Councillor Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     In March 2019, Plymouth City Council, South Hams and West Devon adopted the first Joint Local Plan (JLP) for Plymouth and Southwest Devon;

b)    Five years, ago, the first JLP for Plymouth and Southwest Devon was only one of five in the country and the only one to fully meet the objectivity assessed needs for housing for an entire plan period;

c)     The JLP had been a success within the three councils and had enabled them to effectively guide and promote development in relevant areas, rather than what was dictated by Government Policy;

d)    It was a legal requirement for Local Planning Authorities to complete a review of their plans at least once every five years;

e)      National Planning Policy assumed that a local plan became out of date on its fifth anniversary unless a local plan review demonstrated that its policies remained effective and up-to-date;

f)      In the absence of an up-to-date plan,  National Planning Policy would take precedence and there would be an increased risk of planning by appeal;

g)     The five year review report considered changes to National Policy and Legislation since the JLP was adopted, how the plan had performed against key targets and indicators, changes to economic, environmental and social circumstances and factored in the latest demographic data;

h)    National Policy dictated that after five years, a local plan’s housing requirement is out-of-date and would set a new housing requirement for the area based on the Government Standard Method for assessing local housing needs, this would then become the basis for the give year housing, land supply calculation and housing delivery test. The only exception to this was when a Planning Authority could demonstrate their local plan housing requirement was sufficiently close to the numbers generated using the standard method;

i)      The Government’s Standard Method was based on 2014 demographic data as a basis for its projection despite the 2021 census, and eight mid-year population estimates since 2014;

j)      The Government’s Standard Method also gave a 35% uplift to the top 20 cities in England, including Plymouth;

k)     The JLP was based on evidence, tested and supported by planning inspectors;

l)      The report set out a case for continuing the JLP housing requirements and not applying the Government’s Standard Method;

m)   The report addressed the issues of the time-limited Plymouth Airport Safeguarding Policies;

n)    The Plymouth Airport Safeguarding Policy had been pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances since 2019 including COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine and Russia war and associated economic shock and therefore more time was needed to allow the complex negotiations and actions relating to land ownership to be concluded;

o)    The report set out Plymouth City Council’s position to continue to safeguard the Airport Site through the planning process;

p)    West Devon Borough Council and South Hams District council had approved the JLP five-year review report.

Jonathan Bell (Head of Spatial Planning & Sustainable Development) added:

q)    If the review was not done, it would be difficult to effectively use the local plan.

Councillor Dann (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Sport, Leisure and HR&OD) added:

r)     The JLP prompted local councillors to ask questions around planning, transport, climate change, growth and economic land.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) added:

s)     The JLP aided with the delivery of housing as it allocated the sites and meant the Council knew strategically where to build and enabled the building of Partnerships.

Cabinet agreed to approve the Plymouth and Southwest Devon Joint Local Plan Five Year Review Report 2024 as a statement of the Council’s position in relation to the Joint Local Plan and as a material consideration for planning decisions.