Agenda item

Standing in the name of Councillor Peter Topping

The Leader of the Council received a letter from the Housing Minister dated 26 July asking her “to bring forward ambitious proposals for transformational housing growth, including new settlements”, by mid-September.

 

This Council notes the recommendations set out in the recently published report by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review that councils should focus on “exemplary” place making and quality of design in order to ensure that accelerated house building does not remove the qualities that make South Cambridgeshire an attractive place for companies to invest in and people to move to, and therefore instructs the Chief Executive and the Director of Planning and Economic Development to bring proposals forward, as the planning authority, that demonstrate how the Council is proposing to meet this expectation.

 

Decision:

Following amendment of the original motion, Council AGREED the following motion:

 

The Leader of the Council received a letter from the Housing Minister dated 26 July asking her “to bring forward ambitious proposals for transformational housing growth, including new settlements”, by mid-September.

 

This Council notes the recommendations set out in the recently published report by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review that councils should focus on “exemplary” place making and quality of design in order to ensure that accelerated house building does not remove the qualities that make South Cambridgeshire an attractive place for companies to invest in and people to move to, and therefore instructs the Chief Executive and the Director of Planning and Economic Development to prepare a presentation, as the planning authority, that demonstrates how the Council is seeking to meet this expectation.

Minutes:

Councillor Peter Topping moved the following motion as set out in the agenda:-

 

“The Leader of the Council received a letter from the Housing Minister dated 26 July asking her “to bring forward ambitious proposals for transformational housing growth, including new settlements”, by mid-September.

 

This Council notes the recommendations set out in the recently published report by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review that councils should focus on “exemplary” place making and quality of design in order to ensure that accelerated house building does not remove the qualities that make South Cambridgeshire an attractive place for companies to invest in and people to move to, and therefore instructs the Chief Executive and the Director of Planning and Economic Development to bring proposals forward, as the planning authority, that demonstrate how the Council is proposing to meet this expectation.”

 

In moving the motion, Councillor Topping commented that, during a visit to South Cambridgeshire earlier in the year, Sir Oliver Letwin had observed that some of the settlements under construction fell short of the ambition to achieve quality place making.  Councillor Topping noted that the Council owed a duty to its residents to ensure that the significant amount of development to be delivered in the future was of the very highest standard.  He drew comfort from the wording in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review (CPIER) report that called for exemplary design.  Whilst welcoming the opportunity being afforded to communities to take part in design workshops, Councillor Topping emphasised the importance of the Council focusing on place making and high quality design so that people continued to move to South Cambridgeshire because it was an attractive place to live. 

 

The motion was seconded by Councillor Nick Wright.

 

Councillor Aidan Van de Weyer moved that the second paragraph of the motion be amended by the deletion of words and their replacement (as indicated in strikethrough and underlined text below respectively) to read as follows:

 

This Council notes the recommendations set out in the recently published report by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review that councils should focus on “exemplary” place making and quality of design in order to ensure that accelerated house building does not remove the qualities that make South Cambridgeshire an attractive place for companies to invest in and people to move to, and therefore instructs the Chief Executive and the Director of Planning and Economic Development to prepare a presentation bring proposals forward, as the planning authority, that demonstrates how the Council is meeting proposing to meet this expectation.”

 

Councillor Van de Weyer explained that the motion as worded did not recognise the active work already being undertaken by the Council in this area.  His amendment accordingly proposed that officers should make a presentation to Members highlighting the activity of the Council in promoting high quality design and he gave some examples of work already taking place.

 

The amendment was seconded by Councillor Dr. Tumi Hawkins. 

 

During discussion:-

 

·         Councillor Nick Wright indicated that he did not support the amendment as he wished to see positive proposals coming forward, rather than just a presentation from officers.

·         Councillor Peter Topping spoke in support of more positive action to address the issue, rather than one presentation and commented on the need to ensure that officers were not constrained in responding to the challenge.

·         Councillor Philippa Hart disputed whether calling for a presentation was a less active course of action and supported the amendment.

·         Councillor Bridget Smith echoed the points made by Councillor Van de Weyer about the work already in progress and noted that focusing on exemplary place making was a priority for the new Administration. She referred to a recent Leaders’ meeting she had attended relating to the Oxford/Cambridge corridor at which she had taken the opportunity to articulate the vision that South Cambridgeshire would be a seed bed for high quality design and environmentally sustainable development.  She supported the amendment because much work was already underway and it was appropriate for a presentation to be delivered to update Members on that work. 

·         Councillor Deborah Roberts commented that she had sympathy for both the original motion and the amendment.  However she had reservations about the wording of that part of the amendment that stated “….that demonstrates how the Council is meeting this expectation.”  Councillor Roberts questioned whether the Council was meeting the expectation already and therefore suggested that the wording should be amended to read “….that demonstrates how the Council is seeking to meet this expectation”.  Councillor Van de Weyer indicated his acceptance of this alteration of the wording of his amendment. 

