Issue details

1.            The purpose of this decision is to agree on the proposed designation of the parish of Swavesey as a Neighbourhood Area (NA). (See Appendix A – the application submitted by Swavesey Parish Council (PC)).

Background

2.            A NA must be designated before a PC can prepare a Neighbourhood Plan (NP).  There are national regulations guiding how this designation should be carried out which were revised in February 2015 and in October 2016. 

3.            The recent revision to the regulations in October state thata local planning authority must designate a neighbourhood area if it receives a valid application and some or all of the area has not yet been designated (see section 61G(5) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Act as applied to Neighbourhood plans by section 38A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004).   Where a parish council has applied for the whole of their parish to be designated the local planning authority must designate all of the area applied for.

4.            A valid neighbourhood area application is one where a ‘relevant body[1]’ has submitted an application to the local planning authority that must include:

·         a map which identifies the area to which the area application relates

·         a statement explaining why this area is considered appropriate to be designated as a neighbourhood area; and

·         a statement that the organisation or body making the area application is a relevant body for the purposes of section 61G of the 1990 Act

·          

            The application from Swavesey Parish Council

5.            The application from Swavesey Parish Council is for the whole of their parish to be designated as a neighbourhood area. None of this area has been previously designated for neighbourhood planning purposes and the application includes all the information required

Consideration by South Cambridgeshire District Council

6.            South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) is supportive of Swavesey PC preparing a NP for its parish and keen for the two councils to work together in considering the future development of the area. SCDC recognises that there have recently been a number of speculative planning applications within the village and that by preparing a NP the PC aims to play a key role alongside SCDC in shaping the future of the village.

7.            SCDC considers that the application submitted by Swavesey Parish Council is valid and therefore that the parish of Swavesey should be designated as a neighbourhood area.

Local Development Scheme

8.            The Local Development Scheme (LDS) sets out the planning documents that SCDC proposes to prepare. A report is to be considered by the Planning Portfolio Holder at his meeting on 13 December 2016 to review the existing LDS which was approved in February 2014.  A section in the LDS lists the neighbourhood areas designated within South Cambridgeshire. As Swavesey NA is being recommended for designation it is proposed that an amendment be made to the section of the revised LDS when it is reviewed in December to add this NA if it is approved.