Agenda Item No: North Northamptonshire Joint Planning Committee Meeting [NNJPC] Minutes: 31 January 2013 Council Chamber, Corby Borough Council (Meeting held in public) Present for all or part of the meeting:- Councillor Tim Allebone, Borough Council of Wellingborough Councillor Anthony Dady, Corby Borough Council Councillor Lucy Goult, Corby Borough Council. Councillor Eloise Lucille, East Northamptonshire Council Councillor Mark Pengelly, Corby Borough Council Councillor Andrew Scarborough, Borough Council of Wellingborough Councillor Bob Seery, Northamptonshire County Council Councillor Chris Stanbra, Northamptonshire County Council Councillor Michael Tebbutt, Kettering Borough Council Councillor Malcolm Waters, Northamptonshire County Council Councillor Jonathan West, Kettering Borough Council. Also present: Aldred Drummond Promoter, Deenethorpe Airfield Area of Opportunity Andra Bowyer Development Officer, NNJPU Paul Hanson Cabinet and Executive Manager, NCC Simon James Senior Planner, NNJPU Andrew Longley Planning Manager, NNJPU Paul Woods Policy Planner, NNJPU 01/13 Apologies and non-attendance Apologies for absence were received from Councillors David Brackenbury and Stephen North, East Northamptonshire Council; Terry Freer, Kettering Borough Council and Geoff Timms, Borough Council of Wellingborough 02/13 Declarations of interest by Councillors There were none. 03/13 Election of Casual Chairman The Cabinet and Executive Manager explained that because neither the Chair nor Vice Chair were present, another councillor would be required to fill the vacancy on a casual basis for the duration of the meeting. Councillor Malcolm Waters was proposed, seconded and duly elected. RESOLVED that: Councillor Malcolm Waters be elected as Chair on a casual basis for the duration of the meeting. 04/13 Minutes of the meeting held on 29 November 2012 RESOLVED that: the minutes of the North Northamptonshire Joint Planning Committee meeting held in public on 29 November 2012 be agreed. 05/13 North Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy Update The Planning Manager invited the promoter of the Deenethorpe Airfield Area of Opportunity, Mr Aldred Drummond, to make a presentation to the Committee. Mr Drummond highlighted the following points: The site was a former airfield comprised of a self-contained area of 600 acres, of which 50 were currently under concrete; Rather than concentrating on an existing urban area, the site was located in a predominantly rural part of the District of East Northamptonshire; It could therefore serve as a useful pressure reliever on other areas and would be ideal for a ‘garden village’ development; It was anticipated that the site would have an energy demand of 5,300kwh, which could be met by a combination of an on-site anaerobic Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant and the use of biomass boilers; Waste water would also be treated on site; The site would include accessible green infrastructure provision; The site would need a primary school, but there was also scope for a small secondary school (c.600 places) which would reduce the amount of traffic around other secondary schools in the area; The site was under single land ownership, and the intent would be to build relatively slowly (but fast enough to ensure services were provided). It was intended that construction would be undertaken by regional house builders who did not offer a standard product; and A local working group had been established. In response to concerns from the committee, Mr Drummond made the following points: The site would not have a negative impact on developments in Corby as it was a relatively small site. It was estimated that up around 100 units per year would be completed and the site would not be competing directly with Corby in terms of the buyers it sought to attract; The anaerobic CHP plant was a proven technology. Excess gas could be cleaned and used for either gas devices or to generate electricity’ The viability of the plans had improved in spite of the recession. The recent changes to legislation concerning affordable housing had helped in this regard; It would be at least 3-4 years before work could begin on the site infrastructure. The Chair thanked Mr Drummond for his presentation. The Chair invited the Planning Manager, Andrew Longley, to introduce the report, copies of which had been circulated prior to the meeting. The Planning Manager highlighted the following points; The report provided an update on some of the key issues associated with the Joint Core Strategy (JCS); Further reports would be prepared for consideration by the committee at their meeting on 20 February 2013; The committee were invited to comment on how North Northamptonshire’s aspiration for growth should be articulated in the strategy; The