Okay um welcome everybody to it’s B of Northeast sunet council’s special cabinet meeting welcome everybody uh just a reminder to switch off your mobile phones or switch them to silent please it’s very kind let’s make the following announcement reference webcasting this cabinet meeting is being filmed and record will be available on
The council’s website the images and sound recording may also be used for training purposes within the council anybody speaking that does not wish to be filmed should make themselves known to the camera operator uh we’ll start off by introducing the cabinet as per normal we’ll go around councelor Warren
Please hi I’m um councelor Sarah Warren um councelor for Baron North Ward and um cabinet lead for climate emergency and sustainable transport thank you Sarah councelor board hi I’m Allison Bourne I’m the counselor for whitcom and Lincoln Ward and adult social care and public health thank you Allison councelor May good evening
Everybody I’m Paul Mayor I’m the counselor for uh wh Church Village and pensford and I’m the cabinet member for children and young people thank you Paul councelor ball councel Tim Ball tourism board C Neighborhood Services thank you Tim councel rby evening everybody Council Amanda Rigby uh C Cabinet member for highways and
Representing bathwick Ward M counc mccab uh I’m Matt mccab I’m councelor for parth Aon South and I’m the cabinet member for the built environment housing and sustainable development thank you Matt ker Roa uh good evening councelor Paul rer councelor for Kings me Ward and Cabinet member for economic and cultural
Sustainable development thank you Paul councelor Elliot I’m Mark Elliot I’m uh one of the ward members for lown Ward and I am Cabinet member for resources thank you Mark we’re just going to do the emergency evaculation procedure you if the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building
And proceed to the assembly point from this room you follow the green running person signs to the exit using either the marble staircase at the end of the building nearest to Bath House or the main staircase please do not use the lifts the assembly point for this build
Poli for absence we’ve got one that’s councel the dve wood so we move to Declarations of Interest we’ve received one that’s correct me would you like to read that out please yeah councelor David wood has declared a disos disclosable pecuniary interest for all items on this agenda due to his
Employment as chief executive aan needs trees he therefore is not attending the meeting and will not take part in any decisions he also didn’t attend the pre meeting thank you very much uh so ENT business agreed by the chair there is none uh so we move to questions from the
Public and counselors we’ve received 12 questions from counselors and two questions from the public now there’s an opportunity for counselors to ask a maximum of two supplement questions um and we’ll start with uh um councelor Jackson I believe you have a supplementary question please thank you
Very much chair um I’d like to start though by complimenting councelor mccab on the successful recruitment of essential posts in planning and planning policy and not to mention the team that most residents care most about uh in Westfield and redstock namely the enforcement team so well done obviously for reasons of confidentiality this
Could not be revealed when I submitted the question about Staffing um however the second part of my question remains um to what extent has the local plan and its delivery especially with regard to the Z Valley Enterprise Zone being future proofed with contingency plans B should the predicted economic
Turn downturn take place and I would say by the way that as a former University lecturer um an essay with 2,000 uh 2,000 words meeting the learning income will uh outcomes will suffice as an answer to my first question do do you want my second question as
Well right so first question is what to do about the downturn are you prepared the second one if this happens and actually looking at the local plan generally are you convinced that the provision for the elderly who do not have smartphones and apps and internet and the disabled is sufficient in the
The various schemes that are outlined in the local plan thank you counc Jackson councelor McKay would you like to reply uh yeah so obviously the the local plan covers a long period uh so 20 years during which there are likely to be times of economic buoyancy and economic
Downturn um which is why the government allow build builds in this um this allowance to review it after five 10 and 15 years to do a partial update um uh it also the L also seeks to be flexible in enabling economic uh uses to come forward at different times uh in uh
And be delivered in in key locations uh so we try to make it attractive and responsive to demand uh it’s uh The Five-Year review takes account of any changes and it’s it’s not just about providing new employment economic space uh or predicting existing space uh say the option document also includes policy to
Facilitate and support reskilling and training uh if if that’s required at any stage during the next 20 years in terms of uh the second Point um the consultation process uh will involve some in-person meetings I think seven in total across the uh Authority area um um there will be some online
Ones but obviously that’s the point you’re making uh the hard copies of the local uh the options document will be available in all our libraries uh so anyone who want wants to work with a with a hard copy uh can be in the can visit the
Libraries uh also the local plan will be subject to an equalities impact assessment uh and the consultation part of that as well um and that will highlight opportunities to address the needs of protected groups uh and also uh how we you know the local because the local plan itself will address how we
Develop communities that uh are aging population can can thrive in uh so uh part of that is obviously how we approach consultation as well I hope that’s okay thank coun M we’ll move to uh Council Ross I believe you have two supplementary questions yes do thank you um thank you
Very much um I’d like to thank uh Council work for responding to my query about uh the uh green B agricultural land being used instead of uh Brownville sites however um I would like to ask because it didn’t really uh talk about the land itself um the quality of this
Land is very rare in bones and should be protected for our future food security have any considerations been given to the facts the plus is prime grade one agricultural land that grows high quality produce for the local area and is also potentially Irreplaceable priority grass and habitat as once it’s
Gone it is gone forever thank you that’s the first one they’re kind of all different things so um yeah no sure well first need to thank you councelor Ross for giving me your questions in advance because I could take some advice on them um as it happens the records held on the website
From the Bristol Regional environmental record Center BC they indicated that um priority grassland habitats were present in Sp but it’s actually not the case the record was wrong um the council published BRC potential and confirmed priority habitat records to ensure full consideration is given to habitats impacted by
Development the BRC records Rel dating to the site date back to 1995 and 2000 and they highlighted fields that at the time had potential to be priority habitat subject to additional survey work to establish grassland type and condition the council has undertaken recent survey work for the ldo site
Confirming these fields are modified grassland in poor condition habitats that are not a priority or Irreplaceable and the mapping has since been updated to U SE break potential and confirm priority habitats records for clarity the provisional agricultural land classification produced by Natural England shows a large s of grade one
Land running through the west of the Summer Valley in short there’s lots of it and Natural England as a statutary consult te has not objected to the ldo proposals subject to to conditions set out in the statement of reasons thank you have a second supplement question has
Thank you for that uh CA and my second one uh in respect of um how people actually get to the site um there is note of uh the cycle rout and uh walking routes um while providing choice is a good thing there appears to be a little incentive for anyone to actually use