 

Prior to putting the amendment to the vote, the Chairman confirmed that the revised wording put forward by Councillor Roberts and accepted by Councillor Van de Weyer, formed part of the amendment before Council.

 

Upon being put to the vote, votes were cast on the amendment as follows:

 

In favour (32):

 

Councillors Phillip Allen, Henry Batchelor, John Batchelor, Anna Bradnam, Dr. Martin Cahn, Nigel Cathcart, Sarah Cheung Johnson, Dr. Claire Daunton, Dr. Douglas de Lacey, Clare Delderfield, Neil Gough, Jose Hales, Bill Handley, Philippa Hart, Geoff Harvey, Dr. Tumi Hawkins, Pippa Heylings, Steve Hunt, Alex Malyon, Tony Mason, Peter McDonald, Brian Milnes, Dawn Percival, Judith Rippeth, Deborah Roberts, Nick Sample, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Dr. Ian Sollom, Aidan Van de Weyer, John Williams and  Eileen Wilson

 

Against (10)

 

Ruth Betson, Dr. Shrobona Bhattacharya, Tom Bygott, Graham Cone, Sue Ellington, Mark Howell, Peter Topping, Bunty Waters, Heather Williams and Nick Wright

 

Abstain (1)

 

Peter Fane

 

During discussion on the substantive motion:

 

·         Councillor Nigel Cathcart felt that there had been insufficient focus on design in the past and commented on the need for a design guide setting out general principles and expected standards. He welcomed the opportunity presented by the motion to increase awareness of design and its importance in fostering a sense of community wellbeing but questioned how raising standards of design would be achieved and hoped that sufficient resource would be available to support delivery of the objective.

·         Councillor Philippa Hart reflected that there was insufficient focus on design considerations and wondered whether there might be merit in the Planning Committee taking a tour of examples of good and bad design.  She spoke of the importance of preserving the quirky features that made villages unique and also commented on the need to explore further the findings in the CPIER report.

·         Councillor John Batchelor, in his capacity as Chairman of Planning Committee, reflected on the “bog standard” nature of many designs presented and suggested that the Council needed to do more to make clear its expectations to developers. 

·         Councillor Dr. Tumi Hawkins reminded the Council of the launch of village design statements which described the distinctive character of a village and set out guidelines for how this should be enhanced by new developments.  The village design statements would be adopted as Supplementary Planning Documents so would be a significant consideration in determining applications and appeals. 8 villages had been selected to be part of a pilot scheme and it was expected that the new village design statements would be delivered in 2018/19.

·         Councillor Nick Wright, with reference back to the development of Northstowe, commented on an award winning design guide which had been prepared by Cambridge Horizons and which most local authorities across Cambridgeshire had signed up to. He suggested that the guide should be revisited and updated. Councillor Wright spoke in support of an approach favouring urban and modern design in the new towns to be created in the District, rather than seeking to recreate villages in those new developments.  

·         Councillor Topping agreed that the findings of the CPIER report should be considered in more depth.  He felt that there was a need to speak with a range of audiences outside the Council, including developers and residents, to promote exemplary place making and quality of design. Councillor Topping welcomed the assurances given that work was already in progress but noted that his original motion had sought to achieve the bringing forward by officers of proposals in support of the delivery of the ambitions outlined.

 

Upon being put to the vote, votes were cast as follows on the substantive motion:

 

In favour (41):

 

Councillors Phillip Allen, Henry Batchelor, John Batchelor, Ruth Betson, Dr. Shrobona Bhattacharya, Anna Bradnam, Tom Bygott, Dr. Martin Cahn, Nigel Cathcart, Sarah Cheung Johnson, Dr. Claire Daunton, Dr. Douglas de Lacey, Clare Delderfield, Sue Ellington, Peter Fane, Neil Gough, Jose Hales, Bill Handley, Philippa Hart, Geoff Harvey, Dr. Tumi Hawkins, Pippa Heylings, Mark Howell, Steve Hunt, Alex Malyon, Tony Mason, Peter McDonald, Brian Milnes, Dawn Percival, Judith Rippeth, Deborah Roberts, Nick Sample, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Dr. Ian Sollom, Peter Topping, Aidan Van de Weyer, Heather Williams, John Williams, Eileen Wilson and Nick Wright

 

 

Against (2)

 

Graham Cone and Bunty Waters

 

Abstain (0)

 

 

Council

 

RESOLVED:

 

The Leader of the Council received a letter from the Housing Minister dated 26 July asking her “to bring forward ambitious proposals for transformational housing growth, including new settlements”, by mid-September.

 

This Council notes the recommendations set out in the recently published report by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Review that councils should focus on “exemplary” place making and quality of design in order to ensure that accelerated house building does not remove the qualities that make South Cambridgeshire an attractive place for companies to invest in and people to move to, and therefore instructs the Chief Executive and the Director of Planning and Economic Development to prepare a presentation, as the planning authority, that demonstrates how the Council is seeking to meet this expectation.