The pre-submission draft of the Local Plan – which will set
out Cornwall ’s planning policies
for 2010-2030 – was debated at Cornwall Council today.
As the Chairman of the Planning Policy Advisory Panel (PPAP),
I presented a series of recommendations.
These included higher affordable housing targets, a commitment to more
affordable housing when public land is redeveloped, the inclusion of Areas of
Great Landscape Value and Areas of Great Historic Value, a commitment to carry
out more work on the cumulative and other impacts of renewal energy
developments, as well as revised policies on landfill, infill sites in rural
areas, and retail developments.
I was pleased that most of these recommendations were
accepted with a handful of rather limited further tweaks. The meeting did then
descend into a certain amount of chaos as the housing target for the next
twenty years was considered.
At the start of the debate, I spoke in favour of PPAP’s
recommendation of 38,000, which we have consistently backed up with a range of detailed
evidence.
The first amendment was for the officers’ latest
recommendation of 45,400 – down from their earlier recommendations of 54,000,
49,000 and 48,500. This was voted down by 60 votes to 42.
A further amendment for a housing target of 29,000 was moved
by Bert Biscoe and overwhelmingly defeated.
At this point, representatives from Bodmin, Falmouth
and Newquay argued for higher housing allocations for their towns. An amendment
was moved, adding 1,900 housing units to Bodmin, 1,100 to Falmouth ,
and 1,300 to Newquay, bringing the overall housing target to 43,250.
My fellow MK councillors and I could not support this
increase and voted against the amendment. It was however passed by 58 votes to
33.
The document will now be consulted upon once again, with the
results reported back to the new Council after the May elections for the
newly-elected members to refer it to the Secretary of State so that it can be
presented to the Planning Inspectorate for the necessary Inquiry.
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