This how does the limited provision from old millon Norton radstock Greenway benefit residents who live in the farther areas of Summer Valley such as Farm which is where I come from thank you yes thank you very much um I’ll ask you I will answer your question
Uh but I’d also refer you to actually uh one of the questions which were to councilor Warren uh which was about active travel and if I if I can just quote from that question first of all however the active travel master plan which is also currently in development
Is a longer term strategy for the delivery of a network of active travel routes across the entirety of B and Northeast Somerset this will include asp operations for active travel improvements between all major centers of employment and education now I’d add further to that that um this Authority as you know is
Committed to developing uh active travel and uh uh clearly if the FES site is is brought forward uh we will be looking at uh additional active travel routes and I’m sure this one will be considered um there will be an issue about the timing we’ll need to see what the availability
Of crsts fun is because I believe the existing funding round expires in 2027 um so we’ll have to see if this money there but um I can assure you as as a keen cyclist we will be absolutely pushing to promote active travel and and extending cycle routes having traveled
Through uh the the two Tunnels for the last seven years on my way to work in in a safe space I re I recognize how valuable it is to have a safe uh active travel route so we will be promoting that as much as possible thank K thank K supplementary question questions uh
We’ll move on to item s statements petitions from the public and counselors um normally I ask people to come down but you can stay where you are and um you for those you have’ not done this before you have 3 minutes um when you’re ready Michael will turn on the light It
Go Green and then when it’s red your 3 minutes are up I normally allow a little bit of time but if I do interrupt you it’s because the red lights’s been on for for some time so I will let you start uh we’ll start with Mr Mrs flower
You hear yes when you’re ready we will start oh and you switch the red button on yes Sor you switched the red button on for the brilliant thank you so um my husband and I um have been we live at Ro Farm we are the land
Owners of one of the parcels that you’re dealing with and rro farm has been in the flower family family since 1956 Barry took over the running of it at the age of 21 we have farmed and looked after this land for the last 54 years we raised a family here and have a
Grandson of 18 who wishes to carry on the tradition of farming on the farming has grown up on the Som Valley Enterprise Zone and its local development order tears apart our plans and aspirations for the future of our farm especially our grandsons excuse me Royal Farm class as grade one agricultural land we
Understand it’s government policy to protect the best and most versatile BMV land from significant inappropriate or unsustainable development proposals so how can it be that Baines are going to tear up this Prime agricultural land that is used for food consumption to build an industrial park that the
Majority of the local people do not want or see the need for the long period of uncertainty and limited information has caused us UNT stress and anxiety as we have found it very hard to get clear information from the council over the last seven years the dialogue has been
Irregular with long gaps of non-communication we have tried to engage with the council we have commented on plans tabled but even with some revisions the plans will have a detrimental effect on our home and significantly harm our farming business cutting our yearly income in half our main concerns which we have already
Raised with the council are as follows Royal Farm Is Our Land the council wants to take some of our land for the Enterprise Zone and we have not consented to this the council must justify the huge impacts on us and we do not see the council has done so we do
Not believe a demand for the steam scheme exists secondly the size scale height and character of the development along with the traffic and Float of people it will bring will completely change the look and feel of our home our land and surrounding area it is not an appropriate development for this area
Our one building nearly touches our boundary with no tree screening and the office block will completely overshadow our home this will have a huge detrimental impact on our enjoyment of the property our general well-being our mental well-being and the council has repeatedly failed to acknowledge this the proposed development will sever our
Land to the north of the site we have not been given any Clarity on how we will access our Fields who will control access what limits on access might be who keeps the access route clear who maintains it will it be designed to be fit for our use if we can’t easily
Access this part of the Farmland we will not be able to continue what will be left of our farming business and it will be destroyed in summary We Stand firmly against the ldo being granted and the development being allowed to go ahead we do not consent to the use of our land as
Part of the Enterprise Zone and we do not believe the speculative development is in the right place or is necessary thank you thank you for your statement Mr fa um second speaker is ang Barber S good evening I’m an hered Barber an accountant working as a freelance Finance director across all Industries I represent an official group of opposers with hundreds of members who do not want the proposed site to be developed there are Clos to 600 objections on the planning portal including important
Stakeholders such as polton Fountain gurnie and ston Eastern Parish Council Midsummer Norton and radstock town councils the owners of the proposed land the green party the CPR Natural England individual Baines counselors and the owners of polton house even six of Baines own internal Department subject and others have
Concerns the the land will have to be acquired by a compulsory purchase order cpos are not only risky and expensive but create significant reputational damage especially as it is grade one agricultural land under threat at scrutiny panel the project team stated the 80 bedroom hotel chain Pub and food Outlets could be built
Before anything else this would be a disaster for small businesses who we should be doing everything to protect the localized Road mitigations are so minimal they would not even alleviate the current volumes let alone the predicted increase of at least 4,000 movements per day there are no plans for green rots to
Get to the site other than the small extension of the greenway and a Reliance on wer for delivering a segregated cycle PA from fton but how will all of the other Villages get to the site without driving reintroducing first bus services to the area is only a possibility and not a
Given the paper State very high cost to delivering the enabling infrastructure which seems certain to be cut first with budget scrutiny at a time when councils are under the spotlight for monetary issues is this proposal really the right thing to do and are Ban’s confident they have considered every aspect of this proposed
Development sufficiently as to avoid a judicial review liberal Democrats promote democracy therefore wouldn’t the optimal solution be to work with the community and listen to their ideas rather than dictate what you think they need the spes team have not listened to the public or local councils and have barely changed plans between
Consultations we ask the cabinet to please remove the proposed Fe from the local plan options and work with the community for future beneficial development thank you thank you for your state move to and hle start whenever you’re ready um yeah as a resident of Clapton on the
Edge of the ezed and member of the stone Eastern Parish Council I have grave concerns with regard to the EAD my understanding is that there is a high probability that Distribution Center will form part of the development in addition to the ezed commuter traffic this will bring huge increases in Lorry
Traffic and delivery Vans which is unsustainable for the local Road Network including known bottlenecks on the a37 pensford and Temple Clyde and also in the immediate ezed area despite the proposed Road improvements my greatest concern is for the Hamlet of Clapton just an mile from the ezed whilst traffic surveys may have
