Agenda item

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

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

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)

The Chairman announced that 3 questions had been submitted ahead of the meeting and that she would read them out on behalf of the members of the public who had chosen not to join the remote meeting.   

Q1 - Mr Bill Freeman, a Lancing resident, had asked the following question:-

We are still awaiting the Southern Water proposals for upgrade of sewage infrastructure for the Shoreham area. Major developments are now coming forward within the JAAP and local plan – Old Civic Centre redevelopment, Mannings with increased dwellings, Free Wharf, Albion Street all creating substantial, additional foul waste output. 

For Free Wharf in 2018 Southern Water confirmed that there was insufficient capacity in the system without causing issues for existing users.

How can we be sure that any Southern Water proposal will provide the additional capacity and foul waste treatment required for all those developments mentioned above and others known to be coming forward?

The Head of Planning and Development advised that in preparing the Local Plan the Council consulted with all statutory providers, developed an infrastructure delivery plan and bodies, such as Southern Water, were made aware of developments coming forward in the Local Plan and the timescales involved.

On individual planning applications, the Council also sought Southern Water’s reassurance whether there were any particular works that needed to be done and how we would condition particular developments.  For Free Wharf and other developments the Council usually agreed with Southern Water a condition that required any improvements prior to connection, but there were also separate legal agreements between developers and Southern Water to connect to the foul sewage  system and if there were any issues conditions were put in place to ensure no commencement of development until improvements undertaken.

Q2 - Geoff Hodgson, a member of AREA, had asked the following question:-

The Adur Housing Delivery Test states in point 2.4.4 that the provision of important infrastructure is important to support new development and continues to remain a key aspect of local plan preparation and progression. So why are there no concrete plans put forward in the recent major applications  for increased health facilities, improving traffic, increasing the number of school places and including a nearby well equipped playground for children?

The Head of Planning and Development advised that in preparing the Local Plan the Council did a significant amount of work on assessing what infrastructure was necessary to support additional housing growth.  He said the Infrastructure Delivery Plan ran through what improvements were necessary to support particular developments.  Usually there was a need to collect a number of contributions from different developers to secure significant and sufficient funds to improve facilities e.g highways, medical facilities or open space improvements.  As an example, for the Shoreham Harbour area, the Shoreham Transport Plan identified key junctions that would need improvements and similar work had been carried out in relation to the impact of New Monks Farm and Shoreham Airport developments.  Once funds had been pooled the County Council would then be able to make improvements to key junctions.

In terms of health facilities, on individual applications, the Council consulted with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who seek contributions from various developments which they pool together to make improvements to local medical facilities.  The Council had secured contributions for major developments, such as New Monks Farm, particularly in relation to the relocation of Ball Tree Surgery.  The Officer advised that, as part of the Shoreham Harbour development, it had been necessary to replace and improve the facilities for the doctors surgeries operating out of the Pond Road site, a site owned by the County Council, and the County Council were working with the CCG to bring forward development of a new medical centre.

Q3 - Barb O’Kelly - a resident of Shoreham-by-Sea, had asked the following question:-

Government advice states that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is needed for major developments. From the information I have read, developments of over 150 units that impact significantly on the environment by virtue of factors such as nature, size and location require an EIA. What criteria does Adur council use in coming to a decision on whether an EIA is needed, by whom is the decision made

and is the reasoning published?

The Head of Planning and Development advised that the Government sets out in the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations, the various thresholds of development that may trigger a requirement for an EIA.  If a development exceeded a certain threshold the Council would judge what the likely impacts of the development would be and the extent of mitigation proposed and then decide whether those impacts were significant enough to require an EIA.   As part of that process the Council would consult with key consultation bodies and a scoping opinion would be published.  Even if the Council came to the conclusion that an EIA was not required, the validation requirements of applications would still require environmental impacts of the development to be assessed and appropriate mitigation measures put in place.