Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Rosemary Cole 01527 881409
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Apologies Minutes: An apology for absence was received from Councillor D.C. Norton. |
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Minutes Minutes: The Minutes of the Meeting of the Working Party held on 25th September 2007 were submitted.
RESOLVED: that the Minutes of the Meeting be approved and confirmed as a correct record.
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Presentation on The Regional Spatial Strategy Minutes: The Chairman welcomed to the Meeting Mark Middleton from Worcestershire County Council. Mr. Middleton gave a presentation on the “partial revision” of the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy. Members were reminded of the importance of the Regional Spatial Strategy which had replaced the County Structure Plan as the statutory framework for development in the Region until at least 2021.
Following the presentation Members raised in particular the issues of new housing proposal figures and the interrelated issue of affordable housing. Mr. Middleton stated that there were three possible options for the numbers of new dwellings over a twenty five year period. The figures for Bromsgrove District were:
Option 1 - 3,800 Option 2 - 4,700 Option 3 - 7,200
There was concern that these figures appeared to be inconsistent with the Council’s targets for provision of affordable housing. There was also discussion regarding the housing allocations of neighbouring Authorities and the implications of these in terms of Bromsgrove’s role as a largely Green Belt Authority. The density of developments and the quality of design would also be important issues.
The Chairman thanked Mr. Middleton for his presentation and reminded members that the issues discussed would form part of this Council’s response to the Regional Spatial Strategy revision.
RESOLVED: that the contents of the presentation be noted.
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Core Strategy Update Minutes: A presentation was given which updated Members on the current position regarding the preparation of the Preferred Options Core Strategy. Members were reminded that the Core Strategy will contain a Spatial Vision, Strategic Objectives, Core Policies and a Monitoring and Implementation Framework.
It was reported that a number of Core Strategies submitted by other Authorities had been rejected by Central Government and that Bromsgrove was learning from the experiences of these Authorities. In particular it was clear there was a requirement for a strong evidence base in a number of areas such as PPG 17 Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation and work was planned to address this. Clearly recent Government Guidance and the West Midlands Regional Strategy would also inform the preparation of the Core Strategy.
RESOLVED: that the contents of the presentation be noted. |
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Longbridge Area Action Plan - Preferred Options Minutes: Consideration was given to a report on the preferred option for the redevelopment of the former MG Rover works at Longbridge. The work undertaken since the previous meeting of the Working Party was noted particularly in relation to the extensive public consultation which had taken place which had resulted in the receipt of over 1000 responses.
The report gave a summary of the preferred option and this was set out in detail in the Preferred Options Longbridge Area Action Plan and the site plans. It was noted that the next step would be the undertaking of a statutory consultation which would be likely to commence on 21st February 2007 for a six week period.
RECOMMENDED: that the Preferred Options Longbridge Area Action Plan be approved and that the statutory public consultation be undertaken.
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Planning Policies Minutes: It was reported that at recent Meetings of the Planning Committee reference had been made to the need to review some of the existing Development Control Policies. At present these Policies were scheduled for review in November/December 2008. The Policies referred to were relating to matters such as:
It was suggested that in order to begin to address these and other Policies which appeared to be causing some concern, Officers report to this Working Party on the basis of one report per Meeting to allow for a consistent programme of debates throughout the period leading up to December 2008.
RESOLVED: that a programme of discussion and review of Development Control Policies be commenced on the basis of consideration of appropriate reports to this Working Party. |