Been been done they did not cover all ped impacted areas nor do they reflect the reality where drivers take the most direct route to a destination this means traffic heading to and from the EAD will drive along Clapton’s unclassified Lanes since they lead directly to a new
Roundabout which is part of the ezed road development proposal recent Road Works in mids Orton chill Compton pton and radstock have proved that drivers use land Lane Green ditch Lane and Clapton Road as rat runs to the a362 at farington gurny thus we and Clapton have lived
With the danger of a constant stream of additional traffic along our single track Lanes making walking cycling and horse riding not pleasurable but life-threatening and I’m not exaggerating here I promise you even driving to work to medical appointments Al to the shops has proved difficult requiring planning to ensure that travel
Is outside Peak school and Compu commuter travel times not something to be expected in a hamlet of 60 homes Baines has created low emission zones in bath but seems content that heavy traffic is directed to mids Alon radstock Pon Faron gney Clapton and other surrounding Villages from Clapton’s perspective if
This ill thte scheme proceeds Banes have a moral responsibility cons to consult with Somerset highways and also to make Financial provision to ensure that measures are put in place that will prevent the single track Lang Lane Clapton Road and the center of Clapton becoming dangerous rat runs to and from the
Ezed the Summer Valley has progressed from its industrial mining past and developed into a new unique balance of working Farms Green Space fields and Woodland on the edge of its small communities providing residents with a valuable green environment people have chosen to live in this rural area and
Want it to remain our Countryside must not be torn up by Baines to create a soulless industrial park that could be anywhere in the UK nor are Villages and farmland blighted by the consequences of increased industrial and commu traffic so I urge you to be brave in your
Decision making do not go backwards with a soless development but instead maintain our heritage by supporting the development of empty properties to bring jobs to the area thus preserving both our heritage and Countryside for future Generations thank you thank you Mrs heon okay we we’ll move to sorry Margaret
Heon next is that right thank you Mar start when you’re ready um I’m a professor at the school of management at the University of bath I run two businesses in the UK and three in the US and publish six business books and I’m not saying this to Big myself up
I’m doing it to suggest I have some experience and understanding of business I’m also a parish counselor for Fairington gurnie for over five years in the business world there’s a mantra build it and they’ll come it’s not a strategy it’s a warning because it isn’t true entrepreneurs and organizations who
Build new stuff thinking the sheer Wonder of it will attract customers and success they mostly fail too many assumptions too little insight too little listening and dream turns into a nightmare I quote it because that to me is the strategy of the sphs it might or
Might not have a hotel it might or might not have a Food Outlet which might or might not be fast food maybe offices Maybe not maybe Tech maybe not somehow the so-called strategy goes it’ll be all right once we’ve built it companies will come and well if they don’t we’ll pay
Them to come but there is no single attracting Factor no unique selling point at the heart of this project why would a business want to come to the spz asked it scrutiny nobody could give a decent answer at the moment the fingon gney is caught between the 837 and the
8362 I stayed overnight with my sister in London last night in Hackney I can tell you it was quieter in Hackney than it is in farington gurny but what concerns my neighbors even more is what is going to come next lots more noise lots more pollution in
An age where pollution kills more people than smoking a ton of disruption and if it ever does lure customers a bunch of local businesses that are already very successful in our community are undermined by fast food and the cheap prices that only big businesses can afford whether that is an economic net
Gain losing existing businesses to get new ones remains to be seen 16 years nearly 2 million pounds spent on developing this proposal and still it has come up with nothing compelling or critical I agree that the so-called consultation has been Dreadful it’s eroded public trust when it could
Have built it at a time when public funds are sorely needed for schools for hospitals for the Arts for Public Safety I can’t believe so poor a project really takes priority please do not throw our good money after bad thank you for your statement Mrs heon um we’ll move to um andley Jeffrey
Please I am Andy Jeffrey a business owner currently employing 63 local people I am a farmer producing organic vegetables for use on site and for various box delivery schemes in the bath and Bristol area I’m also Vice chairman of hington G Parish Council and have been the parish’s representative on the SP
Stakeholder group since it started apart from the parish council’s opposition to The Spar I would like to highlight other concerns I have about it as a farmer I am appalled at the prospective loss of over 30 Acres of the best agricultural land in the country it
Is classed as grade one on the national land classification map grade one is land that has no limitations on agricultural use in other words can grow any temperate crop there are only tiny pockets of grade one as most is grade three government policy is to protect the best and most versatile AG ultural
Land from significant development proposals in addition the road widening at Sunnyside will take more grade one land and in fact this land is also organic and grows vegetables there is also the prospect of losing an extra 16 Acres of Farmland to fulfill the bionet gra gain requirement
More land that will not produce food in future the effect on of SP on many local businesses will be profoundly adverse firstly the inclusion of a fast food restaurant was not in the original plans for the St this will hit many local cafes and restaurants many of whom rely
On passing trade this is meant to be an industrial park not a retail Park secondly I am astonished that a pub is included in the SP plans nationally the pub trade is in crisis with over two pubs per day closing in 2023 due to higher staff and energy costs and
Dwindling consumer spend this is meant to be an industrial park not a retail Park thirdly I understand that 56 new workshops may be given the go-ahead next to the Old Mills industrial estate whilst these may be needed there is already a shortage of Labor locally as evidenced by the low unemployment
Figures for Baines hence the spz and the Old Mills site will create labor shortages in all local businesses forly I cannot understand the inclusion of a large office office block at the front of the SP site working from home is now common throughout industry and only last year Baines closed the onda business
Office block because it made losses thank you thank you Mr Jeffrey um we could James Wilman reading out on behalf of councelor Morgan is that correct James you two next no I’ve got James no no if I say You’re Next you’re definitely next yeah uh my name’s James wman um I’m uh
The current chair of parenton gurny Parish Council um I’m also a small business owner um running a bed and breakfast which has been in fenon gy for about 35 years um and I move to the countryside to uh to experience the countryside from the city
Um I’m here to um address the coun on behalf of an Morgan councelor an Morgan who can’t be here tonight because she’s unwell so this is her statement not mine um as a new Ward counselor an feels that it’s important to highlight her Ward’s residents concerns the cabinet
Parly the concerns from Fon gurny which adjoins the Summer Valley Enterprise Zone site as well as our own concerns and hopes the biggest worry and is hearing from residents is that the proposals are for an outmoded development design which would increase pollution both environmental and from traffic since
Before an’s election she has made it clear that she did not support spes and it’s in its original form and it felt that should be radically redesigned and understanding is that alternative sites are unsuitable but there is now great concern that this Enterprise Zone first muted in 2007 is
