Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutions.

An apology was received from Councillor Philip Ham, who was substituted by Councillor Sue Osborne.

To approve the minutes from the previous meeting.

Resolved that the minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee held on 6 June 2024 be confirmed as a correct record.

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 )

Councillors present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor of a Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

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.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’

Public questions were received from:-

·       David Hiscox – Agenda Item 6 – Phosphate Progress Report

The questions and responses provided are attached to the minutes in Annex A.

The Committee are asked to note the update report.

Resolved that the Strategic Planning Committee noted the report and further requested that an interim update be provided on the service performance.

The Head of Planning, Alison Blom-Cooper, introduced the report and gave a short presentation on the performance figures for Quarter 4 2023-24 and Quarter 1 2024-25.

The presentation included information on the following:-

Ø  Planning applications received.

Ø  Major, minor and other applications determined within national targets.

Ø  Two year rolling figures for Minerals and Waste.

Ø  Pre-application enquiries.

Ø  Appeal decisions.

Ø  Enforcement cases on hand and resolved/closed.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       Councillors acknowledged that the numbers being reported were good considering the low staffing figures.  They further requested an update on the capacity of the team.

The Head of Planning advised that it was a difficult time as the organisation was going through a period of transition.  However, two new principal planners were due to start and there was some additional recruitment to take place.  She further highlighted that this reflected the national picture for planning recruitment.

·       Councillors queried what were the main factors that impacted the number of applications being received.

The Head of Planning advised that the figures again reflected the national trend and that mortgage and interest rates had impacted along with the building and skills shortages in the industry.

·       Councillors raised concern that not all applications were included in the statistics that were sent to Central Government.

The Head of Planning advised that the national targets were set by Government and that they did not include ‘other’ applications.  However, the data for Somerset Council could be captured and be extracted and included in the report.

·       Concern was raised on the performance of the Planning Department covering the south of the county.  Councillors further queried how and why the service had declined.

The Head of Planning was very conscious of the challenges faced in the south of the county. She advised that certain measures had been put it place to help with the backlog and other workloads.  The two new officers would be appointed to this area and allocated to work on the backlog first.

·       Councillors requested clarification on the 10% figure for appeals.

·       Concern was raised on the figures used for land supplies in the west of the county.

The Head of Planning advised that the Government were in the process of a live consultation, which could impact the figures and calculations used for the land supplies.  However, the outcome was not yet known.

·       Concern was raised on the level of enforcement cases and lack of staffing resource.

·       Councillors highlighted the different software being used by each area office and queried whether work was being carried out to consolidate the systems and whether there was any member oversight on the project.

The Head of Planning advised that the consolidation project was high on her list of actions to progress, however, this had been delayed due to the budgetary constraints on the council.  She further advised that the Lead Member for Economic Development, Planning and Assets would have oversight of the project.

·       Clarification was requested on the approach taken for complaints  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

The Committee are asked to note the update report.

Resolved 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 continued to unlock the delivery of housing and affected development to ensure nutrient neutrality.

b)    The spend to date from the Local Nutrient Mitigation Capital Funding to deliver nutrient mitigation schemes in line with grant conditions.

c)    In order to demonstrate progress on phosphate related matters a further up-date report to be provided to this Committee in March 2025.

The Principal Planning Policy Officer, Paul Browning and the Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation, Kate Murdoch, introduced the report and gave a presentation which detailed the work undertaken across the Authority area to achieve nutrient neutral development whilst supporting housing growth.  It also provided an update on recent Government announcements and matters that related to the Nutrient Mitigation Fund.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       Councillors queried how much agricultural land had been taken due to phosphates.

The Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation advised that there was not an exact figure but that they could report back with further information.  They could confirm that some agricultural land had been used towards the P Credit requirements and were looking to focus credits on land with lower agricultural value.

·       Councillors queried the calculations used for the ‘pounds per kilo’ figures and what they equated to.

The Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation advised that the calculations depended on the location, in Taunton 1 kilo would deliver approximately 10 homes.

·       Councillors requested clarification on the use of stacking for phosphates.

The Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation advised that stacking referred to a parcel of land and what other payments the owners could get. Biodiversity Net Gain could also be stacked on top of those.

·       Councillors queried whether there was a maximum timeframe for the use of the temporary bridging credits.

The Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation confirmed that 2030 was the target date for the temporary credits.

·       Councillors highlighted the £9.6m Mitigation Fund and queried how much had been spent as the deadline of 31 March 2025 was fast approaching.

The Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation advised that they only had to commit to the spend by the end of March and that currently they had only transferred the funds to the Housing Revenue Account for the trial.

·       Some concern was raised on differing legal advice that had been given on the mitigation case and whether Natural England would take Somerset Council to court. Other queries were raised on the Ramsar sites and Wessex Water removal works for sewerage sites.

The Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation advised that Wessex Water had their own phosphate scheme. They further clarified that the scientific data had been based on mitigation measure advice from Natural England and that the Council were working closely with Natural England on the works.

·       Councillors queried what works could be done for the smaller applications, as concern was raised on the differing impact for urban and rural areas.

·       The Service Manager for Planning Policy and Implementation advised that any area that served a population over 2000 was required to be upgraded as per the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act legislation.

Resolved 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 continued to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.