Agenda item

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive regarding the content of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s Draft Local Plan and sought approval for comments to be submitted to the Borough Council as the views of the County Council. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda item 12’, is filed with these minutes.

The Leader said that it was crucial Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council worked with the County Council to develop its Local Plan in order for the delivery of sustainable development.

Mr Bedford CC said that the County as a whole needed sustainable growth which was accompanied by the right infrastructure and this was only possible if comprehensive local plans were produced and followed. He added that whilst the Council was committed to working with the Borough Council to develop its Local Plan, its concerns with regards to transportation mitigation measures would need to be addressed by the Borough Council before the Plan could be progressed. He thanked parish councils within his division for their hard work in producing their own local neighbourhood development plans.

Mr O’Shea CC said he was concerned that the Borough Council did not have a five year housing supply which had led to the approval of ad hoc developments which lacked the necessary infrastructure. He urged the Borough Council to consider the County Council’s comments and work together for the benefit of the local community.

RESOLVED:

a)    The comments set out in the Appendix to the report be forwarded to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council as the views of the County Council on the Draft Hinckley and Bosworth Local Plan 2020 to 2039;

b)    That Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council be advised that the County Council

      I.          considers that partnership working arrangements between the Borough Council, the County Council and other partners, notably National Highways, need to be formalised as a matter of urgency;

     II.          will need to secure substantial funds from the Borough Council and other partners in order to meet the (as yet unidentified) cost of the work to identify transport mitigation measures and strategy required to support delivery of the Draft Hinckley and Bosworth Local Plan;

   III.          accordingly, requests the Borough Council to delay progressing to Regulation 19 stage of the Local Plan in order for the Draft to be fully informed by transport evidence.

REASONS FOR DECISION:

Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s new Local Plan will set out the Borough’s development strategy to 2039. Given its location close to Leicester and close functional connectivity to communities living and working in Blaby, Charnwood and North West Leicestershire, the content of the emerging Local Plan is particularly important to this area and the wider Leicester and Leicestershire Housing Market Area (L&L HMA).

The County Council wishes to see alignment of the Borough’s Draft Local Plan with other key strategies (for example, the Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan) and for it to provide a robust policy platform to secure the infrastructure and services to support its delivery and protect local communities.

It is a matter of some concern that the Borough Council has not published any transport assessment as part of the evidence base for this consultation. The highways and transport issues arising from accommodating further growth in the Borough are expected to have significant impacts on local road networks (in Leicestershire, Leicester, and Warwickshire) and the strategic road network.

As the Highway Authority the County Council would expect to see, at the point of a Local Plan’s submission, a clear understanding of the likely nature, scope, scale (cost) and deliverability of the transport measures required. Transport modelling takes time and a formal partnership approach is needed to develop transport mitigation strategies. To date, transport work has been concerned only with base inputs and potential impacts of development options.

In the current financial climate, the financial risk to the County Council needs to be minimised. Therefore a joint commitment to developing a funding strategy for how infrastructure will be funded in the Hinckley and Bosworth BC Local Plan will be essential.