(a)

on 15 January 2015 the Planning Committee was minded to grant the Drake’s Island planning application and deferred the item until March 2015 to allow negotiations to continue to resolve outstanding issues in respect of the following:

·         flood risk

·         impacts on the Special Protection Area (SPA) and impact on the Special Area of Conservation (SAC)

·         for officers to prepare and consult upon a Habitat Regulations Assessment;

(b)

Planning Committee Members were provided with an update at 12 March 2015 Committee meeting and were reminded that the application had been deferred pending further negotiations with the applicant regarding the previous areas of concerns including the submission of a mitigation plan in relation to the island’s little egret colony; a further update was scheduled for 23 April 2015 Planning Committee, however this was not possible; negotiations continued;

(c)

the Environment Agency (EA) was initially concerned that wave actions on the proposed ‘torpedo room’ on the Drake’s Island Development could result in a flood risk; the applicant had since amended the plans, changing the use of the torpedo room from a bedroom to a living room and therefore alleviating concerns. The EA submitted a new formal consultation response confirming they no longer had objections to the development and recommended a set of conditions mitigating other areas of risk;

(d)

Natural England maintained its objection to the application as it considered it was not possible to ascertain that the proposal would not result in adverse effects on the integrity of the Tamar Estuaries Complex Special Protection Area (SPA). With regards to the Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Officers had worked with the applicant and Natural England, to overcome Natural England’s outstanding concern with regards to potential damage to the eelgrass beds from boats approaching the island. It had been agreed that the applicant would enter into a legal agreement to fund the creation of a by-law that would control the moorings should the twelve month voluntary period of management and monitoring fail in respect of the moorings, boat movements and eelgrass;

(e)

the issue surrounding the impact of the proposed development upon the little egret colony was still ongoing; further field work assessing the situation was required during the summer months.

(f)

the applicant had agreed in principle to the onsite work sought by Natural England to assess noise impacts on the little egret colony on the island however dates had not yet been decided;

(g)

Natural England are statutory consultees; if they, as a statutory body, continued to have objections to the Drake’s Island planning application then it was possible for the final decision on the application to be made by the Secretary of State  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

(a)

the ambitious vision for the Plymouth Plan was supported at Cabinet on 11 September 2012 whereby the aim was to consolidate a number of plans and strategies into one overarching holistic plan for the city; the plan would be reviewed every five years;

(b)

the Plymouth Plan would contain approximately 140 plans and strategies including the statutory development plan, the local transport plan, the health & wellbeing strategy and the local economic strategy;

(c)

the plan was being prepared in two parts with the first dealing with the overarching strategy and the second with more site specific detail;

(d)

the plan itself was set out in a modular format which was interactive, easy to navigate and organised in themes;

(e)

discussions with the community and partners as well as evidence collation was undertaken during 2013/2014 with final adoption expected in 2017.

(f)

the supplementary planning document was being considered as part of part two of the Plymouth Plan – Members would have the opportunity to have an input in this document;

(g)

Officers were aware of the difficulty around the five year supply of land for housing. They confirmed that Planning Inspectors were unwilling to give weight to new housing needs figures until a development plan had been adopted;

(h)

Officers had done extensive research when planning the Plymouth Plan and looked at model types across the country but specifically focused on The Portland Plan (USA) where they had also adopted a holistic approach;

(i)

Officers had worked closely with the Environment Agency when developing the Plymouth Plan, specifically with regards to flood risk; it was important for the plan to be aspirational but equally realistic;

(j)

Officers appreciated that health, specifically in regards to disability, was an important part of the plan;

(k)

the Plymouth Plan was trying to achieve a variety of things for the city including works around the History Centre, the Forder Valley Link Road, Integrated Health and Social Care and the electrification of the main railway line; it was therefore difficult for Officers to set the Plan’s top three priorities.