topics; spatial strategy, housing, economic development, the role of city and local centres, minerals and waste, transport and connectivity and other policy areas.
• There had been over 4,500 visits to the consultation website and around 1,000 responses had been received, which was considered to be a good level of engagement.
• Alongside the initial consultation, a ‘call for sites’ exercise had been run, where interested parties were able to suggest sites for inclusion into the plan. 508 ‘call for sites’ responses had been submitted for consideration.
• A range of activities had been run across the city, particularly at high footfall areas, to raise awareness and engagement, which were considered to be effective, with LLP2040 being in its earlier stages.
• Headline consultation responses outlined that 87% of contributors thought it important to meet local needs for development, 63% were concerned about new developments within their locality and 75% outlined that there were more supportive of development on brownfield sites. Support for more affordable housing and opposition to considering changes to the green belt were common responses.
• General support for LLP2040 was noted, with a wide range of views expressed and the next round of consultation would allow comments on the previous iteration’s results.
• Five workshops had been held between January and March 2024 to assist in clarification for the development of evidence for consultation options and to outline the focus of the plans to engage with wider services and developing strategies for local needs, employment and transport.
• A strong evidence base was required for the development and justification of the plan, including a robust understanding of future population needs. Relevant studies were noted as the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA), Employment Land Needs Assessment, Urban Capacity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The report of the Chief Planning Officer details that the purpose of Authority Monitoring Reports (AMRs) is to report on the performance of specific planning policies, summarise progress on the Local Plan against milestones set out in the Local Development Scheme (LDS), and provide up-to-date information on the implementation of neighbourhood plans.

The report of the Chief Planning Officer detailed that the purpose of Authority Monitoring Reports (AMRs) was to report on the performance of specific planning policies, summarise progress on the Local Plan against milestones set out in the Local Development Scheme (LDS), and provided up-to date information on the implementation of neighbourhood plans.

The Team Leader from Policy and Plans, presented the report, providing Members with the following information:

·  The context and purpose of the report was to track the performance of policies, summarizing the progress of the Local Plan against the milestones set out in the LDS. The LDS was the timetable for monitoring plans and provided up to date information.

·  It was a legal requirement to publish the AMR annually, with the document going beyond required criteria to provide detailed information across a wide scope of topics.

·  Existing Local Plan documents, including the Core Strategy and monitoring framework set out indicators which reviewed the effectiveness of policies. Some specific policies, such as housing delivery, had set targets.

·  As the Local Plan was updated, the monitoring framework opened discussions to determine new, revised or deleted policies, which were to be detailed in future iterations of AMRs.

·  This version of the AMR covered progression over 2022/23, with the report noting a time lag between reporting and publication as a period of time was needed to collect and collate data. The report contained a mix of data collected by Council Departments, as well as other bodies, including Government carbon emissions data.

·  The AMR was a data heavy document but was useful for accessing information related to evidence bases for Local Plan development. The format had been revised from previous years in order to be more accessible and easier to navigate.

·  Performance indicators from year to year fluctuated as substantial developments may raise output figures, so it was useful to identify trends over five years to generate an understanding of general trends.

·  The AMR was divided into twelve sections; housing, transport and accessibility, minerals and waste, climate change, natural environment, environmental quality, built environment and infrastructure, population and health, centres and neighbourhoods, economy and historic environment.

·  The cover report provided highlighted performance targets against key indicators, including, housing growth, affordability, specialist housing, commercial developments, carbon emissions, renewable energy, air quality and public health.

·  The next steps following consideration by Panel was for the AMR to be approved by the Chief Planning Officer and published on the Council’s webpage.

Members discussed the following key matters:

·  Members requested the inclusion of data for the amount of housing planning permissions which had been granted against those that had been delivered to outline the productivity of internal decision makers versus development that had not come into fruition. This was to provide clarity for expectations of housing stock and to note that the Council was not holding back on provision.

·  The information for planning permissions against the number of houses which were then actually built was noted to be useful to present to Parliament to encourage legislation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as the 17^th of September 2024, at 1:30pm.

RESOLVED – To note the date and time of the next meeting as the 17^th of September 2024, at 1:30pm.