Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tom Bygott, Neil Davies, Philippa Hart, Tumi Hawkins, Douglas de Lacey, Des O’Brien, Alex Riley, Deborah Roberts, Edd Stonham and David Whiteman-Downes.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members.

Reference was made to the comprehensive interests declared by Members at the meeting of Council held on 13 March 2014 when the Local Development Plan was initially being considered for submission.  Members took the interests they declared at that meeting as read in respect of the Local Development Plan’s further work and consequential modifications for consideration at this meeting. 

Councillor Cicely Murfitt, in addition to the interest she declared at the meeting on 13 March 2014, declared a disclosable pecuniary interest due to the fact that she knew one of the owners of Bourn Airfield.  She therefore left the Council Chamber at this stage of proceedings and was not in attendance during the discussion or vote for minute number 3.

It is recommended that Council:

(a)        Agrees the Report on Consultation (Appendix A and the Supplement to Appendix A (i)), the Proposed Modifications to the South Cambridgeshire Local Plan (Appendix C) and the supplement to the Sustainability Appraisal Addendum (Appendix E) be approved for submission to the Inspectors examining the Local Plan.

(b)        Agrees that the documents attached to this report as Appendices F to J are noted and submitted as part of the evidence base for the Local Plan.

(c)        Agrees that delegated authority be given to the Director of Planning and New Communities to make any subsequent minor amendments and editing changes, in consultation with the Planning Portfolio Holder.

Due to their size, Appendix A (Part B) and Appendices B, D, E, F, G, H, I and J have not been included within the agenda pack for this meeting.  These are available for viewing online via the following link:

http://scambs.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=410&MId=6694&Ver=4

Council AGREED:

(a)       That the Proposed Modification Report on Consultation, as set out in Appendix A and the supplement to Appendix A(i), the proposed modifications to the South Cambridgeshire Local Plan at Appendix C and the supplement to the Sustainability Appraisal Addendum at Appendix E, be approved for submission to the Inspectors examining the Local Plan.

(b)       That the documents attached to the report at Appendices F to J be noted and submitted as part of the evidence base for the Local Plan.

(c)        That delegated authority be given to the Director of Planning and New Communities to make any subsequent minor amendments and editing changes, in consultation with the Planning Portfolio Holder.

NOTE – further to her declaration of a disclosable pecuniary interest in minute number 2, Councillor Cicely Murfitt had left the meeting prior to the commencement of this item and was not present for the discussion or vote.

Council considered a report which set out the results of the consultation on proposed modifications to the Cambridge Local Plan and South Cambridgeshire Local Plan, held between 2 December 2015 and 25 January 2016.

Councillor Robert Turner, Portfolio Holder for Planning, proposed the recommendations contained within the report and took an opportunity to pay tribute to Caroline Hunt, Planning Policy Manager, and her team who had undertaken so much work to get the Council to this stage of the process.  He also thanked colleagues from Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridge City Council.

Councillor Turner, in presenting the report, reminded Members that two years ago the Council had agreed to submit the Local Plan for examination by Inspectors.  A letter had subsequently been received from the Inspectors in May 2015 requesting further work in a number of areas and the Council had agreed to undertake this work to address the issues raised by the Inspectors.  The additional work fed into the creation of the proposed modifications consultation document for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.  He explained that this had been approved by both Councils for consultation at their respective meetings held on 30 November 2015. 

Councillor Turner reported that the consultation process had taken place between 2 December 2015 and 25 January 2016 on proposed modifications to the Cambridge Local Plan and South Cambridgeshire Local Plan, together with the associated sustainability appraisal report.  It was noted that the consultation had received a total of 1,037 representations, made up of responses from 222 individuals, groups and organisations as outlined in the report.  All representations had been assessed and reviewed by the consultants as part of the evidence base for the Local Plan, which had also taken relevant Greater Cambridge City Deal transport infrastructure schemes into account. 

Councillor Turner highlighted that the main modification proposed following the conclusion of the consultation process related to the piece of land located in the green belt to the south of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.  Further work on this aspect of the Plan would be undertaken separately and considered again by the Council in due course.

Councillor Ray Manning, Leader of the Council, seconded the proposal.

Councillor Aidan Van de Weyer was pleased to see that further work would take place in respect of the land south of the Biomedical Campus, particularly in view of the close proximity of this piece of land to Nine Wells nature reserve.  He added that any development on this piece of land would have a detrimental impact on the delicate ecosystem and hydrology of the nature reserve’s system of wells.  Councillor Van de Weyer said that this important nature reserve needed to be protected and was keen for Members to ensure that this occurred when the matter came back to the Council for reconsideration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.