Out of date now in terms of working practices and jobs none of us have a crystal pool of course but one thing is certain the spes is originally presented form would have created more traffic pollution and has a detrimental effect on the very environment per party the liberal Democrats mission is to
Protect and could quote some of the statistics on land and employment Etc but she’d like to take it down to the very Basics jobs people and housing part of what is being proposed is that there’s a need in the area for more industrial types of employment to
Balance this there is a need for housing as it’s seen in the local plan document and it’s believed that those two will be perfectly to marry up housing in the village most affected which is Fon gurny will be of such high value that any purchaser would probably
Have to work in Bristol and bath to afford them there is concern that this would increase traffic even more of an already saturated arterial roads uh routes in entire in entirely unsuitable Villages someone working in an industrial units in the Enterprise Zone May struggle to afford housing
Locally she imagines a three and four bedroom new build in Fen and gurnie is already expensive and 70% of the expens is still expensive and has read uh the commitments uh paper and welcomed the change of tone to reflect that this could be better Greener uh a Greener
Enterprise Zone and notes the commitment to ensure that the active travel and public transport options would be available from start to development to ensure workplaces are accessible to everyone not just those who can afford the car Mr Lan the time is up but yeah sorry
I’ll let you just wrap a last sent so it’s just one sentence so she asked cabinet stay strong and these commitments cabinet should remain aware that residents will be paying close attention to their every step we need to be greener we need to be better thank you Mr for reading that out
On behalf of councelor Morgan um Jim plunet Cole next Mr Jim Mr where when you are hi I’m uh Kim Co a professional econ Economic Development practitioner living in the Summer Valley for about 25 years I’ve worked very successfully with Bane’s Council for around 15 years up to
2016 I’m here to talk about the employment prospects of the proposed Summer Valley Enterprise Zone according to the master plan somewhere between 700 to 1,000 office and RNG jobs are expected to be located at spes this is at least more than half of the jobs of its jobs and therefore a
Major part of its overall visibility viability however SES will be in direct competition with B keys and Bristol Temple Keys developments for workers and historical patterns of commuting suggest it’s highly unlikely that the Summer Valley will attract office workers and Bristol will bath for example five more
Times more people commute out of the Summer Valley to Bath than commute into the Summer Valley from B if the Summer Valley and B and Bristol all have a plentiful supply of labor going forward might not be a problem however the two Banes e EDS between them are expected to
Account for almost all of the Bang’s total employment labor Supply growth forecast over the coming years leaving almost nothing for nonemployment land sectors such as Education Health retail tourism and Leisure even if the forecasts are wrong um and there is a plentiful supply of labor going forward spos we still suffer from skill
Shortages as there as complete mismatch between the skills profile of the residents of the Summer Valley and the office and R&D jobs that will be at the Enterprise Zone which means that the Summer Valley would uh Enterprise own help to get way more office and R&D
Workers from the west of the west of England to fill those jobs through to travel there by car which is completely outstep with spz principles of design and council’s decision will these issues would make selling spz to any major office-based and or R&D businesses and incredibly hard sell the main reason why
These issues haven’t been flaged previously is because of now dat evidence base being used by the council’s dec in the council’s decision making for example Baines has 3,000 fewer workers than were planned into the council’s current economic strategy as a direct result of covid and brexit that’s
About 25 million perom of Bane’s output it’s the highest reduction in unexpected labor Supply in the southwest along with exit moving on to the issue of homeworking and as evidence base it’s clear that the pandemic inspired the homeworking revolution in the UK that the serious implications for the future
Of traditional offices and new office developments many parts of Baines are now akin to Hidden business parks in they have such high concentrations of workers in Home Offices entirely related to homeworking there around 10 often interrelated key drivers of the future of work of implications for new office
Direct they include Jes as the Aging Workforce sustainability and artificial intelligence to what extent does the Bane’s uh forthcoming local plan look to be considering these issues a quick look at the 300 pages of the local plan options document reveals very few mentions of hom working or hybrid
Working and no mentions whatsoever of the future of work artificial intelligence co-working or an aging Workforce however there is still time to address these issues when all of the public is considered my one single recommendation to Bain’s council is to wait for the draft local plan is Du out
This year as I’m pretty sure by then all of the above issues will have been evidenced explored and considered uh thank you for listening and just to say all the hard economic evidence supporting this statement will be sent to council tomorrow in the form of supporting documents thank you thank you
Mr B um ask Alison Herber B bed to speak please thank you hello I’m Alison Herbert thank you for inviting me to come and speak about the council’s New Economic strategy I’m here representing bar business improvement district so nowhere near the summer valam but it’s been fascinating
Um we work with over 650 businesses in the city center who collectively invest in our work which seeks to create a successful business environment you will have seen I hope our team out and about we deliver cleansing security partnership and promotional services for the city center businesses of broth it’s
Clear that this economic strategy is tackling some Wicked problems and bringing businesses with you will be essential for Progress to be made the challenge as far as I see it is to build on what we have to create sustainable new business opportunities and to provide places for people to work and
Study locally how do we build on a 2,000 plus year history of hospitality and manage the imminent challenges of flooding increased temperatures and aging work course and new technology which will change the world of work forever the bid luckily for me works with the businesses who already here not
In the future so I’ve just in my three minutes picked out a couple of the issues in the economic strategy which come up in our conversations so infrastructure you talk about a lot we welcome the proposed focus on infrastructure improvements good internet and even more fundamentally actual phone signal is
Having an impact um in the city center and on its reputation as a place to do business and the need for new business spaces is likely to be driven by new technology hybrid and home working and even new last mile delivery warehousing for example on the edge of the city
Center and then the elephant in the room you can’t ever have a meeting with businesses involved without transport and access coming up it’s a pressing issue and they talk about it all the time it links to The Wider issues already raised actually of Recruitment and skills
The cost of housing in the city center where the average house price is significantly higher than the Bane’s average of 356,000 the visitor experience and also to the challenge of AD adapting to new logistical Arrangements whether that’s for deliveries meeting your clients or your trade Waste Connections collections
There’s a lot of stuff attached to transport and access I’m pleased that you’ve mentioned housing affordability and and and a real honest acknowledgement that 78% of rural residents travel to work by car we know that they’re probably commuting some of them into bath and the other thing is I’m cutting
It short because I’m running out of orange um with regards to the High Street and The Wider tourism economy I’m really pleased to see that the importance of this part of Bath’s commercial profile highlighted in the economic strategy the impact of the visitor economy and bar is felt Way
