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Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Rooms 18:01 - 18:03 18th Floor, Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP

Contact: Georgina Wills, Committee and Governance Officer  Email:  gwills@westminster.gov.uk; Tel: 07870 548348

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

MEMBERSHIP

To report any changes to the membership.

Minutes:

1.1       That Councillor Sara Hassan had replaced Councillor Ellie Ormsby on the           Planning and City Development Committee and Planning Application Sub-          Committee (1).

 

1.2       There were no further changes to the Membership.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS

To receive and record declarations of interest.

Minutes:

2.1       There were no declarations of interests.

3.

MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES pdf icon PDF 119 KB

To sign the minutes of the last meeting as a correct record of

proceedings.

 

Matters Arising from the Minutes.

Minutes:

 

3.1      Agreed that the minutes of the Planning & City Development Committee held on 27 July 2022 be agreed subject to the sentence in paragraph 4.4 in relation to the Annual update on planning applications and appeals performance - 2021/22 which reads ‘Whilst there was a fluctuation in the yearly statistics, this is a result of appeals being determined by the Planning Inspectorate rather than the Council’ be amended and that the words ‘rather than the Council’ is deleted.

 

3.2       Matters Arising from the Minutes

 

3.2.1    Minutes 3.2 – Minutes 3.2.2 Draft Early Community Engagement Guidance

 

           Members were provided an update regarding the appointment of a Community Champion and informed that works were currently being undertaken to ensure that the newly created position was completely independent. Members were informed that officers had made initial informal enquiries with a number of potential service providers, but that one of these providers may not be in a position to formally bid to run the service. The Committee would be provided with an update on the Community Champion’s role and how they would work with stakeholders at their next meeting. Members noted that the Community Champion scheme was initiated by the previous Administration and was supported by the current. 

 

3.2.2   Minutes 3.2 – Minutes 3.2.4 National Policy & Planning Reform Update. 4.4 Article 4 Direction

 

           Members noted that a large area of the Central Activity Zone (CAZ) which was originally proposed by the council, had been reduced by central government and requested that maps be provided to clarify what was originally proposed and what this was amended to. Members were informed that the updated map for the CAZ was available on the council’s webpage but that this could be circulated with the minutes.

 

            The area the council originally proposed, which comprises the CAZ minus Royal Parks and the River Thames, can be viewed below:

 

A map of a city Description automatically generated

 

The revised boundary that the Article 4 Direction now applies to can be viewed below:

 

A map of a city Description automatically generated

 

 

 

3.2.3    Minutes 3.2 Minutes 3.2 5 National Policy & Planning Reform Update.

 

           Officers confirmed that there was no live list or any informal enquires received regarding the change of use under permitted development rights. Members noted that this may be due to there still be uncertainty regarding the new scheme.

 

3.2.4   Minutes 3.2 Minutes 3.2.6 National Policy & Planning Reform Update. 4.4 Affordable Housing and Planning Obligations SPD.

 

           The Committee requested that officers provide a list of Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) that were currently being formulated or in the process of adoption. The Committee was reminded that the Local Development Scheme had been published alongside the consultation on the City Plan and this included a list of SPDs which were currently under review. The Local Development Scheme  sets out that work is underway on the following new SPDs:

·       Planning Obligations and Affordable Housing; and

·       Public Realm

It also sets out that work is underway on updating the existing Environment SPD.

 

3.2.5    Minutes 3.2 – Minutes 3.2.8 5 VAT on New Build and Refurbishment Schemes. 5.3 Incentives  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Planning Applications and Appeals Performance Mid-Year Update - 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 227 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

4.1       The Committee received a report which provided a mid-year update on the    performance of the Town Planning service in terms of the timeliness and             quality of its planning application decision making and the success rate of         planning appeals for the first two quarters of 2022/23. Performance against all measures exceeded the Department for Levelling Up Homes and     Communities (DLUHC) and relevant internal performance indicators.

 

4.2       The Committee was advised and noted: -

 

4.2.1     That the volume of Applications for the first two quarters of the year was       consistent and figures were like those of the previous year for the same    period. 

