Agenda item

The report of the Chief Planning Officer seeks Members views on the Adoption Draft Transport Supplementary Planning Document (SPD); prior to the Chief Planning Officer carrying out a period of consultation on it.  The Transport SPD replaces four existing transport related SPD’s (the Street Design Guide, Travel Plans, Parking and Public Transport and Developer Contributions).  These will be revoked once the Transport SPD is adopted.

(Report and Appendices attached)

The report of the Chief Planning Officer seeks Members views on the Adoption Draft Transport Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), prior to the Chief Planning Officer carrying out a period of consultation. The Transport SPD replaces four existing transport related SPD’s: the Street Design Guide, Travel Plans, Parking and Public Transport and Developer Contributions. It was noted that these will be revoked once the Transport SPD is adopted.

Appended to the report included the Consultation Report at Appendix 1 and the Transport SPD at Appendix 2.

The report and Statement of Consultation focusses on comments received, rather than re-visiting the entire document.

The Transport Development Services Manager introduced the report and explained that a workshop was held in November 2021 to look at the contents of the Transport SPD. it was highlighted that the SPD does not address all matters coming up in the Local Plan Update (LPU), but it does streamline existing SPDs and include cumulative impact policy.

The Panel discussed the following key matters:

·  Reviewing cumulative impact contributions – the process was set out in terms of identifying hotspot junctions and basing the levy on the number of trips made through congested junctions. There are pre-identified locations and sites and forthcoming windfall sites, will use the same methodology. If there are a number of sites impacted by 1 junction, the levy will be broken down on the amount of additional planned trips going through that junction by proportioning trips per site. It was also confirmed that the assessment on identifying junctions is reviewed every plan period.

·  The use of Section 106 monies and the involvement of members in the considerations of what monies are being spent on – officers confirmed expenditure is prescriptive and related to a development. There is an opportunity to engage during the consultation part of planning applications. It was confirmed that an additional vacancy has been secured to help the service with Section 106 monies.

·  Secure bike storage and exploring e-bike/cargo schemes – planning colleagues are working on identifying a model and will look at introducing this at a later date.

·  It was confirmed that the minimum size for a garage door is 2.6 metres, which is wider than a standard car parking bay.

·  Introducing financial burdens should developers be unable to provide full car parking within the city centre, specifically to fund and improve the public transport network – SPDs can only expand on policy that already exists and cannot put an extra financial burden on developers but there is an opportunity to re-visit when progressing LPU policies in relation to place-making and 20-minute neighbourhoods.

·  Members discussed design exemplars and the importance of including mechanisms on how to mitigate on-street car parking in the document. It was noted that there is a government consultation on managing pavement parking.

·  Concerns were raised that the language used in the document will not be clear to developers in relation to type 1 connector streets. It was suggested that the language used should be strengthened, or an illustration setting out what is expected of developers should be included in the document.

·  Members raised a particular concern in relation to pedestrian safety in terms of proposed planting and suggested that clarity should be provided on maximum height for hedges, to mitigate attacks.

·  Members shared a general consensus that moving away from cars is a priority for Leeds, but acknowledged that public transport must become viable and a reasonable alternative

·  Clarity on the inclusion of a policy for E-scooters and the need to prepare some information to inform the public on upcoming consultation relating to E-scooters.

·  Concern that the number of respondents to the consultation is low and may not be a true reflection of the demographic in Leeds. It was suggested that an awareness raising document to pull through main points would be helpful for members of the public to understand key points of the consultation.

Further to the comments as outlined above, Panel Members broadly supported the contents of the Transport SPD, and therefore

RESOLVED –

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

b)  To recommend that the Chief Planning Officer commences consultation on the Adoption Draft SPD for a period of 4 weeks between 3^rd March and 31^st March 2022.

c)  To recommend to the Chief Planning Officer that, in consultation with the Executive Member, and subject to the outcome of the consultations he adopts the SPD under his delegated powers.