Beyond the confines of B and Northeast Somerset Council um and the businesses I work with in the city center um and it really merits our attention focusing on the city center user experience whether they’re residents workers or visitors so that making the right choice is is also
The most enjoyable Choice that’s a good place to start and businesses will be really pleased to see there’s been a commitment to a time and movement study um to understand how people move and finally the bid would be pleased to support the inclusive and positive engagement of existing businesses the
Strategy stated aim to work with business more closely is welcome and I am here today to express B bid’s enthusiasm for collaborative strategic partnership work thank you m since you were talking on behalf of all of the businesses in B I gave you a couple of extra seconds um uh Robbie Bentley please
Thank you chair and thank you counselors um as many of you know I have been principally focusing on public transport around the region around B Northeast Somerset but actually a lot of what’s actually going on a lot of what’s actually being said this evening is actually related to this same problem um
And I’d like to cast your thoughts as to how we prevent ourselves from making big mistakes time and again I’m sure many of you will be familiar with the development in the area of Bradley Stoke which is now part of South GL council’s old’s area back in the 1970s in the
Early days of the old aen County Council oh and how huge a mistake it was to just dump 15,000 homes into open field you’ve got the same problem except that it’s actually with offices and Industrial or facilities okay and you’ve got to be very careful about what it is you’re
Actually going to be offering these new business customers of yours or or and that you do not actually in doing so displace an existing customer base that is already actually wanting to develop that area in their own and admittedly slower way I’d like to actually press the
Economic case how important is it to make a million pounds okay is it important to make it fast or is it important to make it slow or is it just important to make it okay I’ll speak from a slightly more entrepreneural perspective in that it’s actually important to make it doesn’t matter how
Fast you actually make it because at the end of the day the people who actually grow up into that area get better in and the costs of being into that or or of developing in that way tend to be spread out over the long longer term which makes it a whole lot
Cheaper it also makes it cheaper for you as counselors to do it in that way so before you go and actually make any kind of decision and and where you are going to impact people’s lives those people who are already settled them who are already contributing to the whole of the
Of the constituent Authority okay you want to be considering whether or not it is those people you’re doing doing it for rather than prospective new people that you might want to bring in however much you want to actually bring new people in a bird in the hand is always worth two in
The tree thank you very much thank you Robie uh councelor Sean shes thank you uh okay so I’m I’m going to be speaking primarily about the Enterprise Zone the ctif Enterprise Zone um I mean my first comment really is um it was one of the live them’s Manifesto commitments so I’m surprised there’s
Been such little engagements locally um to explain to Residents the justification and the benefits of the scheme and this lack of Engagement has created a lot of local confusion um on one hand we’re talking about climate and ecological emergencies we’re then talking about building on Green Fields we’re talking about building office
Space at the same time time as we’re selling off the business center office space so it has created some unnecessary confusion the lack of Engagement has also resulted in a lot of residents being unaware of both the lpu and the ldo public consultations um most residents weren’t
Aware of of their existence and those that did access them found them difficult if not impossible to navigate so there has been problems with this process um um but I think it’s important that we make residents aware that one of the reasons that this is happening is is we’re paying the price
Effectively for poor decisions of the past um we’ve allowed our commercial space to be covered in housing without really much thought to where those residents are then going to work so we’ve got the pernel site in in our area a mile from this site 600 houses built
On it we’ve got the BMW site you’ve got the bath press site you’ve got the one site business center all Industrial and Commercial spaces that have been covered in housing um so we’re now in a position where we need to create more industrial space um another reality is that we’re
Building we’re still going to build more houses there’s a proposal in this draft local plan to build 500 houses in farington gurny which I say is unsustainable and I’m totally um I’ll be totally Obed but on top of that uh suet want to build 500 houses on our doorstep
There’s more than a thousand houses in the already in the plan to build in mids summon on radstock so we’re going to be building thousands of houses and those people are going to need somewhere to work so we need the job creation um we also have an unacceptably
High level of residents needed to commute at the moment and without intervention that’s just going to get worse and if it gets worse we won’t be able to meet our carbon reduction targets um I would say with the local plan I think it’s it’s it’s time that we should
We should be very honest with our residents about the difficult decisions that we’re going to have to make um it’s clear that we’ve got to build 14 a half thousand more houses in the next 20 years and even if we use all the Brownfield sites we have available to us
That will that will that will cover probably less than half of that number um so there’s a there a huge there’s a a huge amount of complex issues in this situation and too many for me to cover in three minutes so I would just say on balance I’m broadly in support of this
Type of economic development but it needs more work to ensure that we get the minimum impact and the maximum benefits um one last comment I would say that I wouldn’t be in favor of any compulsory purchase schemes thank you thank you councelor Hughes for your statement um councelor Andel please
Uh thank you good evening uh I am councelor Duncan Hansel um I have three points to make on the local plan consultation um firstly in 2014 a lady spoke to me in the street asking if I could help her notices had gone up around local Farmland stating that
Permissive footpaths were to be closed because of the withdrawal of Def funds for public access this lady explained that she walked with a young son across the fields from saltford to school in Kum I contacted the farmer who kindly granted this lady special access and he
Agreed to allow me to try to find a solution to the withdrawal of funds for public access to the paths the outcome was an imaginative scheme whereby the saltford Community Association collects £3,000 in donations annually to compensate the farmer for loss of land and other costs in return over 3,000 M
Of foot path have remained open for the last 10 years for members of the the public to enjoy no one checks if users of the paths have donated the paths are used by saltford residents and can be used by visitors from other areas including Kim and bath freely at any
Time this scheme demonstrates a classic liberal approach of enabling a community to solve a problem for itself a scheme not dependent on councils or taxation it reflects saltford at its best enterprising community-minded and inclusive where Paws they’re on the site options saltford South and saltford West as chrisen Truman CEO of the campaign
For the protection of rural England said people deserve Countryside on their doorstep where there is space for nature that everyone can explore and enjoy and which is accessible to all my second point is the local plan consultation papers page 61 addresses a location described as west of bath the
Text includes the sentence therefore it is considered to be unlikely that an allocation for development in this location will be capable of inclusion in the draft plan similar wordings on page 76 no location map has been provided in your agenda papers uh what member of the public would spend any time giving an