 

4.2.2    That the number of applications determined exceeded those which had been received in the first quarter and this was due to the Town Planning Service resolving an increased number of outstanding cases.

 

4.2.3    That the number of pre-application advice requests had increased, and this indicated that there was recovery following the increase of fees at the start of 2021.

 

4.2.4    The speed of decision making continues to surpass the DLUHC threshold for Major, Non-Major and Other applications. The Major applications rate is 93%, Non-Major Applications is 77% and other Applications is 78%. 

 

4.2.5    There have been 306 Extensions of Time (EOTs) used during the first two quarters for Non-Major applications and this has resulted a mean of 40 additional days. The additional period covers the need to receive, assess and review revised documents. There were 192 EOTs used for Other applications and the mean additional days to review these applications was 28 days. This is reflective of there being a lesser need to reconsult and assess revised drawings for these types of applications.

 

4.2.6    That the quality of decision making at Westminster continued to be high and that only a very small proportion of Major and Non-Major planning applications were overturned at appeal. There had been an increase in the number of appeals dismissed or partly dismissed from 66% to 70% from the previous year.

 

4.2.7    There were two appeal decisions in the first quarter which may potentially assist the service with future interpretations of policies in the new City Plan. These were the sites at Leconfield House and 2-49 Cambridge Street).

 

4.3       Members held a discussion and noted the following: -

 

4.3.1    That the determined appeals provided guidance on how to consider certain material considerations during the decision-making process and were a good source of information.

 

4.3.2    That appeals decision assisted and aided the Service with interpreting   future Policies.    

 

4.3.3    That the use of the Pre-Application Advice Service had decreased in recent years, and this may be attributed to the current economic climate. Members were reminded that fees had been increased and the format of the service amended in January 2021 to improve the service and move towards cost recovery and this is likely to have also impacted on use. Numbers for 2022/23 do though show an increase in pre-application requests. There are currently fewer larger complex developments, and these types of developers are typically  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Amendments to Sub-Committee Late Representations Procedures pdf icon PDF 139 KB

Minutes:

5.1       The Committee received a report which provided an overview of the   recommended changes to the current procedures for accepting late      representations in advance of Planning Applications Sub-Committee meetings. The recommended procedure included the introduction of a          deadline for submission of late representations in advance of the             commencement of the committee meeting to allow Members and officers           appropriate time to fully consider the planning merits of the issues being    brought before the committee.

 

5.2       The operation and function of the Planning Applications Sub-Committees            were governed by the Terms of Reference set out in the Constitution, the   Statement of Community Involvement in Planning (2014) and the Committee      Procedure Rules, which were last updated to allow for hybrid committee             meetings in May 2021. Any amendments to the procedures for accepting late             representations do not require any changes to the Constitution or the     Statement of Community Involvement in Planning.

 

5.3       Members were reminded that representations received prior to the publication             of the committee report were summarised and addressed in full in the report      and full copies of the representations were provided in the background     papers. Representations received after the publication of the committee             report and prior to 2.00pm on the Thursday prior to committee were circulated             to Members by the close of business on that day. For representations received after 2.00pm on the Thursday prior to committee there was currently no defined ‘cut off’ after which representations would not be accepted.             Representations were accepted up until the start of the committee meeting     and circulated at the meeting.

 

5.4       Members were advised that officers had reviewed the approaches taken by    other comparable local planning authorities (LPAs) and assessed the practicality of introducing a deadline on a variety of days prior to the             committee meeting. Of the ten other LPAs analysed, 5 had introduced a             deadline for late representations prior to planning committee meetings and 5           accepted representations up until the start of the committee meeting. Of those   with a deadline, 2 were set earlier on the day of the committee meeting.

 

5.5       Considering the approaches taken by comparable LPAs, and having regard to        the processes that are required to be undertaken by Legal Services and the           Committee and Councillor Liaison Team in advance of a Planning             Applications Sub-Committee meeting, officers have considered three options          for introducing a deadline for late representations:

 

·       Option 1 – Deadline at 12.00 on the day of the committee meeting

·       Option 2 – Deadline at 12.00 on the working day prior to the committee meeting

·       Option 3 – Deadline at 12.00 two working days prior to the committee meeting (to align with current public speaking deadline).

