Agenda item

Emergent Joint Core Strategy- Consultation Responses Summary

(copy herewith)

Minutes:

The Head of the Joint Planning Unit (JPU) submitted a report that requested that the Joint Committee formally receive and note the summaries of the responses that had been received to the West Northamptonshire Emergent Joint Core Strategy consultation that had been held in 2009. This was a necessary procedural step in the preparation of the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy. She noted that the Joint Committee had already agreed a Local Document Scheme that set out the timetable for the production of a Joint Core Strategy (JCS). The need for a JCS remained a statutory requirement; the Regulations and evidence base remained in place. In having regard to both the volume and content of the consultation responses the resulting JCS still needed to be a robust qualitative plan that was evidenced based.

 

The Emergent Joint Core Strategy had been published for public consultation for six weeks, but later extended to eight and a half weeks from 31 July 2009. The 30 March 2010 meeting of the Joint Committee had received a summary of the consultation methodology including details of how responses were made as well as a quantitative analysis of the responses to individual questions. The methods of responding to the consultation had been by questionnaires, e-mail, online, recorded phone messages, exhibition feedback forms and faxes. Nearly 5,000 individuals and organisations had made over 6,000 responses comprising over 120,000 individual comments (representations). All these had been logged and acknowledged and all were available to view on the JPU website or at the JPU offices. The Head of the JPU noted that the quantitative analysis of the responses to the questions previously supplied and an executive summary could be added to the report if required. It was noted that no weighting was given to any particular strength of feeling whether in favour or against as every comment was equally valid.

 

The appendix to the report summarised all the comments that had been made on the Emergent Joint Core Strategy. Following this meeting all the respondees would be contacted to explain the next steps of the Plan preparation process including the consideration of the Pre Submission Joint Core Strategy on 31 January 2011. Counsel’s advice had confirmed the approach adopted in reporting the consultation responses to the Joint Committee.

 

The Head of the JPU noted, that as reported to the Joint Committee previously, the bulk of responses had come from postcodes to the south, southeast and southwest of Northampton. There were large parts of Northampton and West Northamptonshire from which no responses had come. There had been a higher response rate to this consultation than to similar consultations elsewhere in the country.  

 

The Chair noted that the JPU had been created in the first place to resolve the issue of Northampton needing to expand beyond its current boundaries. The proposal to provide 18,000 homes to the southeast of Northampton had attracted most of the objections.

 

Councillors noted that people often were uneasy with the term “growth”. People generally wanted economic growth and the prosperity that it brought but this would create a demand for housing and would attract people to the area. It was always envisaged that two thirds of the planned growth was to meet local need caused by people living longer and the increase in single person households. This would be the case whatever else applied. Affordable housing would be an important part of housing provision and therefore some respondents negative comments about this were worrying in terms of their interpretation of what this meant.

 

The Chair drew specific attention to the Next Stages set out in paragraph 6 of the report.

 

RESOLVED:   That the contents of the summaries of the responses that were  received to the West Northamptonshire Emergent Joint Core Strategy consultation held in 2009 and set out in the appendix to the report, be formally received and noted.

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