Opinion or submitting evidence on this west of bath option knowing that the outcome has in effect been predetermined um this uh Wester bath section uh in the consultation uh would be better for a rewrite the third point I want to make the final Point Baines has a six-year land Supply there will be
Non-controversial options for housing such as at Hicks gate that will come forward that do not change the essential character of villages like saltford this gives Baines time in the plan period up to 2042 to create a new community in Northeast Somerset from scrp scratch imagine the excitement and Prestige of
Developing a showcase village with the very best of design energy conservation and Community facilities Baines can demonstrate excellence in planning that can be a showcase to the whole country so summing up the local plan should seek to preserve the essential character of existing settlements the local plan consultation needs to capture All Views
And the local plan should be bold and inspiring thank you thank you very much I’m being exceptionally generous with the red light this evening um counselor and Pia please thank you so tonight we have a long and complex report on the local plan options consultation at the heart
Of this is the aim to create a framework for a sustainable future for our community and in my ward where I’m the counselor Kum down we already have difficulties at play you know and these difficulties are undermining the plan what is the problem so we have historic
Very historic allotments at KB down it is a village setting you know they have been there for 130 years when I first arrived in Kum down the first thing I ever did was to apply to be an arment holder there and it took me 5 years to
Get there so these are really precious local Village issues isues they local Village allotments it’s more than an allotment it’s a little village amenity so we want this allotments they are providing a healthier sustainable Village Life it’s a community life and this is a nonrenewable resource now
Under threat so there are 64 plots we have and there space for 50 more and this is just the tip of the iceberg because the plot holders their family the family members it is a community that is involved with the the the Tom down allotments and for several years
Our community has felt we have a gray cloud over the um the lease hold because the lease was always uh shortterm leases we couldn’t really invest in our allotment and build those poly tunnels and all those things that we wanted to do bring in soil grow things but we
Remain positive we remain optimistic that we can continue digging and hopefully this allotment issue will be resolved unfortunately you know we’ve recently heard that the landowner wishes to terminate the lease and that is why I am here so here today I have a petition in front of me and you know I look
Through this petition and there are 4,700 signatures since the 12th of December now by way of context I was just looking at this that is more people than voted in the 2023 May elections in Kum down Ward there is a lot of community sentiment in this here so what
We want is see Toki as a Public Health Medicine expert that the value of outdoor activities and growing our own produce is difficult to measure but we know how important it is is in fact on my way here I was listening to Lord blancet talking about how just because
He can’t see they often used to put him in a windowless room and he could sense it he could feel it and that is the context I’m talking about the open air the space I see the red light go up there so I will make it brief now what
We are asking what we are asking for is can we review the arrangement the designation for our allotments because there’s some noise which says because there are some mineral rights issues it cannot be designated at a green space issue I think we can um go back to this
Issue and look at it again uh I think both are possible I appreciate that you’re already talking to the owners of the land and we appreciate you’re talking to them and I One More request is could the officers engage with us because we know a lot of context about
Our local allotments and we could help them with this thank you thank you m do you want to present the the I would love you thank You thank you very much thank you sorry final speaker Mr willocks thank you hi I’m Dar a s student in N Hill thanks thanks for letting me speak tonight as a young person contemplating University and a career I like many others have been beset by worries about
Finding a place to live where will I end up will there be jobs to come back to in Northeast Somerset will there be somewhere to live affordable housing for young people is rare and always in demand many young people me included are forced to either stay at home to save
Money or move to somewhere it is cheaper to live those less fortunate often have no choice but to Sur Sur or Worse end up on the streets although there are many jobs on offer often these jobs cannot support living away from home or even renting a place close to the work this
Means many are forced to find more achievable housing further away from these jobs and commute or go back to living with their parents while they begin the NY impossible task of finding a house to buy or even finding a job that can support the rent charged by
Private landlords in fact this week it was is reported that one in 10 young people end up having to turn down job offers as they simply cannot afford to accept them according to the FCA there has been a drop in the number of people under 30
Being able to buy their first home over the past few years at the same time the number of people over 50 buying their first home is risen by 30% I’m going to have to wait until I’m in my 50s to buy a house in my personal struggle to find
Work I tried working in many different fields none of which were accessible or able to support and move away from home for those with Rich parents it’s not an issue but this is the reality of most young people the council needs to address this growing inequality and
Support young people in their hunt for local jobs and local housing so that we can make the most of our potential so whilst I am supportive of the new local plan I want you counselors to ask yourselves are you doing enough for young people for future Generations
Will you be working to ensure that people like me can consider a future here in Northeast Sommerset the place where I’ve grown up when teenagers like me leave education will there be jobs and affordable housing here or will they be packing us off to Bristol or swinden
Or London and telling us to use our money to buy a car and keep filling it with fossil fuels with the new local plan you can you can encourage every Community to think about how they will be supporting their younger residents who are currently living with their parents you
Can also insist that developers build affordable homes words are great but you must deliver thank you Mr it it is a gen genuine pleasure to hear from a younger voice it’s been thank you very much yeah okay that is the end of the um public statements session we’ll move on
To the main business I will I will give an opportunity for people to to to leave if they don’t want to listen to the main body of the meeting I know some of our uh couns may want to shuffle away they are taking part uh members of the public
Can leave if they wish as well and then we will move on to item eight um point of order chair questions from counselors we’re normally allowed to ask supplementary questions are we not allowed to do so tonight good question I shall find out thank you I apologize we uh I wasn’t aware
That you wanted to do a supplementary question but it’s well within the rules for you to do so because you did submit a question um so by all means please um ask your supplementary question yeah um well thank you very much much chair and it is to do with the Sumer Valley
Enterprise Zone I asked two questions and I have uh two supplementaries to ask so the first one is um I do welcome the principle of high quality jobs in our area where I still have concerns about the Sumer Valley Enterprise Zone and I’d like to challenge the answer that I’ve
Got about my first one which is about land negotiation and it says in the answer I have received discussions and negotiations for land have commenced could this be confirmed because as far as I know no negotiations with the main land owner have taken place for quite
Some time surely at this point in time with the S Valley Enterprise Zone we should be reaching a conclusion and like my fellow counselor beside me and other speakers I really would guard against the dangers of going down the compulsory prees order so like to know about negotiations thank you thank you very
