Councillor Hicks

Note - Acknowledgement of receipt of letter received on 25th Jan 2010
Note - 5th Feb 2010 - No reply yet received - 14 days since receipt in County Hall
Note - 15th Feb 2010- No reply yet received - 24 days since receipt in County Hall

19th Jan 2010

Dear Sir,

The RSS, formulated by a Quango and amended by the Government, is the outline plan which determines that Cornwall is to have an additional 68,700 houses built by 2026 which has the potential to increase the present population by about one fifth.
The RSS throughout the Country has been thrown into disarray due to a successful legal challenge in the East of England.
As a result the RSS is now on hold, and here in the SW it will be reviewed.

1. The Status of the Draft RSS - 30 September 2009

Summary

The publication of the draft RSS for the South West has been delayed by the Government Office for the South West (GOSW). The question that therefore arises is, what weight can be given to the draft RSS in the meantime?

GOSW Position

GOSW advised, in June 2009, that “the RSS has reached such an advanced stage that we would expect it now to be given considerable weight in consideration of any application for development”.

For the reasons set out below, this advice is open to doubt.

Legal Requirements

The GOSW explained that the reason for the delay in the publication of the finalised RSS was in order to: “consider the implications of the recent High Court judgement on the East of England RSS. The question at issue is whether the sustainability appraisal of alternative options meets the requirements of the SEA Directive and Regulations.”

Under regulation 12(2) of the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 and Article 5.1 of Directive 2001/42/EC, where an environmental report is required during the preparation of a plan, it shall identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effect on the environment of - (a) implementing the plan or programme: and (b) reasonable alternatives taking into account the objectives and the geographical scope of the plan or programme.

The central question in the East of England case was whether the environmental reports produced during the preparation of the plan identified, described and evaluated the alternatives to the challenged policies.

Having considered the implications of the judgment on the draft RSS, on 25 September 2009, the GOSW wrote to the Chief Executives of South West Local Authorities stating that a new sustainability appraisal would be carried out. The GOSW was therefore concerned that the sustainability appraisal did not meet the requirements of the Regulations and the Directive.

Planning Guidance

Communities and Local Government guidance “Planning System: General Principles” published in 2004 notes that emerging policies can be regarded as material considerations, depending on the context. In light of the circumstances and context behind the current review of the draft RSS, affording “considerable weight” to a policy which could be required to change following a proper consideration of alternatives, is entirely inappropriate.

Conclusion: This indicates that the Government Office for the South West has stated that developers and planners should give weight to the RSS in its present form, which will change after further review, by an unknown degree. In fact in an extract from a planning journal report written by Mark Wilding it is said that Francis Taylor Building Barrister Gregory Jones has stated that “Any decision maker giving such weigh to the proposed changes is open to a High Court challenge. What the government office is proposing would drive a coach and horses through the strategic environmental assessment directive, challenges could be made to decisions which rely on the draft RSS and also the advice given to councils”. In the same report, Burges Salmon planning partner Gary Soloman agreed that councils following the advice may be open to court action. He stated “It is premature for the secretary of state to be issuing such advice when he is not yet satisfied that the proposals are the most sustainable for the region”

Given the comments above, the decision to accept the existing AAP could be challenged via the Courts. Prior to the possibility of Trelawney Alliance considering further action, may we ask the reason(s) why you, with County planning officials, intend to, or have, recommended acceptance of the AAP by full committee, and have you or the Council officers made members of the committee aware of the detail outlined above?

2. With regards to the RSS, The review process has not yet been made clear to the public in general. Unless the following has already been done, can you please advise:

When will the review take place?

Who will review it?

What sections will be reviewed?

Will there be a public consultation after review?

3. With respect to the RSS in Cornwall, much work has been undertaken by Council planning teams and others since its inception.

With respects to all aspects of involvement with the RSS, including AAPs or other products developed from it or because of it, what has been the total expenditure borne by the Duchy ratepayers to date as a direct result of production of the RSS for Cornwall?

If any, what additional amount of expenditure has been provided from other sources as a direct result of the production of the RSS for Cornwall?

Given that the RSS is presently on ‘hold’ for legal reasons and will almost certainly be amended. Will this result in a further review of the AAPs and what will be the further costs to completion of implementation?

Should the RSS be scrapped in total, by a new Government for example, how much of the total expenditure can be recovered or is the total, or part of the expenditure sum irretrievable?

4. In the event of the RSS being scrapped, given that the AAP for Camborne/Redruth/Pool and Illogan have a number of different scenarios contained within it,

Is it therefore an acceptable conclusion that you, as Portfolio holder for housing would recommend that this particular AAP will proceed, using one of the scenarios, thereby implementing the RSS (possibly using a lesser quantities of homes) and under a different name?

Yours Sincerely

On behalf of Trelawney Alliance Supporters

Website:  www.trelawney-alliance.org
email:       trealliance@aol.com


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