JPU had an advisory meeting with a Senior Inspector from the Planning Inspectorate on 18 October 2012. The inspector had recommended that the desire for urban-focussed growth be expressed more clearly; The simplified settlement hierarchy elevated Rushden to the status of other growth towns, albeit on a smaller scale than the other growth towns; and The consultation responses indicated that Higham Ferrers and Rushden should be treated as two distinct settlements. Rushden would be a growth town while Higham Ferrers should be a market town. The committee made the following points in response: Some of the ambitions set out in the draft vision, particularly those relating to Kettering being the largest retail centre, may not come to pass; The timetable was challenging and it was hoped that the call-in of the Rushden Lakes proposal would not impact on it; The A45 dualling (Stanwick to Thrapston) should be supported, along with the Chowns Mill roundabout; and It was agreed that a policy relating to Deenethorpe Airfield should be retained but strengthened. In response to questions, the following points were made: The committee had considered the retail element of the draft vision before and that part of the vision was a statement of fact based on the amount of retail floorspace.; The population of Corby would be well on the way to doubling by the end of the period; and A report on retail issues including Rushden Lakes would be brought to a future meeting and it was hoped that the committee would be able to work around it while the final decision was being made. RESOLVED: that the committee 1. Agreed the amended Vision set out after paragraph 3.8 and endorsed the response to other representations on the vision as set out in Appendix 1; 2. Agreed to retain Rushden as a Growth Town and Higham Ferrers as a separate Market Town in the settlement hierarchy and give further consideration to the location of growth at Rushden once further site assessment work is completed; 3. Agreed to maintain the emerging JCS approach to the Deenethorpe Airfield Area of Opportunity, subject to the promoter providing further information as set out in paragraph 3.27 and to Policy 14 being made more locally specific and exacting; and 4. Agreed the work programme at paragraph 4.3. 06/13 North Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy: Review of Housing Requirements The Chair invited the Planning Manager, Andrew Longley, to introduce the report, copies of which had been circulated prior to the meeting. The Planning Manager highlighted the following points; The draft polices in the emerging plan had identified a minimum requirement of 1,412 new homes per year, with a strategic opportunity to raise this to 2,000 new homes per year; Feedback from the Senior Planning Inspector suggested that the dual trajectory approach should be replaced by a single, objectively assessed trajectory, with the potential to back-load the SUEs towards the end of the period in question to reflect the prevailing economic situation; Demographic and economic forecasting had been used to assess dwelling requirements. It was estimated that a minimum of 18,600 homes would be needed to meet the demands of natural change, but that up to 49,400 could be required using the Cambridge Economics Local Economic Forecasting Model; and These two projections represented upper and lower extremes. It was therefore proposed that an objectively assessed trajectory of 30,000 to 40,000 new dwellings over the period 2011 to 2031 be identified. The committee made the following points in response: The back-loading relating to SUEs could be problematic, although it was accepted that there was a preference for starting some SUEs sooner rather than later; The question of whether it would be a bad thing to set out a lower figure but achieve a higher figure was raised; and It was felt that the comments made by the inspector should be listened to. In response to questions, the Planning Manager made the following points: In order to attract infrastructure investment, North Northamptonshire had to demonstrate ambition as investment was committed on the basis of growth aspiration; The higher proposed figure of 40,000 would satisfy the Government’s growth agenda. It was proposed that a lower ‘fallback‘ figure would meet objectively assessed need and be used for assessing a 5 year supply of housing; and RESOLVED: that 1. The ‘objectively assessed needs’ of the North Northamptonshire Housing Market Area should be identified as between 30,000 and 40,000 new dwellings over the period 2011 to 2031, dependent on the strength of market demand to support the delivery of the Strategic Urban Extensions; and 2. The Joint Committee provides initial feedback on its preference for Option 1 or 2 set out above. The implications of