Much K would you like to answer would you like would you um like some time I I think I I can uh I have discussed this issue with officers before and um uh the answers that I’ve received is that uh negotiations first took place back in
2019 uh my understanding is that all the land owners have uh property agents and have been taking advice in the matter um and uh negotiations were taking place they have gone relatively quiet at this point um so I don’t believe there’s been uh any very recent communication um but
Certainly discussions have been taking place thank you I can’t add anything else so thank you for that for clarifying that um my second question uh my second supplementary question is again challenging the answer that I got and I’m very concerned about the traffic um and what will happen to traffic
Movement in the area and um we are told that we can be confident that um the proposed design of this massive roundabout is going to be fit for purpose but I wonder when was the data collected to say that this roundabout is going to be fit for purpose as uh one of
Our speakers has just previously uh mentioned there’s total chaos as I’m sure many of you knew when there was a slight obstruction on two roads in the area around where the Som Valley Enterprise zone is going to be so is the data up to dat that this modeling has
Been based on and can be re we we be assured it is fit the purpose thank you um I think I know the answer to that question uh Council hman but I’d like to just take advice uh from officers on it to make sure I’ve got it right so if I
Could give you that answer within five days please thank you no thank you um so I don’t miss you in the future just just please let Democratic Services know you would like to ask a something question and I’ll make sure you’re down on my list okay thank you very much right
Moving on to um item number eight considerations of matters referred to by policy development scru bodies there are none so we’ll move to item nine which is building a fair green creative and connected paath with Northeast Somerset uh councelor Paul rer to move please thank you
Chair so we have before cabinet uh an ambitious New Economic strategy which with your support will enable us to strengthen and diversify our local economy over the next 10 years I feel privileged to propose the recommendations in this paper despite the harsh funding constraints placed upon this on us by
Central government our Administration is taking M matters into its own hands to develop our local economy and communities by launching this strategy with this strategy our Administration is setting out our stall with a far-reaching plan to build a fair green created creative and connected bath with Northeast
Somerset we have worked closely with our key stakeholders over the last 18 months to shape our shared vision for our local area we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet together we recognize that we all have a stake in ensuring that our economy and our communities Thrive the economic strategy spans the
Decade to 2034 and contains six pillars and if you bear with me I shall list them all they are creating a Greener economy that is net zero and nature positive supporting our residents to access good work establishing bar and Northeast Somerset as a center of inclusive Innovation and creativity creating resilient businesses
By building diverse creative and sustainable base addressing housing affordability and ensuring residents have access to high quality homes and finally supporting stronger places building resilience and sharing Prosperity more fairly the strategy further outlines a 10-point delivery plan some of which were already delivering for example bath keys and the wider milsome Quarter
Master Plan which will be a flagship for sustainable development so why is this strategy so important it is the platform from which we can move to a fairer sustainable and thriving future for our local area it forms an integral part of our larger plan it’s the blueprint we need to
Demonstrate that our vision is robust the economic strategy opens the doors for our local authority to attract the vital funding both private and public that is essential to enable us to implement our plans there is a Time on on saying in the business World failing to plan is
Planning to fail now we have the strategy and the delivery plan we can start working on the implementation bringing it to life in our local Authority we are very fortunate to have valuable Council assets like the Roman baths we’re blessed with two outstanding universities the RO United Hospital a
Double world heritage classification and historic Market towns and significant businesses all in a wonderful unique setting for the most part our residents are highly qualified and unemployment is relatively low but not everyone in Bara Northeast Somerset is sharing in our overall Prosperity economic growth in our area
Over the last 10 years has been sluggish wages here are below the national average many residents are struggling with Rising housing costs inequalities in health and employment are growing creating a two-tier economy I would like to draw particular attention to gaps in educational educational attainment in our area education is fundamental to improving
Young people’s life chances unless we act we risk conning General generations of young people to Futures in which their opportunities are reduced I believe councilor May will shortly be addressing this point specifically some of our residents then are being left behind and we cannot allow this cycle to continue overshadow overshadowing
Everything is the climate emergency which is at the Forefront of our administration’s Attention our Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and we are serious about our commitments to sustainability we must reach our carbon objectives of Net Zero we’re acutely aware that we we must respond to the
Climate emergency and do so now our climate emergency goals are woven into this strategy I would like to thank everybody uh involved in the development of this and particularly our future ambition board Partners who are our key stakeholders and who have worked so hard to develop this groundbreaking strategy
It’s the fund fundamental prerequisite to a fairer sustainable and thriving future for our local area thank you cabinet for your support of this Flagship Flagship initiative I’m very happy to propose the recommendations and so I move recommendations 2.1 and 2.2 thank you thank you councel the council read me to
Second thank you chair uh and I am delighted to Second this proposal the council has many responsibilities and it touches people’s lives in different ways at different times but three strands which are more or less continuous throughout all the middle years are where people live where they work and
How they get between the two of them we’ve heard a lot recently about the council plans for housing and we’re working very hard on future transport plans so to add to the right homes in the right places and enabling choice on transport we now have in front of us an
Economic strategy to agree and to implement Botham Northeast Somerset is a rich and varied landscape with historical and present links to many Industries this economic strategy balances our Legacy whilst being very forward-looking and future proofing against changing Trends as an example the lockdown period showed us that we had a Reliance on
Tourist and students within the city of bath and absolutely we need to ensure that our offer to visitors and to those who choose to make bath their home while studying is sustainable appropriate and flexible to changing needs but we also need to ensure that we have other compelling offers and focus on other
Areas within the authority so that there are employment opportunities near where people live and there are affordable housing Solutions near to where the jobs are and to minimize unnecessary travel between the two I welcome this strategy in front of us as it sets out a road map for our
Economic future even having this plan adopted would be a very good first step forward a good friend of mine sent me a link to an article published over over the weekend about the Horizon scheme something we used to enjoy free and unfettered access to in the good old PB that’s pre-brexit
