Issue - meetings

Motion

Meeting: 21/10/2020 - Council (Item 34)

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Minutes:

The Chairman explained that in respect of Councillor P McDonald’s Motion on Notice and following discussions between all Group Leaders, this has been accepted by the Leader and she would write, as requested and keep Council updated of any response received.

In respect of Councillor H Rone-Clarke’s Motion on Notice, again following discussions with all Group Leaders, it had been suggested and agreed, that the Leader would refer the matter to the new Town Centres Manager for consideration in due course.

In respect of Councillor R Hunter’s Motion on Notice, it was explained that following discussions between Councillor Hunter and the Leader earlier in the day, Councillor Hunter had agreed with the Leader’s suggestion that this matter be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Board’s Finance and Budget Working Group for further investigation and consideration.

The Chairman confirmed that there was therefore one Motion of Notice for debate this evening, that of Councillor S Colella.

Members considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor S Colella.

“Following the Government’s White Paper on planning reform The Bromsgrove Alliance calls upon Council to suspend the Greenbelt review until after the White Paper has become planning Law and we know what our Housing allocation will be.

This will demonstrate that members of this council hold the district’s Greenbelt in the highest esteem and demonstrates that the council will not sacrifice the Greenbelt from unnecessary and undue development until the exact details are known.”

Councillor Colella welcomed the opportunity to have a motion debated at Council. He explained that the specific purpose of the motion was to call for Council to suspend the Green Belt review until the Government’s White Paper review had been concluded. This also tied in with the availability of the Birmingham and Black Country housing figures. Councillor Colella believed the risks of not suspending the review were too great, as continuing with it would lead to over development and opening the door to any number of houses would undermine the plan making process, which related to the local area. It would leave the District with a confused outcome and be against the interests of the people of the District. It was believed that the conclusions of such a review would be premature and interest both the Government and neighbouring conurbations, together with landowners and developers. He believed that the review would show that many areas could be developed and so the sum of developable land would be enormous. Councillor Colella understood that a number of other councils had rejected the White Paper, speaking against it publicly. It was further highlighted that land had already been conceded to the Foxlydiate development for Redditch and offered no “kick back” to the Birmingham and Greater Solihull review through the Hearn report. Councillor Colella went on to highlight the process when assessing the Greenbelt and the impact of facing a higher housing target against a smaller housing target. Councillor Colella reminded Members that it was often quoted that Bromsgrove was 95% Green Belt ... view the full minutes text for item 34