Decision details

The Mayor reported that a petition with 4,298 signatures had been submitted by the Formby Residents Action Group Opposition from Formby (FRAGOFF) “urging the Council, including its officers, elected members and its Leaders, to implement a Local Plan which protects the green belt, farm land, countryside and residents in Sefton from any development on such land and that they address this issue as a matter of urgency.” In addition to that, 50 people had also signed an e-petition on the Council’s website.

A copy of the supporting statement submitted with the petition had been included in the agenda for the meeting.

In accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme, Mrs. M. Bennett, the lead petitioner, made a statement in support of the petition.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor P. Dowd thanked Mrs Bennett for submitting the petition. He then referred to the Unitary Development Plan previously adopted by the Council and he indicated that the current position on the preparation of a new Local Plan was as follows:

·         A report would be submitted to the Cabinet in the near future providing updated evidence in the following areas:-

• Housing requirement study (a review of the housing requirement was needed to take account of new information from the Census and latest population estimate).
• Employment land and premises study (the last employment land study dated from 2008 and also needed to be brought up-to-date).
• Agricultural land quality study (The agriculture land study was considered important as concern had been expressed during the consultation about the potential loss of high quality agricultural land and further surveys were needed to find out its current quality).

·         The outcome and implications of the above studies would need to be considered by the Cabinet and it was anticipated that a “Consequences Study” would be commissioned in January 2013 and completed by the end of April/May 2013.

·         Once the Consequences Study was complete, the next stage of the process would be to consider a “Preferred Options” document with a view to carrying out a 12 week consultation exercise from July to September 2013 and the publication of the Plan by March to May 2014.

·         Thereafter, the Plan would be submitted to the Secretary of State in June 2014 and it was anticipated that the Plan would be examined by a Planning Inspector in October 2014, prior to the adoption of the new Local Plan in early 2015.

A short discussion then took place on the content of the petition.

It was then moved by Councillor P. Dowd, seconded by Councillor Maher and

unanimously

RESOLVED:

That the petition be noted and any comments from the Formby Residents Action Group Opposition from Formby (FRAGOFF) on the Local Plan be considered during the consultation period.