Agenda item

To consider a report from the Director for the Economy, a copy is attached as item 19.

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for the Economy, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 19.

The Committee was informed that Worthing Borough Council was required to prepare a Local Plan establishing local planning policies for the Borough.  After a number of years of preparation the Worthing Local Plan was entering the final stages towards adoption.  The report summarised the progress made on the Plan and the key changes that had been made since the Draft Local Plan was published in 2018.  This included a review of comments made by members of the Planning Committee (11th November).

The report clarified the next stage of the Local Plan preparation, referred to as the Regulation 19 Pre-Submission stage. This was the final stage of the statutory process before submission of the Local Plan to Government. It involved the formal publication of the Plan that the Council proposed to submit and interested persons were invited to make representations on the ‘soundness’ and legal compliance of the document. Representations made would be passed to the Inspector appointed by Government to examine the Local Plan for them to consider as part of the examination.

Subject to approval at Full Council (15th December) the Regulation 19 version of the Local Plan was expected to be published for consultation on 26th January.

The Committee welcomed the update of the plan and paid thanks to all those involved with this work.

The recommendations in the report were proposed by Councillor Kevin Jenkins, seconded by Councillor Daniel Humphreys and unanimously supported by the Committee.

Decision: 

That the Joint Strategic Committee

       i.         considered the officer’s report, comments made by the Planning Committee (11/11/20), the key changes made to the Local Plan (Appendix 1) and the Proposed Submission Worthing Local Plan (Appendix 2).

     ii.         was satisfied that the preparation of the Worthing Local Plan had complied with the relevant regulatory requirements.  As such, the Committee recommended that Worthing Full Council (15th December) approve the Regulation 19 Pre-Submission Local Plan for publication in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.  Representations would be invited on the soundness and legal compliance of the plan.

    iii.         delegated authority to the Head of Planning & Development in consultation with the Worthing Borough Council Executive Member for Regeneration, to make minor changes to the plan (if necessary), prior to the formal publication of the Local Plan for consultation.  These would be limited to typographical, formatting, statistical updates and other minor amendments. Any such changes would be recorded in a schedule and published for transparency.

    iv.         delegated authority to the Head of Planning & Development in consultation with the Worthing Borough Council Executive Member for Regeneration, to submit the Local Plan to the Secretary of State for independent Examination under section 20(7C) of the Planning Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) together with the submission documents prescribed by Regulation 22 of the 2012 Regulations, following the conclusion of the Regulation 19 publication and a review of the representations received.

     v.         authorised the Head of Planning & Development in consultation with the Worthing Borough Council Executive Member for Regeneration, to submit a schedule of proposed minor modifications (where it was necessary to correct any errors and aid clarity) and any proposed main modifications to the submitted Local Plan and associated documents to address any issues relating to soundness and legal compliance.

    vi.         authorised the Head of Planning & Development in consultation with the Worthing Borough Council Executive Member for Regeneration, to make any main and additional modifications as part of the examination process and undertaking consultation that may be necessary on any consequential changes to the Submission version of the Local Plan (and associated documents) so that a post-Examination Adoption version could be finalised in advance of taking the Local Plan back to Full Council for approval to be adopted.

Call In:

The call-in deadline for decisions (i), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi) will be 5.00pm on 11 December 2020.

There is no call-in for recommendation (ii) to Worthing Council.