Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2023

b)  Matters arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2023 were signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services which set out the City Council’s proposed response to Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council’s (NBBC) consultation at Regulation 19 stage of their draft Borough Plan.  The response was appended to the report.

Whilst matters in the plan related to the area within NBBC’s authority boundary, given the neighbouring location, the City Council proposed the response to the consultation to recognise potential impacts across local authority boundaries.

Within the local plan review process the City Council currently proposed to use the jointly commissioned HEDNA which utilised 2021 Census Data to calculate housing and economic development needs, whilst challenging the government’s 35% uplift. Should this approach be rejected by the planning inspectorate, the authority may then require the support of neighbouring authorities.

Having considered the content of the report and the recommendations, the Cabinet Member accepted the proposed response with an amendment that the response to Question 4(3) of the consultation: “Complies with the Duty to Co-operate?” be changed to “no”, with the following explanatory text added to clarify the position:

“However, notwithstanding the ongoing work across the sub region, given the absence of a Statement of Common Ground at the point of writing we do not consider at this point that the Regulation 19 process is currently fully compliant with the requirements of the Duty to Co-operate.”

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member:

1)  Endorse the response to the consultation included at Appendix one of the report for submission to Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council’s Regulation 19 Consultation with an amendment that the response to Question 4(3) of the consultation: “Complies with the Duty to Co-operate?” be changed to “No”, and that the explanatory text as set out above be included in the response for clarification.

2)  Delegate authority to the Head of Planning Policy and Environment, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, to make any non-substantive changes to the response.

3)  Support the position that should Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council proceed with the submission of its Borough Plan to the Planning Inspectorate without addressing the concern raised by the Council, a further report be brought back to a meeting of the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities and/or Cabinet to consider whether it should object at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council's Plan Examination.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of business.