Issue - meetings

Report DRR16/087

The Committee considered a report seeking the agreement of Members to the Local Development Scheme (LDS) for 2016-18.  The current legislative requirements for the LDS were to only include the development plan documents (DPD) which were subject to independent examination which for Bromley would be the Borough-wide Local Plan and the review of the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan which would follow the adoption of the first document.  The Local Development Scheme also set out an indicative timescale for the preparation of a local Community Infrastructure Levy and a new Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).

It had been anticipated that the planning and housing reforms including a revised National Policy Framework would have been published over the summer, however, while some parts had been produced details of the Starter Home Initiative and the revised NPPF had been delayed.  The revised timescale in Appendix 2 to the LDS showed the proposed Submission Draft Local Plan consultation in November/December 2016 with submission to the Secretary of State in early 2017 and adoption of the Local Plan by the end of 2017.

The new Local Development Scheme sought to reflect (i) recent Government planning reforms and anticipate the work involved from any future changes, (ii) the Council’s resources and lessons learnt from other authorities and Inspectors’ reports regarding timescales, and (iii) the increased burden on authorities to demonstrate that plans were based on objective and up-to-date evidence to be found ‘sound’.  There was a requirement for the Local Plan to be in conformity with the London Plan which formed part of the Development Plan for the Borough.

The LDS outlined the further evidence required to support the Local Plan making process and ensure soundness, along with the risks and measures to mitigate these. The draft LDS also set out the timescale for the preparation of a Bromley Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). The third set of CIL regulations increased the consultation period for each stage of the preparation of the charging schedule for CIL to six weeks, and again increased the burden for evidence of viability and the proposed infrastructure to be funded based on an up to date development plan. On this basis the LDS showed the CIL Examination following closely after the Local Plan Examination.

RESOLVED that the Executive be recommended to approve the revised Local Development Scheme for 2016-2018 as the formal management document for the production of the Bromley Local plan and the review of the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan