Action Authorised by the Cabinet Member for Communities and Planning
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Forward Plan Reference: FP/823/04/12 ACTION AUTHORISED BY THE CABINET MEMBER FOR COMMUNITIES AND PLANNING Originating Officer: Roy Lewis Ext: 51578 Purpose of Report To approve the proposed Essex County Council (ECC) response to the Basildon Borough Core Strategy Preferred Options Report (February 2012). Decision: To approve the comments in Annex 1 as being appropriate to be submitted as the ECC response to the Basildon Borough Core Strategy Preferred Options Report (February 2012). Signature Date Originating Officer – Roy Lewis Assistant Director – Sarah Richards Cabinet Member – Councillor John Jowers Purpose of CMA and The Basildon Borough Core Strategy Preferred Options Report Decision Areas (February 2012) shows three options for growth of Basildon Borough over the next 20 years, • Option A focuses on maximising urban potential and protecting the Green Belt • Option B accommodates a growing population with some Green Belt releases • Option C maximises the Borough’s growth potential with higher density developments in the urban area and more extensive Green Belt releases The Borough Council’s preferred option is Option A and the Report sets out policies that the Borough Council would wish to pursue in support of that option. The decision for consideration in this Cabinet Member Action relates to approval of the proposed Essex County Council response set out within Annex 1. Background, context, and The Core Strategy will be the central document of the Basildon area of the County Borough Local Development Framework (LDF). It will establish affected. the spatial vision and objectives for the Borough, thinking ahead 20 years to 2031. The Strategy will coordinate how the Borough should develop, function and change through a spatial planning framework that states where development will go and what it will be expected to achieve. Other documents will, in time, support the Core Strategy by going into further detail on the areas to be developed and their design and other requirements to secure sustainable and beneficial change and growth in the Borough. Following the current consultation on the Preferred Options Report, the Borough Council has indicated that it would wish to proceed to a further consultation on the Pre-Submission version of the Strategy in October/November 2012. This would be followed by submission of the Core Strategy for Public Examination in February 2013. These further stages would allow the County Council to make further formal representations on the Strategy as appropriate. The County Council has a direct interest in commenting upon and influencing emerging spatial strategy policy and guidance within Essex as it may impact on the communities within the county. The County Council’s interest reflects its role as a, • Key partner within Essex promoting economic development, regeneration, infrastructure delivery and new development throughout the County; • Strategic highway and transport authority, including responsibility for the delivery of the Essex Local Transport Plan and as the local highway authority; • Major provider of a wide range of local government services throughout the county of Essex; The proposals set out within the Preferred Options Report would affect communities throughout the Borough of Basildon and some of the proposals would impact on neighbouring communities and wider areas within Essex. Options/Proposals The County Council has provided a response that seeks to highlight where there is support, whether further clarification and evidence may be required and whether there are concerns with proposals that are set out within the Core Strategy Preferred Options Report. The County Council would welcome further discussions with Basildon Borough Council in seeking to progress the Core Strategy. Main Conclusions The principle issues raised within the County Council’s response to Basildon Borough’s Core Strategy Preferred Options Report are, • Duty to Cooperate – in accordance with provisions of the Localism Act 2011 the County Council offers to contribute cooperatively with the Borough Council in preparation of the Core Strategy; • Transport and Highways – concern that the transport and highways implications of the Preferred Option or other options have not been specifically assessed. This means that any necessary mitigation measures, together with their delivery and resource requirements have not been identified; • Schools Provision – concern that the requirements for future schools provision have not been assessed, with consequent absence of information on the potential delivery and resource requirements for accommodating anticipated pupil change. • Housing Provision – that the housing provision set out in the Preferred Option (Option A) does not fully provide for the locally generated housing requirements of the Borough between 2011 and 2031. This issue would need to be resolved with neighbouring authorities under the Duty to Co- operate before submission of the Strategy for examination. • Historic Environment – the Core Strategy should make specific reference to the historic environment in its policy guidance. • Flexibility and Robustness – the Borough Council should satisfy itself that the Core Strategy it proposes is sufficiently rigorous that it can respond adequately to key matters and decisions beyond its area, such as, the provisions of the newly published National Planning Policy Framework (27th March 2012); the forthcoming Government statement on future airports policy; London Gateway port becoming operational; and, impact of travel; costs on commuting patterns. Relevance to ECC’s Issues highlighted in the proposed ECC consultation response are corporate plan and other closely related to the Essex Works Vision and Priorities 2012- Strategic Plans 2017. In respect of the Essex Vision, • Essex means business. We want to be a vibrant place where every individual and community has the opportunity to grow and reach their potential and play a part in our county’s success – proposals and policies within the Basildon Core Strategy will influence the future quality of life in the Borough in terms of access to jobs, homes, services, facilities and the environment. The County Council response aims to ensure that future delivery of its services in the Borough will facilitate and support delivery and implementation of the Core Strategy. In respect of the key priorities, • Securing the highways, infrastructure and environment to enable businesses to grow – the County Council response seeks to ensure that the economic strength of Basildon is maintained and enhanced, particularly by emphasising the need for specific assessment of future highways and transport implications of the Core Strategy to support businesses, workers, suppliers and customers; • Enabling every individual to achieve their ambitions by supporting a world class education and skills offer in the county – the County Council response seeks to ensure that future Education, Early Years and Child Care facilities within Basildon are in line with the scale and distribution of future growth in the Borough so that appropriate facilities are planned to provide world class education and skills to the communities of Basildon Borough. • Improving public health and wellbeing – the County Council response seeks to ensure that the quality of life of residents of Basildon Borough is improved whilst not adversely affecting that of other residents of Essex. Internal and External Essex County Council service groups were consulted internally Consultation and comments received have been incorporated into this report. No external consultation has been conducted because this report is the proposed ECC response to a statutory public consultation conducted by Basildon Borough. Legal Implications There are no legal issues arising from this report. (Monitoring Officer) Finance and Resources No immediate financial issues are raised by this CMA. However Implications the extent and pace of the delivery of development in Basildon will (Section 151 Officer) impact on the County Council in terms of service and infrastructure provision and potential income from additional Council Tax and Non-domestic Rates. Human Resources No additional human resources are required to make a decision Implications on this proposed consultation response. The required decision complies with employment legislation and relevant Council policies. Equality Impact An Equality Impact Assessment was not required. Assessment Background papers Basildon Borough Local Development Framework Core Strategy Preferred Options Report (February 2012) The Report together with supporting documents published by Basildon Borough may be accessed at, http://www.basildon.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4226 ANNEX 1: ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL RESPONSE TO BASILDON BOROUGH LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK CORE STRATEGY PREFERRED OPTIONS REPORT, FEBRUARY 2012 Essex County Council fully supports the preparation of the Core Strategy for Basildon. The County Council has been pleased to work with the Borough Council during preparation of the Core Strategy. However, as the detailed comments below indicate, there is still much joint work to be undertaken on assessment of particularly the transport and educational implications of the emerging Core Strategy. The County Council will continue to work with the Borough Council with the aim of ensuring that the Core Strategy will be effective in facilitating delivery of County Council services and projects in support of the Strategy. The County Council will also use its best endeavours