Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interest was declared:

Agenda Item 4 – Core Strategy – Proposed Submission Version

Councillor Joyce Nickolay declared a personal interest in that she was a Rayners Lane Ward Councillor and would be making comments on the Rayners Lane and North Harrow section of the draft Core Strategy.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 50 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting.

Report of the Corporate Director Place Shaping.

The Panel received a report of the Divisional Director Planning on the Harrow Core Strategy, which it was intended to publish for public consultation in March 2011, prior to its submission to the Secretary of State in May 2011.

It was noted that, following the consideration by the Panel of the consultation responses made to the Council’s ‘preferred option’, published in November 2009, the Core Strategy had been revised in line with the approach agreed by the Panel.  The revised submission publication version of the Core Strategy was being reported to Cabinet on 10 February and then to full Council for approval for submission to the Secretary of State following a six week period of pre-submission public consultation.  The officer drew attention to amendments made subsequent to circulation of the report to Members.

During discussion on the report Members asked a number of questions which were responded to as follows:

·                     the Strategy was based on both the extant consolidated version of the London Plan 2008 and the replacement London Plan prepared for examination in public, which now contained the Mayor of London’s further amendments.  At present it was unclear how many of the amendments would be adopted in the final London Plan.  However, the targets would not change;

·                     as the information contained in the Strategy could not be amended during the life of the document (to 2026), the detailed target mix for social rented units and intermediate housing would be included in the development plan which could be amended more easily.  It would be indicated that the Strategy reflected current evidence and would outline how it would be reviewed;

·                     London’s capacity for growth in private vehicle numbers would be key.  Although Harrow had good public transport accessibility into London, it was not necessarily adequate throughout the borough.  Parking standards would still need to conform to the London Plan.  The Development Plan could include underground parking, orbital bus transport, and parking in relation to the viability of unused and empty office space;

·                     space standards including amenity space were included in the Residential Design Guide and were applicable to both social and private housing;

·                     in areas where the London Plan policies were to apply, the strategy would simply reference this.  The detail relating to housing targets would be contained in the development management documents. It would be indicated that there would be flexibility and whatever was prevalent regarding the key themes at a particular time would apply;

·                     ‘Streetscape’ was the fringe down the street and related to such matters as amenity, planting, widening of pavements and decluttering;

·                     detail of the extent of development and its location would be in the Site Allocations DPD and Area Action Plan;

·                     the Core Strategy document would be reviewed by the Plain English Campaign.

Arsing from suggestions by the Panel it was agreed that the following be pursued:

·                     in accordance with government guidance that the Strategy must be justifiable and founded on a robust and credible evidence base, a comprehensive list of the evidence base  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.