Agenda and minutes

Any substitute members should declare their substitution.

Councillor Karen Harman substituted for Councillor Paul Westover. 

Members and Officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda.  Declarations should also be made at any stage such as interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

Members and Officers may seek advice upon any relevant interest from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting.

Councillors Paul High and Noel Atkins both declared an interest as elected Members of West Sussex County Council (WSCC).

During the meeting, Councillor Paul Baker declared an interest in the Chatsmore Farm Gap as he was actively involved in the Worthing Rugby Club and was aware of previous discussions on the possible relocation of the Club.

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by midday on Monday 9 November 2020.

Where meetings are held remotely, no question will be permitted from the public unless such notice has been given.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services -

democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Public Question Time will last for a maximum of 30 minutes)

There were no questions raised under Public Question Time.

To approve the minutes of the Planning Committee meetings of the Committee held on Wednesday 4 November 2020, which have been emailed to Members.

There were no minutes to confirm.

To consider any items the Chair of the meeting considers urgent.

There were no items raised under urgency provisions.

The Chairman advised there were no planning applications to consider as Members were being asked to consider and comment on the Pre-Submission draft Local Plan.

The Councillor stated that a summary of comments from the Committee would be noted and reported to the Joint Strategic Committee (JSC) on 1 December 2020 and if necessary, appropriate changes would be made to the Local Plan in advance of that meeting.  Full Council on 15 December 2020 would then be asked to approve the Plan for a period of statutory consultation.

Officers would make a note of comments during the meeting to be forwarded to JSC.

To consider the reports by the Director for the Economy, attached as Item 6.

The Head of Planning and Development (HofPD) introduced the item which was to consider the Pre-Submission version of the Worthing Local Plan, and said it was vital the Planning Committee were involved in the framing of new planning policies.

The Officer thanked the Worthing Planning Policy Manager and his team for the significant amount of work carried out to get to the next stage, and mentioned the  Covid-19 pandemic had greatly impacted the work.

He stated It was a very important corporate document, setting out the spatial strategy for guiding future development over the next 15 years, and had been a collaborative approach in preparation of the Plan by engaging with stakeholders, the public, landowners and cross-party Member groups and workshops.

The HofPD handed over to the Worthing Planning Policy Manager to run through the key elements of the Plan and to highlight any changes that had come forward, particularly over the last two years since the last consultation with the public in 2018.

The Worthing Planning Policy Manager shared a number of slides with the Committee Members which explained what the Local Plan does; the progress made to date; the key changes that had taken place; allocations and housing land supply; and the next steps for the Plan.

The Officer advised the Local Plan provided a long term vision as to how the town would grow and develop over the next 10-15 years; it established clear policies to determine applications; and included the allocation of different land uses across the Borough.  As Members were aware there were competing demands on land and the Officer advised  the team had to balance and determine the best outcome, which was basically sustainable development. 

Members were advised there was no set format for the Plan but the Officer believed the team had provided the most logical fit for Worthing and demonstrated a very clear delivery strategy.

The Officer made reference to the Planning White Paper, which he concurred had received plenty of coverage both locally and nationally, and he outlined its potential impacts on the Plan.  Members were advised however, that any changes would not be imminent, possibly until 2024, and although not ideal timing, the key message had been to progress with the Local Plan through to adoption.

The Officer summarised the key changes made to the Plan since 2018 and referred Members to Appendix 1 of the report.  He advised the Plan had been structured around the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) goals i.e. social, economic and environmental issues, with particular focus on the town centre.  He felt it was a more sustainable plan, and to make it more user-friendly an improved format and graphics had been used. 

Members were advised an important key change in response to climate change had been the inclusion in the Plan of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which had been a useful tool for the team, and the Officer outlined the Policy requirements for sustainability.

The Officer summarised another key change, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item WBC-PC/59/20-21