To receive a report.

The Chairman updated Members on the background to the Report, the workshops undertaken, the methodology behind the scoring and the need to get a better understanding of the detail as to what made settlements sustainable in the 21^st century.  

The Senior Policy Officer, Planning highlighted the detail within the report, including the findings of the workshop held in November 2021, the 2022 Report from that workshop and discussion on employment scoring in the different parishes as there was currently no available data on large employers and how this information could be extracted from alternative information.  At the workshop there were a number of suggestions made, however no conclusion was reached as of the last meeting, therefore officers would further consider how this could be progressed.  One suggestion made at the workshop was regarding non-domestic rates, and to increase the figure used from £1,000 to £10,000, capturing more employment patterns.  The Senior Policy Officer noted that using non-domestic rates was the most reliable source of data, despite some employers slipping under this threshold, for example schools, as this data was already captured elsewhere.  It was concluded that this data would be the best option to capture the range and type of employment. 

The history of previous data sources was noted, and that the Strategic Road Network data was now no longer available, hence the subsequent move to use the county’s gritting routes.  However, it was highlighted that the recent significant increase in gritted routes, to include more rural districts had meant that this data no longer gave any relevant value as there were very few communities excluded from the gritting map.  Therefore, the officers suggested that this data was no longer useful as it did not serve its original purpose.

The Senior Policy Officer noted that regarding the changes made following the workshop and further consideration, it was necessary to look at where the threshold was set within the points scoring system.  Members were referred to Paragraph 2.11 the outcome would be in terms of sizes of villages and any changes to this.  It was considered that there would be fewer medium villages compared to those currently in the Local Plan, therefore the policy relating to small and medium villages would not be the same moving forward and this  needed to be considered when deciding which settlements were to be placed in which category. 

The Chairman observed that whichever methodology was used not everybody would agree and that it was important to remember that it was the scoring under consideration, not the thresholds.

In relation to Table 2.11, a Member asked where the other 14 villages would be placed. Members were advised that depending on changes on the ground and the way points were calculated, the villages referred to have transferred either up or down into different categories.

A Member asked if the Strategic Road Network/gritting route data would be replaced with anything else, in response Members were advised that it would not be used as a metric, given the changes outlined within the Report.  The Assistant Director, Planning and Strategic Infrastructure noted the difficulty of setting up something that was empirical and evidence-based to create a clear scoring system.  Members were advised that nothing was yet set in stone, however, this provided something to consult on, where changes could be made to scoring based on that consultation.  This would ultimately be assessed by an examiner and it was considered that what had been produced so far was the best achieved without the road network being used at this stage.

The Chairman reiterated that this piece of work was to look at what should be scored, not setting where the thresholds were between small and medium villages.  However, it was acknowledged that there may be implications for where thresholds were set if the gritting network data was not used.  It was considered at the completion of this exercise, the Committee needed to look at where the cut offs were set, and Members needed to see what this looked like on the ground, whilst balancing objectivity with their experiences in the district. 

A Member noted that some villages may want to be seen as one settlement rather than two and asked for clarification from officers that the business rates figure of £10,000 was the amount paid, and notthe rateable value.  

The Assistant Director, Planning and Strategic Infrastructure responded that there would be the opportunity for feedback to be considered and nothing on this was fixed until after the examination process which was independently tested by the Planning Inspectorate.  He reiterated that in relation to the ‘health risk’ referred in the document, it was highlighted that this was a snapshot in time and the Council had the processes in place to make changes before the Plan was due to be examined. 

The Chairman noted that the medium settlements were going to be the more sustainable settlements and commented that it could be difficult to discern the differences between medium and small villages, therefore it was important to look at improvements to the quality of the evidence.  The Chairman also thanked all those Members involved in the Working Group.

Following which it was,

RESOLVED:

That the changes to the policy proposed were supported by Planning Policy Committee.