Agenda and minutes

To be a City Council member

Resolved to appoint Councillor Linda Woodings as Chair of the Committee for the 2020/21 municipal year.

To be a County Council member

Resolved to appoint Councillor Gordon Wheeler as Vice-Chair of the Committee for the 2020/21 municipal year.

In Councillor Wooding’s absence, Councillor Wheeler chaired the meeting.

Councillor Linda Woodings - leave

None.

Last meeting held on 6 March 2020 (for confirmation)

Subject to amendments to the wording of minutes 5 and 6, the Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2020 as a correct record.

Report of Joint Officer Steering Group

James Ashton, Transport Strategy Manager, Nottingham City Council, presented the report providing an update on the transport related issues across the greater Nottingham conurbation, highlighting the following:

(a)  in February this year the City Council began to trial a new system for collecting data related to the operation of the transport network. The data from the trial has been used to understand the impact of the Covid 19 crisis on transport in Nottingham. General traffic levels (cars and motorcycles) are now at around 80-85% of normal levels, but passenger numbers remain low at around a third of normal levels on buses and the tram is operating with around 23-25% of normal passenger numbers. Cycling levels have increased, particularly at weekends where numbers were up to 200% higher than normal;

(b)  the City Council received £570,000 and the County Council received £263,250 through tranche one of the Emergency Active Travel Fund to spend on schemes to improve routes for cyclists and pedestrians;

(c)  initial conversations are taking place between officers at the City and County Councils regarding the potential to submit a bid to Midland Connect to enable the preparation of a scheme around the A6002 / A610 junction close to Junction 26 of the M1. Details of the scheme are yet to be finalised however the scheme would be aimed at reducing congestion both through the junction and also on the approach arms to the junction;

(d)  all NCT buses have now been retrofitted to meet the highest emissions standards. Trent Barton and CT4N are also retrofitting their buses but this has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and will be complete by January 2021.

Committee members commented on the lack of information on rail services in the report. Rail colleagues have been invited to the next meeting.

They also commented on the inconvenience of the ongoing closure of Clifton Bridge and suggested lobbying local MPs to raise this.

Resolved to note the contents of the report.

Report of Joint Officer Steering Group

Peter McAnespie, Partnerships and Local Plans Manager, presented the report and gave a presentation on the White Paper, which contains far-reaching proposed changes to the planning system, which will impact on the work of this Committee. Consultation runs for 12 weeks and closes on 31^st October. Peter highlighted the following:

(a)  the government considers the current planning system to be outdated, slow and bureaucratic and proposes changes to plan making, decision making and developer contributions;

(b)  the Local Plan will be simplified and will focus on identifying ‘growth areas’, renewal areas’ and ‘protected areas’. They will be subject to a simplified ‘sustainable development test’ replacing the existing ‘tests of soundness’;

(c)  the five year housing supply requirement may be scrapped, but enough land should still be planned for and the presumption in favour of sustainable development will be maintained;

(d)  Sustainability Appraisals are to be replaced with a simplified process for assessing the environmental impact of plans;

(e)  a new developer contributions system is to be introduced with a nationally set, flat-rate charge based on the final value of the development;

(f)  community consultation at the planning application stage is to be streamlined with more emphasis on engagement at the plan-making stage. Determination of planning applications is to be faster and more certain with firm deadlines and penalties for councils that fail to determine applications within the statutory time limit.

Resolved to

(1)  consider the content of the White Paper in so far as it relates to the work of the Committee;

(2)  note the intention of both councils to respond to the consultations, and for a joint response to be prepared and submitted by the Greater Nottingham Joint Planning Advisory Board.

Report of Joint Officer Steering Group

Peter McAnespie, Partnerships and Local Plans Manager, presented the minutes of the Greater Nottingham Joint Planning Advisory Board to the Committee. Two presentations were given, one on the Toton Supplementary Planning Document and one on a Growth Options Study for Greater Nottingham.

Resolved to note the contents of the minutes and presentations.

Report of Joint Officer Steering Group

Sally Gill, Group Manager Planning, Nottinghamshire County Council, presented the report, informing the Committee of progress with preparation of the Nottinghamshire Minerals Local Plan and the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Waste Local Plan, highlighting the following:

(a)  the Draft Minerals Local Plan was submitted for examination in February 2020. Planned hearing sessions in April were postponed due to the Covid-19 Outbreak, and have now been confirmed for the week of Monday 26^th October. Local community representatives who have made comments on the plan, including on proposed sites, have been invited to the sessions;

(b)  consultation on the Waste Local Plan was extended due to the Covid-19 Outbreak, and around 270 representations were received. Nine sites were put forward for potential waste development facilities and these will now be considered.

Resolved to note the contents of the report.

Report of Joint Officer Steering Group

Resolved to

(1)  note the Joint Committee’s work programme and give consideration to any future items;

(2)  identify any work areas where partnership working between the two authorities would be mutually beneficial.

To agree to meet at 10.30am on the following Fridays (either at Loxley House or via Zoom video conferencing, dependent upon the pandemic situation at the time):

11 December 2020

05 March 2021

Resolved to agree to meet at 10.30am on the following Fridays (either at Loxley

House or via Zoom video conferencing, dependent upon the pandemic

situation at the time):

11 December 2020

05 March 2021