Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of City Development which sets out the conclusions of an audit of Supplementary Planning Guidance and related documents of all types and to provide an update of the intentions to revoke and withdraw guidance, where this is out of date.

(Report attached)

The report of the Director of City Development set out the conclusions of an audit of Supplementary Planning Guidance and related documents. The report noted that the Chief Planning Officer had delegated authority to allow withdrawal of such planning guidance, but the results of the audit were presented for comment prior to making changes.

The Planning Strategy Team Leader presented the report and informed Members of the intentions to revoke and withdraw guidance, where this is out of date.

(Cllr F Venner vacated the meeting at this point)

The Panel discussed the following key issues with Officers:

Withdrawal of SPG23 – Telecommunications Equipment - Officers confirmed the guidance as it stands, is out of date and a review can assess whether it needs to be revoked or updated. In responding to a query relating to 5G, Members heard that installation in lampposts will be less intrusive, smaller and undertaken under permitted development rights.

Changes to SPG4 – Green Space relating to new housing development (July 1998) - Officers confirmed that guidance on the unitary development plan for the greenspace policy was superseded in 2014 by the Core Strategy and is now out of date. The guidance is used primarily to calculate commuted sums and this will be included in the CSSR upon adoption.

Public Transport Improvements and Developer Contributions 2008 – A Member suggested that developers who do not provide car parking in the city should provide investment in public transport. Officers explained this requirement is being incorporated into the Transport SPD. A concern was also expressed that the new national regulations on CIL impacted on the ability to collect contributions towards something singularly; further work is expected to be done on the Transport SPD.

Village Design Statement and Neighbourhood Plans are taken into consideration alongside one another. Officers confirmed that if there was a conflict, Neighbourhood Plans would take precedent over the Village Design Statement.

City centre public realm contributions – A Member referenced European practise of a hotel/bed tax levy on visitors as a means to support the council/Business Improvement District (BID) expense for city centre cleansing. Following clarification that adoption of City Centre public realm contributions was not being pursued, the Panel agreed they were comfortable with this being removed.

Single place guide of contributions – The Panel noted a suggestion to create and publish a summary document of the contributions requested by the Council and those received.

(Cllr A Carter vacated the meeting at this point)

In response to a suggestion to create an overarching SPD to be relied upon in discussion with developers, the Chief Planning Officer cautioned against this as it may be seen to diminish the weight afforded to some documents, specifically in respect of the Transport SPD.

Student Housing – Officers proposed to review council tax data for Headingley and Hyde Park over a 5-10 year period to analyse the changing demographic of those areas in terms of student/family housing. Additionally, the Chief Planning Officer raised an issue relating to student housing developments and the strict requirements of current policies. A suggestion to revisit the policy in order to consider the definition of ‘student’ and allow occupation flexibility for short-term/part-time students was noted.

RESOLVED-

a)  To note the contents of the report and comments made during discussions.

b)  To note the Chief Planning Officers actions arising in the minutes.