Agenda and decisions

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutions.

To approve the minutes from the previous meeting held on 19 October 2023.

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker.

Requests to speak at the meeting at Public Question Time must be made to the Monitoring Officer in writing or by email to democraticservicesteam@somerset.gov.uk  by 5pm on Friday 15 March 2024.

To consider a report on funding via the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund to increase the supply of phosphate mitigation projects to unlock impacted developments. The report also requests approval of the Council interim delivery strategy for the utilisation of this funding.

That the Strategic Planning Committee noted:

a.     The content of the report and the activity across the three affected river catchments that feed into the Somerset Levels and Moors (Tone, Parrett, and Brue) which continues to unlock the delivery of housing and affected development to ensure nutrient neutrality.

b. The recent legislative changes introduced by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, (as summarised in paragraphs 37 to 39 of the report).

That the Strategic Planning Committee agreed:

c. to delegate authority to the Head of Planning / Chief Planning Officer in consultation with the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee to:

i. oversee the delivery of the interim delivery strategy including approving any documents (e.g. Section 106 agreements) needed to support implementation of the interim delivery strategy, enclosed as Appendix A.

ii. spend up to £9.6m from the Local Nutrient Mitigation Capital Funding to deliver nutrient mitigation schemes in line with grant conditions and promised outstanding government funding in financial year 2024/25.

iii. commit to the spend of the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund, on the delivery of nutrient mitigation with the indicative programme of spend as detailed in Table 4 of Appendix A; to the report

For 4, Against 1, Abstention 1.

To receive the Planning Service Quarterly Performance Report for Q2 and Q3 combined and note the contents.

To note the contents of the report.