Agenda, decisions and minutes

That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 September be agreed as an accurate record.

1.1    Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 September be agreed as an accurate record.

2.1    Councillor Mark Ingleby declared an interest in relation to item four as Chair of the Friends of Grove Park Nature Reserve.

2.2    Councillor Liam Curran (attending under standing orders) declared an interest in relation to item four as a Director of the Baring Trust.

2.3    Councillor Suzannah Clarke declared an interest in relation to item four as a member of the Grove Park neighbourhood forum.

That the response from Mayor and Cabinet be noted.

3.1    Resolved: That the response from Mayor and Cabinet be noted.

That the Committee would refer its views to Mayor and Cabinet as follows –

·           The Committee welcomes the updates to the Local Plan and it congratulates the planning team for its efforts in engaging with residents – particularly in the context of the difficulties posed by the global pandemic. The Committee believes that the benefits of the online engagement carried out should be captured, the valuable lessons learned and that the good practice identified should be disseminated across the Council. Members also note and welcome the work to ensure seldom heard voices are given further opportunity to feed into this key place making document.

·           The Committee notes the motion of full Council supporting the creation of an integrated district park in Grove Park as an essential part of the borough’s green infrastructure^[1].

·           The Committee recommends that the Grove Park District Park should be specifically named and included in the Lewisham Local Plan as well as the updated Infrastructure Delivery Plan (which supports the Local Plan).

·           The Committee also recommends that the Grove Park District Park should be included in Lewisham’s strategic infrastructure list of green infrastructure.

·           Furthermore, the Committee believes that all of the borough’s sites of importance for nature conservation (SINCs) should be individually named.

4.1.   David Syme introduced the report – noting the previous briefings, updates and information provided to members on the development, scope and purpose of the new local plan. He also outlined the current programme of engagement and updates to the local plan evidence base – including a summary of the ‘regulation 18’ consultation as well as the additional work carried out as a result of the consultation and the revised programme being proposed. Midway through the meeting David also spoke to a PowerPoint presentation, which is published with the minutes. In the presentation he provided an overview of the key projects, locations and site allocations in the borough for the five sub areas (southern, central, western eastern, northern) - as well as feedback and key issues from the consultation

4.2    David Syme, Emma Talbot and Erik Nilsen responded to questions from the Committee – the following key points were noted:

·           The consultation carried out on the local plan was one of the largest in London (with only the London Borough of Southwark receiving more responses to its regulation 18 consultation of those boroughs which were benchmarked by officers).

·           That the ‘urban national park’ is recognised in the plan (within the vision for the East Area, in Part 3) – but that this did not have a formally recognised designation in planning terms so reference had been made to the network of linear spaces in the east of the borough.

·           It was important not to create new terminology outside of the hierarchy of planning terms that may not be recognised in planning discussions and appeals.

·           The absence of detailed drafting in the third part of the plan was deliberate in order to enable the Committee to consider pubic consultation feedback on the Part 3 proposals and for members’ comments to be reflected in the final draft.

·           The challenges related to ensuring different sizes of property and different tenures were available for different sizes of household were recognised.

·           The work on the workspace strategy being developed by the Economy and Partnerships team was being aligned with the local plan process.

·           The Article 4 Direction provides for the removal of permitted development rights in the selected southern wards of the borough to develop houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) – but that this did not stop proposals from HMOs being submitted and approved (just that they now required planning permission to show that they were compliant with policy).

·           That further consideration would be given to the guidance on the right locations and quality of HMOs, as well as potential scope for the extension of the Article 4 Direction area.

·           It was recognised there was a requirement for affordable workspace, based on local evidence and consultation feedback.

·           The recent changes to the planning use classes order by the Government to enable businesses and landowners to more easily change the use of their premises – and whilst recognising this can support the economic recovery the challenge that this entailed for the Council to manage the mix  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

That the agenda for the meeting on 18 January be agreed.

5.1       Resolved: that the agenda for the meeting on 18 January be agreed.