BCP Council meeting, 10th January 2023

Question

In July, the revised Local Development Scheme and amended timetable were unanimously approved by Cabinet, who stated: ‘We are keen to continue to engage our communities and stakeholders in the BCP Local Plan in order that they can influence the plan. Appropriate time is therefore set out within the LDS to continue to actively engage our communities before the draft of the Local Plan is published.’ 

The BCP Local Plan Update states that ‘face-to-face engagement will be an important component of our ongoing approach’ (para 26) and identifies Autumn 2022 for the ‘Further engagement.’ 

This has not happened. Why not?” 

Cllr Broadhead’s response

We received a large amount of incredible useful feedback to the response to the comprehensive Issues and Options Consultation which ran from January to March last year and indeed it was one of the largest and most successful consultations ever done by this council. Since July the Cabinet have been engaging with stakeholders and other communities through targeted sessions undertaken in conjunction with Future Places and specific meetings with the community groups, keeping that work going and these events are all face-to-face and continue to add to our knowledge of the various issues and views of our communities across different parts of the BCP area. 

However, we were also aware of potential changes the government were proposing in relation to plan-making. Consultation of these has now been published and these changes will have significant implications, I think positive implications for our local plan. Undertaking consultation in the autumn would therefore have been abortive given the nature of the changes proposed at national level. In particular, and after much work with government directly on this issue, I am delighted that the proposed changes to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill now mean that our new local plan can formally protect our precious Green Belt from inappropriate residential development – something which I was determined to ensure in our local plan despite the challenges in doing so, but which is now much easier to facilitate. I can now therefore give the firm pledge that this Conservative administration will protect BCP’s Green Belt from residential development, safeguarding it for the future. 

Now that we have some certainties around these issues we will be stepping up the engagement process ahead of that work on the draft local plan, something which again is being done cross-party through out local plan steering group. We have a tremendous amount more work to do on this and plan to have further face-to-face events in only the next few months. And, as I mentioned earlier on, the draft of the local plan will then be published in the autumn.

My comments on Cllr Broadhead’ Response

Cllr Broadhead’s comments about the Green Belt are misleading. The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill is still at the consultation stage. Given the chaos within the government over the last year and the fact that there have been four Levelling-up secretaries of state in that time, it is disingenuous to say “now that we have some certainties…”. Absolutely nothing is certain at this stage.

In any case, my question was not about the Green Belt (potentially good news though his comments seems to be), it was about the lack of promised community engagement. With regards to Cllr Broadhead’s comments in the first paragraph of his response, I recognise nothing of what he says and so have written to one of the BCP officers in charge of the local plan for clarification:

Email to BCP Local Plan Officer

I would be grateful for answers to the following questions:

1. In the first paragraph, Cllr Broadhead suggests that the Cabinet has been ‘engaging’ ‘communities through targeted sessions undertaken in conjunction with Future Places and specific meetings with the community groups, keeping that work going and these events are all face-to-face.’ Could you please give me details of the communities that have been engaged ‘face-to-face’, including dates and venues.

2. Would you please let me know you understanding of the status of changes to planning law in the proposed Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill? Cllr Broadhead suggests that ‘Now that we have some certainties around these issues we will be stepping up the engagement process’. My understanding, having looked at the relevant government website, is that the bill is still at the consultation stage, and will remain so until the 2nd March.

3. Would you please give me some idea of what the ‘stepping up the engagement process’ will consist of? Are there likely to be ‘face-to-face events’ in the distant environs of north Poole in the coming months?

4. I thought I was on a mailing list dedicated to keeping residents updated on the local plan. I have received nothing since July apart from your October response to my seeking of information. I have therefore been unaware of any of the activities outlined in Cllr Broadhead’s first paragraph. Has the notion of keeping the residents of BCP updated been abandoned?