 

5.6       The Committee discussed the various options regarding deadlines for submitting late representations to Planning Applications Sub-Committees and was advised by Officers that the preferred Option was 2. Officers commented that Option 2 allowed the Major and Minor Planning Sub-Committees to still consider the late representation and enabled parties who had either missed the deadline for registering to make a deputation at the Sub-Committees,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Update on Partial City Plan Review pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Minutes:

6.1       The Committee received a report which provided an overview of the Partial Review to the City Plan which was launched on 7 October, running to 18 November 2022. It explained the scope of the review and role of the Planning and City Development Committee in the preparation of the Plan.

 

6.2      The current City Plan was adopted in April 2021 (work commenced in 2017), and sets our broad strategy for growth and includes over 40 thematic policies on a diverse range of issues. Alongside the London Plan and ‘made’ neighbourhood plans, it provides the starting point for determining all planning applications in Westminster?. The Plan now needed some updating to better align with the priorities in the council’s new Fairer Westminster Strategy.

 

6.3       The Plan was only recently adopted, took a long time to produce, and is still considered largely fit for purpose. The Cabinet Member therefore agreed to limit any review to the key priorities of:?

 

·       Affordable housing – to help deliver more affordable housing, particularly social housing, and explore if small sites (i.e. those delivering less than 10 homes) can also start to contribute towards new affordable housing; ?

 

·       Climate change – to better prioritise retrofit and refurbishment of existing buildings over demolition and redevelopment;?

 

·       Site allocations (previously intended to form a separate document) – to provide site specific guidance on key sites – including mix of uses, amount of new floorspace, and design criteria.

 

6.4       Regulation 18 consultation took place between 7 Oct 2022 – 18 Nov 2022? and       this included dedicated website, emails to all stakeholders?, internal engagement with other teams and meetings with key stakeholders including          neighbourhood forums, WPA, the GLA, and Historic England?.

 

6.5       There would be more informal engagement (workshops, meetings etc) through 2023 to attempt to build consensus on proposals before the next formal stage of consultation (Regulation 19).

 

6.6       Members held discussions and noted the following: -

 

6.6.1    That supportive comments had been received from individuals regarding the broad scope of proposals for the partial review of the City Plan, and that more substantial comments would come forward as more detail on the potential content of new policies and site allocations is published.

 

6.6.2    The partial review of the City Plan had been fully publicised, and all the council’s social media platforms were used to undertake this. There had also been events held with Neighbourhood Forums and these bodies can act as an outreach to local communities.

 

6.6.3    Officers advised that partially reviewing the City Plan and there being focus on certain areas helped to limit costs.  Members agreed that this approach was sensible and noted that the three areas focused on were highlighted in the Majority Group’s Manifesto. It was also noted that to date all work on the partial review had been carried out by officers. Moving forward, any additional costs (such as commissioning of supporting evidence where external technical expertise is required, or the costs of the Planning Inspectorate carrying out independent examination  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT

Minutes:

7.1       The Chair requested that the Committee considered whether colleagues          making representations at their Sub-Committee should be required to leave         the meeting after their deputations and requested that this proposal be             discussed at the next Meeting.

 

7.2       The Chair commented that discussions had been held with the Director of Town Planning and Building Control regarding providing the Committee with information on the outcomes of planning decision for residents and businesses in relation to S106 agreements. The Committee would receive reports on these agreements that had been made such as public art, new community space, greenery, or similar proposals. These S106 agreements would be reported periodically and be resident focused and be in a form of an e-newsletter and published on the Council’s website. This new scheme was hoped to ensure that the wider community were enabled to be aware of planning outcomes.

 

7.3       Members were reminded to forward any training requirements to the    Committee and Councillor Coordinator. The Chair advised that a further training session on sustainability will be facilitated by the Westminster            Property Association and the Cabinet Member for Climate Action,             Regeneration & Renters. The session would focus on Sustainable Cities and             include a briefing.

 

7.4       Members requested for a training session which focuses on biodiversity.

 

7.5       The Chair thanked the Committee and Officers for their contribution. 

 

 

8.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

29 March 2023

Minutes:

·       Wednesday 29 March 2023