(i)         that the Cabinet appoint a non-decision making Local Plan Working Party with the following terms of reference and membership:

Terms of Reference:

1)    To support the Local Planning Authority’s review of the Torbay Local Plan 2012-2030 and any other associated documents as may be deemed appropriate by the Assistant Director of Planning, Housing and Climate Emergency;

2)    To identify relevant interested parties, including Neighbourhood Forums and Developers, to be invited to attend meetings.

Membership:

Politically balanced - 4 Conservatives, 3 Liberal Democrats, 2 Independents and of those members to include the Cabinet Member for Instructure, Environment and Culture, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration, Tourism and Housing

(ii)       that, in consultation with Local Plan Working Party, the Assistant Director of Planning, Housing and Climate Emergency be given delegated authority to agree the content of documents for consultation during the review;

(iii)      that, following the review but before December 2020, a recommendation is brought to Cabinet on whether or not to revise the Torbay Local Plan 2021-2030;

(iv)      if a revision is recommended, that there shall be a scope and programme for the update of the Local Plan accompanying the recommendation; and

(v)       that every effort shall be made by all involved in the process to ensure efficiency and to deliver the review (and update if required) as soon as practicable to ensure Torbay and its community has an up-to-date Local Plan in place wherever possible.

To support the initial scoping of the Review of the Local Plan, and the Review itself, it was proposed to establish a Working Party to ensure that all political groups on the Council were involved in this work, and for the Working Party to assist in guiding Officers to ensure that there is good engagement with all interested parties, including Neighbourhood Forums, to inform decisions and also that a Local Plan Stakeholder Engagement Group be established.

Alternative options were set out in the submitted report.

This decision will come into force and may be implemented on 27 July 2020 unless the call-in procedure is triggered (as set out in the Standing Orders in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).

The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 required that Local Plans were reviewed at least every five years.  The Torbay Local Plan (2012-2030) was adopted in December 2015 and so a review was due before December 2020.  These Regulations also required that the Statement of Community Involvement was reviewed.

The Local Authority was required to consider whether to revise the document following the review, or if it decided not to revise the document, to publish the reasons for considering that no revisions were necessary.

In order to support the initial scoping of the Review, and the Review itself, it was proposed to establish a Working Party, and for the Working Party to assist in guiding Officers to ensure that there is good engagement with all interested parties, including Neighbourhood Forums, to inform decisions, which it was proposed be done through a Local Plan Stakeholder Engagement Group.

Councillor Morey proposed and Councillor Long seconded a motion that was agreed unanimously by the Cabinet as set out above

None