An Extraordinary Meeting of the Environment and Sustainability Committee was convened on 29th February to determine options prior to the resumption of the Examination of the Local Plan by the Planning Inspector.
To see the scope of those options, please go here
The outcome which followed the casting vote of the Chairman was as follows:
The Committee resolved to propose to the Inspector to remove all Green Belt allocations from the Local Plan with the exception of the two allocations that meet the need for Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople.
The Committee resolved to propose to the Inspector to keep all proposed flood risk sites but remove those at high risk of flooding and move some higher risk sites to later in the Plan period (11-15 years) to allow the River Thames Scheme to be operational and effective, the design code to be completed, and subject to no resolution objection from the Environment Agency.
The Committee resolved to propose to the Inspector to withdraw the Staines Development Framework as a core document.
We will be interested to see how the Planning Inspector reacts to these fundamental changes in policy; and whether he can allow these resolutions as "main modifications". It's also entirely possible that the Minister of State for Housing will have an opinion following the example of his predecessor, Rachel McLean, with whom the Leader of the Council had a difficult exchange of correspondence.
