Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Sara Bedford, Harry Davies, Rue Grewal, Khalid Hussain, Joan King, Ian Morris, Sarah Nelmes, Kevin Raeburn and Chris Whatley-Smith.

Councillor Tom Smith had given apologies that he would be arriving late to the meeting.

The Chair noted that Councillor Sarah Nelmes had suffered an accident and asked Council to join him in wishing her well in her recovery.

There were no declarations of interest.

Following this item, Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst proposed a motion without notice, seeking to suspend Council procedure rules 11(6) and 16(6) which would, in his view, allow full and extensive debate on agenda item 4 which otherwise would not be debated.

The Chair asked Council whether this could be agreed by consent, to which Councillor Oliver Cooper confirmed that whilst his group would not object to the suspension of rule 11(6), they could not support the suspension of rule 16(6) and he was seeking for a separate vote on each suspension.

Given that the matter could not be resolved by general assent, the motion was seconded by Councillor Chris Lloyd who requested it be taken straight to the vote. As the motion was yet to be debated, the Chair called on Councillor Oliver Cooper who indicated his desire to speak.

Councillor Cooper re-confirmed his support for the suspension of rule 11(6) but felt the suspension of rule 16(6) was undemocratic. He reminded Council that rule 16(6) was common to many Council constitutions, and in his view, an integral part of Council procedure; that if members disagreed with a motion, then they should vote against it.

With no further members wishing to speak, the motion without notice was put to the vote and CARRIED with 18 votes in favour and 11 against.

To consider a motion submitted in accordance with Council procedure rule 11.

As this motion would have the effect of rescinding a decision of Council of 10 December 2024 (agenda item 11b, Local Development Scheme), in accordance with Council procedure rule 22, the motion has been supported by Councillors Oliver Cooper, Vicky Edwards, Debbie Morris, Philip Hearn, Andrea Fraser, Chris Alley, Ciaran Reed, Lisa Hudson, Mike Sims and Reena Ranger.

The motion is for consideration under Council procedure rule 11.6, to be noted by Council and referred to a meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee. Accordingly, the motion is not before Council for debate.

The Chair called on Councillor Oliver Cooper to present his motion.

Councillor Cooper indicated that he felt his motion was the most important decision to be made in the history of the Council. It provided a choice between protecting the green belt, through submitting a local plan based on the low growth option pursued by the council, or a local plan that was based on the housing targets set by the government.

He reminded Council of how the emerging National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) had established higher housing targets, which particularly impacted the Three Rivers area, and made it more challenging to use provisions in the NPPF allowing Councils to protect green belts. He identified a number of schemes that the Council had both included in the draft local plan, and considered for inclusion, and reminded the Council that these sites would not be sufficient to meet the government’s housing targets.

He also reminded Council that since it met on 12 December to agree the Local Development Scheme, the final version of the NPPF had been published. This provides Councils the opportunity to submit plans based on the previous NPPF until 12 March, rather than January, as had been anticipated. He felt that the proposed amendments to the Council’s decision in December, which had been rejected, could have provided the Council with a way to submit the local plan in March had they been taken forward.

In conclusion, he emphasised that the years of work the Council had invested in the local plan should not be wasted and the Council put at the mercy of the government’s policies and housing targets.

The Chair called on Councillor Vicky Edwards to second the motion. In doing so, Councillor Edwards emphasised the urgent need to submit the local plan under the previous NPPF and the potential impact of the new government housing targets, which she felt would have a terrible impact on the district. She explained the 5 criteria in the new NPPF that would have to be met to protect the green belt, which she felt was a high bar to achieve, and the only safe route for the Council was to submit the current draft local plan by 12 March.

Councillor Ciaran Reed indicated to the Chair that he wished to propose an amendment. With the general assent of Council, the Chair adjourned the meeting to allow for Councillor Reed’s proposed amendment to be circulated to members for consideration. The amendment is included at addendum 1 to these minutes.

The meeting adjourned from 7:54pm to 8:04pm

Councillor Reed introduced his amendment. He explained that the amendment sought to remove the requirement to produce further documents that he felt would be unnecessary ahead of the local plan submission, most notably the Gypsy and Traveller Site Assessment. He referred to other councils which had submitted their local plans for examination with a commitment to submitting the Gypsy and Traveller Site Assessment at a later date. Agreement of the amendment would give the best  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.