Great West Corridor and West of Borough Local Plan Reviews - Issues Version: Draft Consultation Statement (With Council’S Responses)
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Great West Corridor and West of Borough Local Plan Reviews - Issues Version: Draft Consultation Statement (with Council’s responses) October 2017 1 1. Introduction 1.1 The London Borough of Hounslow is currently undertaking a Local Plan Review of the Great West Corridor (GWC) and the West of Borough (WoB). As part of this process each of the Local Plan Review will be subject to three stages of consultation. The regulations referred to below are from the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. Stage 1: (Regulation 18) Issues Consultation . Stage 2: (Regulation 18) Draft Local Plan Review (Preferred Options) Consultation . Stage 3: (Regulation 19) Draft Local Plan Review (Publication) Consultation 1.2 Consultation on the Issues version of the Great West Corridor (GWC) and West of Borough (WoB) Local Plan Reviews took place between December 2015 and February 2016. The consultations formed the first round of public consultation on the amendments to Hounslow’s adopted (September 2015) Local Plan. The consultation notified interested parties about the Council’s intention to review the Local Plan and produce further policy specific to these two geographic areas. The consultation identified the main issues that the Local Plan Reviews will need to address and invited representation on these topics. 1.3 This document provides Council responses to issues raised by consultees during the consultation. These issues been previously summarised and published in the Consultation Statement. 2. Consultation on the Local Plan Issues Version 2.1 Hounslow Council adopted a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) in June 2013 which sets out how it will engage the public when making planning decisions, including the preparation of planning policy documents. Consultation on the Issues version of the GWC and WoB Local Plan Reviews took place over an eight week period (22 December 2015 to 22nd February 2016). The extra two weeks was provided to take into account consultation over the Christmas period. 2.2 Section 110 of the Localism Act sets out the duty to co-operate requirement, this applies to all local planning authorities and a number of other bodies. Paragraphs 178 to 181 of the National Planning Policy Framework give guidance on planning strategically across local boundaries and highlight the importance of joint working to meet requirements that cannot be wholly met within a single local planning area through joint working, polices and plans. The duty to co-operate covers a number of public bodies in addition to neighbouring local authorities. The Council is under the duty to cooperate with the following bodies on issues of common concern to develop sound plans: 2 . The Environment Agency; . The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England (known as English Heritage); . Natural England; . The Mayor of London; . The Civil Aviation Authority; . The Homes and Communities Agency; . Each Primary Care Trust established under section 18 of the National Health Service Act 2006 (or continued in existence by virtue of that section); . The Office of Rail Regulation; . Transport for London; . Each Integrated Transport Authority; . Each highway authority within the meaning of section 1 of the Highways Act 1980 (including the Secretary of State, where the Secretary of State is the highways authority); and . The Marine Management Organisation. 2.3 As part of duty to co-operate the following local authorities were consulted as part of the Issues consultation: . London Borough of Richmond upon Thames; . Runnymede Borough Council; . London Borough of Hillingdon; . Spelthorne Borough Council. 2.4 In late 2015 the Council initiated the establishment of Heathrow Strategic Planning Group. The Group’s objective is to build collaborative working between Heathrow Airport Limited and all the authorities and bodies responsible for the areas most affected by the Airport. The member organisations hold a range of different views about whether or not a third runway should be built at Heathrow (and some participate in an ‘observer’ rather than a ‘member’ capacity only at present). However, all are united in the view that such collaborative work is essential to best mitigate and compensate the negative impacts and maximise the benefits of the Airport to local residents, businesses and environment. Hounslow Council officers ‘chair’ and administer the meetings of the Group which are attended by senior officer representatives from the following organisations: 2.5 The Council is a founding member of the Heathrow Strategic Planning Group (HSPG), which is made up of local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and Colne Valley CIC which neighbour Heathrow Airport, and includes observers from the GLA/TfL, Government and Highways England, with Heathrow Airport Ltd an invited attendee. The Group recognises that the impact of the airport extends 3 across administrative boundaries and that the collaborative working of Local Authorities and other bodies surrounding Heathrow Airport will result in better spatial planning and the management of impacts, together with maximising the benefits of the airport to the local economy and community, whatever decisions are made regarding expansion of the airport in the future. Environmental, transport, spatial planning, and economic sub-groups have been established to consider these specific aspects. Essentially the Group's purpose is to fulfil duty to co-operate responsibilities in relation to planning across the area with Heathrow expansion as a focus, to shape and respond to Heathrow's Development Consent Order application for a third runway proposal, and produce a planning framework for the area to shape the DCO." London Borough of Hounslow (Chair and Administrator) Heathrow Airport Limited London Borough of Ealing Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Runneymede Borough Council South Bucks District Council Spelthorne Borough Council Slough Borough Council Buckinghamshire County Council Surrey County Council Buckingham Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Enterprise M3 (LEP) Thames Valley Berkshire (LEP) Greater London Authority (observer) Old Oak Common and Park Royal Development Corporation (observer) Transport for London (observer) DCLG/ BEIS (Cities and Local Growth Unit) (observer) Department for Transport (observer) 3. Issues Consultation Measures 3.1 A range of measures were used to engage the public in consultation on the Local Plan Reviews Issues Consultation. These measures were based on those set out in the SCI 2013. The SCI identifies a number of bodies that need to be consulted. These include specific consultation bodies (comprising various statutory authorities) and general consultation bodies. The general bodies include a large number of organisations with an interest in planning, including business and residents’ groups, amenity groups, civic groups, cultural organisations, places of worship and voluntary organisations. 4 3.2 Hounslow Council also maintains a consultation database of individuals and organisations interested in planning policies. This includes those who have previously responded to consultations on other planning documents, as well as the specific and general consultation bodies. Over 820 emails and letters were sent to consultees advising them on how to comment. They explained where the consultation documents were available and encouraged recipients to comment. Documents were made available and the consultation publicised via the council website, local libraries and at community area forum meetings. a) Website: Hounslow Council’s website contained extensive information on the consultation. The Issues documents and questionnaires were made available for viewing and download. It was also explained where printed versions of these documents could be obtained. b) Libraries: During the consultation period the Local Plan Issues version was made available for viewing at the council Civic Centre offices and all public libraries. Table 1: Public libraries where copies of the Local Plan was available: Beavers Library Cranford Library Heston Library Bedfont Library Feltham Library Isleworth Library Brentford Library Hanworth Library Osterley Library Chiswick Library Hounslow Library c) Events and meetings: Officers from Spatial Planning attended the following Area Forum meetings to introduce the Local Plan Reviews and provide information on the consultation that was being undertaken. Officers presented the GWC document to Chiswick and Isleworth and Brentford and the WoB document to Heston & Cranford and Bedfont, Feltham and Hanworth. The council received interest group meeting requests and obliged, including meeting resident community group the Brentford Community Council on the 11th January 2016 at the Griffin pub in Brentford. Officers also presented the West of Borough to Central Hounslow area forum although only a small part of the study area is likely to be within the jurisdiction of this forum. The officers outlined the process for the Local Plan Reviews including research being written and the key issues identified for the areas and how to comment. Table 2: Meetings attended Area Forum Date Place Time Central Hounslow 28th January 2016 Hounslow Jamia Masjid 7:30 pm and Islamic Centre Chiswick 19th January 2016 Chiswick Town Hall 7.30pm 5 Heston and Cranford 21st January 2016 Civic Centre 7pm Isleworth & Brentford 21st January 2016 Brentford Free Church 7.30pm Bedfont, Feltham & Hanworth 28th January 2016 Feltham Library 7.30pm 3.3 Copies