THIS REPORT RELATES STIRLING COUNCIL TO ITEM 13 ON THE AGENDA STIRLING COUNCIL LOCALITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE 8 DECEMBER 2016 NOT EXEMPT STIRLING LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN: RESPONSES TO REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED 1 SUMMARY 1.1 Stirling Council is carrying out a review of the Stirling Local Development Plan 2014 and, in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended), relevant procedures for preparing a new Local Development Plan (LDP) require to be followed. 1.2 At its meeting of 30 June 2016, the Council approved the Stirling Local Development Plan: Proposed Plan and associated documents for consultation. Copies of the plan were placed in local libraries, selected Council offices and were published on the Council’s website. A notice was placed in the local press and officers held four well attended drop-in information events in Stirling, Plean, Killearn and Dunblane. Alerts were also sent out via social media. The consultation period began on 11 July and the closing date for representations was 23 September 2016. 1.3 A total of 193 representations consisting of 390 individual points of representation were received over the eleven week period covering a wide range of matters including housing land supply, developer contributions and a number of allocated and non-allocated development sites. 1.4 In order to submit unresolved representations to Scottish Ministers for Examination, the Council is required to summarise and group representations into issues as well as provide a Council response. Each issue is set out in a ‘Schedule 4’ sheet. 1.5 The Proposed Plan as approved by the Council in June 2016 forms the Council’s settled view on how the area should be developed over the next 10- 20 years and was not a draft plan. It was informed by extensive early engagement through the Call for Sites process and Main Issues Report in 2014 and 2015 respectively. No significant change through this most recent consultation process is therefore envisaged. 1.6 If the Council is of the view that a minor change to the plan is appropriate as a result of a representation, a recommendation to the Scottish Government Reporter can be made within the Schedule 4 sheets, stating why the Council is of the view that a change is necessary and setting out exactly what that change should be. All such changes must, however, be minor in nature. A number of such minor amendments are recommended to the Reporter in the draft Schedule 4 sheets. However, any significant changes such as the addition or removal of sites or material changes to strategy or policy are classed as ‘notifiable modifications’ under planning legislation. If notifiable modifications are made to the plan at this stage, the Council will require to publish the whole Proposed Plan for another round of consultation. This would add an additional 5-6 months to the LDP process. 1.7 Subject to the Council’s approval for the Schedule 4 sheets, these will be submitted to the Scottish Government’s Department for Planning and Environmental Appeals. Reporters appointed by Scottish Ministers will examine the unresolved issues and will recommend a set of modifications where these are considered necessary. The Council is largely bound to accept modifications made by the Reporter. 1.8 The existing Stirling Local Development Plan 2014 has 37 accompanying statutory Supplementary Guidance (SG) documents. In order for these to form part of the new plan, they require to be reviewed, approved by committee and published for consultation. This can take place at any time during preparation of the plan but SG cannot form part of the new LDP until the plan itself has been adopted by the Council in December 2017. Review of SG has commenced and it is envisaged that the majority will be presented to a relevant committee in the second half of 2017. A list of SG documents to be prepared is listed in Appendix 3. 1.9 This report highlights some of the key issues raised in representations and seeks approval for the Schedule 4 summary sheets which include a draft Council response to issues raised. Authorisation is also sought for officers to submit Schedule 4 sheets, with delegated powers to make minor editorial changes, and all supporting information to Scottish Ministers to allow the local development plan examination to proceed. In addition, approval is sought for the programme of review of Supplementary Guidance which will form part of the new plan. 2 OFFICER RECOMMENDATION(S) The Council agrees to:- 2.1 approve the draft Schedule 4 sheets forming Appendix 2 as the Council’s responses to all representations received during the Proposed Plan consultation period; 2.2 authorise Officers to submit Appendix 2, with delegated powers to make minor editorial change and all supporting information to Scottish Ministers for the purposes of carrying out an Examination into all unresolved issues and to advertise the examination in line with planning legislation; and 2.3 approve the programme of review for Supplementary Guidance set out in Appendix 3 to this report. 3 CONSIDERATIONS Background 3.1 Stirling Council’s Local Development Plan excludes the area covered by the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority as this area is covered by its own development plan. 3.2 The Stirling Local Development Plan 2014 was adopted on 1 October 2014 but is currently subject to a legal challenge under section 238 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 on the grounds that it fails to designate site H056 Airthrey Kerse for residential development and it fails to allocate sufficient housing land to meet a 5-year effective supply. This case is due to be heard by the Court of Session in May 2017. There is no legal or planning impediment arising from this matter that interferes or impedes the Council from progressing with this Proposed LDP. 3.3 Scottish Ministers expect planning authorities to replace their Local Development Plans at least every 5 years. Stirling Council decided on 18 August 2014 that an early review of the Stirling Local Development Plan and its Spatial Strategy relative to the housing land requirement for the Stirling Core Area should be carried out. There is no provision in legislation for a partial review of a LDP to be carried out. The Stirling LDP 2014 is therefore being reviewed in its entirety albeit that much of the policy content and the vision and spatial strategy remain relevant. 3.4 At its meeting of 25 June 2015, Council agreed to publish and consult on a Main Issues Report, the first stage in the preparation of a new LDP. This involved extensive engagement with stakeholders and set out three options relating to the identification of a new housing land requirement. The Proposed Plan, the second key stage in the plan preparation process followed in July 2016. It took into account representations received at Main Issues Report stage, considered the main development proposals up to year 2027 and gave a broad indication of the scale and direction of development to year 2037 to meet fully with the housing land requirements of Scottish Planning Policy (SPP). 3.5 The Proposed Plan takes into account, and supports, the Stirling City Deal Masterplan. Preparation on the next Stirling Council LDP will ensure that this fully aligns with various strategies and actions that will be developed to support the implementation of the City Deal. 3.6 Each Elected Member has been provided with a copy of the draft Schedule 4 document and a link to the web page where this can be viewed online has been provided at paragraph 6.2 below. 3.7 The Council approved a Development Plan Scheme and Participation Statement in June 2016 which set out a timetable for preparation of the plan and how officers would consult with stakeholders. This timetable is currently being met and the consultation process has been carried out in line with this document. No changes to the Development Plan Scheme and Participation Statement are therefore required at this time. Representations Received 3.8 Representations were received from the general public as well as from developers, key agencies and other non-statutory consultees, the Scottish Government and Community Councils. In line with the requirements of Scottish Ministers, all points raised in representations have been summarised and grouped into issues of which there are a total of 64. 3.9 The issues cover a wide range of matters including the identification and non- identification of individual sites and the content of LDP policies. A full set of draft Schedule 4 sheets forms Appendix 1 of the report. Some issues generated a larger number of representations than others. Among those issues attracting most representations are:- • Setting the Land Requirement for Housing • Developer Contributions • H098 - Menzies Terrace, Fintry Setting the Land Requirement for Housing 3.10 It is normal practice to prepare a new Housing Needs and Demand Assessment (HNDA) for each new LDP. However, as was reported to Council in June 2016, due to the short timescales associated with reviewing the adopted LDP 2014, it was not possible to do this for this LDP as HNDAs can take up to a year to prepare. With agreement from the Scottish Government, a mini-review of the existing 2011 HNDA was undertaken. This concluded that little has changed in local housing market dynamics since 2011 providing reassurance that Stirling Council’s estimate of housing need and demand, as set out in the 2011 HNDA, remains valid for the new plan. The Housing Supply Target (HST) from the Local Housing Strategy was therefore used to set the Housing Land Requirement for the Proposed Plan period of 2015- 2027.