Days and it looks like we may be able to access this again in the future but the key word here is might the council will never have the sort of money to invest in everything needed to drive the economy our job is to make us an attractive place as possible to do
Business ensure that we focus on sustainability and stand in to correct any market failures and if by having this policy in front of us this evening it makes it easier for businesses to apply for grant funding that in and of itself has to be a good thing I am in no
Doubt that Paul and his officers have worked incredibly hard on this document and are to be very highly commended and I’m very happy to Second it thank you thank youby I will move to the debate I’ve got a councel May y thank you chair uh as I said earlier on I’m the a
Cabinet member for children and young people this is an excellent economic long-term strategy which I fully support my point to reinforce this comment is that children are an essential part of our future economic Drive Baines has excellent schools with most being rated by ofstead as good or better but as many
Are within the academy system that leaves the influence we have as counselors is as representatives of the community families and most importantly the children within our system is quite difficult the report highlights the issue uh on page uh 10 of their report uh and whilst we have one of the most
Highly performing local education Authority areas in the country this creates a significant issue of the size of attainment gap for small proportion of our children indeed we’re one of the worst in the country for a key stage two attainment for free school Mills children we need to think about our strengths within our
Economy to address this group of students including practical work experience apprenticeships and working with families so my delight at the strategy addressing its inequality means I hope that my colleagues will include the issue of using our strengths and of our partners strengths to engage effectively moving forward as a key
Issue within the key delivery plans thank you chair thank you councilor May Council B yeah thank you our Council declared a climate emergency in March 2019 committing us to provide the leadership to enable the district to reach carbon neutrality followed by an ecological emergency in 2020 the package of measures we’re
Bringing forward this evening shows how we are embedding Net Zero nature positive systemically throughout our work as a council tonight’s agenda builds upon our corporate strategy embedding sustainability into all Council decision- making the new economic strategy strategy delivers on that it is designed using the principles
Of donut economics which aim to meet the needs of all within the means of the planet we are embedding that approach with our partners across the district and to inform delivery across Council Services later this evening we will launch consultation on our new local plan bringing forward options that go
Further on key climate nature and sustainability policies and aiming to shaped Development Across The District so as to minimize environmental impact and finally we will discuss the Summer Valley Enterprise Zone an important element in delivering the business space needed to ensure our residents can access local jobs um our new economic
Strategy has sustainability at its heart building on the principles of donut economics it will deliver for people and Planet as our success measures we are focusing partly on household disposable income a measure of how the economy is working for people equal as well as on carbon emissions equality and
Biodiversity it sets out specific action for a Greener economy we will investigate how green bonds can help residents to invest in and benefit from local projects supporting climate and nature we will support green skills development training and apprenticeships we will support local green jobs by increasing capacity for
Renewable energy generation as well as for installing energy-saving measures and for building highly energy efficient new homes this will reduce carbon emissions from heat and buildings whilst making warmth affordable we will support businesses who want to become Net Zero nature positive in their operations ensuring they can access free surveys
And green business grants and we will promote our local be corpse we we will promote bath with Northeast Somerset as a test bed for the development assessment and implementation of Novel green technologies across transport energy and the built environment we will continue to support real choice in transport
Through our transport action plan and active travel master plan these will Pro promote sustainable modes with the objective not only of reducing carbon emissions from transport but also of promoting mental and physical health wealth also reducing traffic congestion we will explore nature-based solutions to increase biodiversity and encourage sustainable tourism we’ll
Develop a local food strategy and support the adoption of regenerative farming whilst providing support to rural businesses with diversification the economic strategy is an opportunity to set the direction of the economy of bath with northy sumers set for the next decade and I’m very pleased that that direction will be
Towards net zero nature positive so I’ll be supporting tonight’s recommendations thank you C waren no more people signal to speak so I’ll move to the vote all in favor that is unanimous so the paper’s passed thank you very much we’ll move on to item number 10 which is the the local
Plan options consultation local development scheme councelor mccab to move please thank you very much chair so every 20 years a local Authority gets to set a new local plan this sets out the policies by which all planning decisions will be made it also sets out where new
Housing will be built what type it will be and where land will be designated for other needs such as employment today we are considering the options document this primarily sets out the potential areas that could be allocated for house building employment and renewable energy as well as many areas of development management policy
Uh and this marks a considerable amount of effort on behalf of officers over this past year for which I’m very grateful it’s also informed by and will help to deliver our corporate strategy and economic strategy so this huge piece of work uh began over a year ago when we
Began talking to residents and stakeholders and it’s been going through our all party local development framework Steering group uh and it’s worth noting that many Council administrations do not bother to consult with other parties on the development of a new local plan so it is to the credit
Of all the administrations here in Baines that we as a council do uh it’s something that I am Keen to maintain what this means is that all political groups have had the opportunity to take part in the draft of this material or be it on a confidential
Basis so all groups have been able to submit their initial thoughts in advance of the public consultation so this opson document that we are intending to put out for consultation to Residents uh and other parties is the results of this consultation which will inform the draft
Of our new local plan and that will be out for consultation later in the year there’s also another timing element to consider so one of the key factors locally is the Strategic lead that uh is taken by the west of England combined Authority in terms of planning for the economy planning for
Transport planning for housing right across the region unfortunately in an effort to seemingly qualify as the worst mayor in the country mayor Dan no has pulled wer out of this regionally significant role this has left the four authorities rushing to complete new local plans because that strategic overview is now missing
We are having to work closely with each other to try and achieve this Regional coordination uh and remember not having a valid local plan in place creates a freefor all for developers hence the urgency uh luckily for Baines we prepared a partial update which uh we
Completed a year ago uh and that’s given us a more upto-date plan than our neighboring authorities but that means it’s left us slightly behind them in preparing a new local plan covering the long longer term so uh what have been our our main drivers well we want to create a a fair
Fairer and more prosperous and more sustainable economy and we want to M we and we really want to maximize the delivery of housing that is more affordable uh clearly the government asking us to build 14 a half thousand new homes in the authority area is a huge challenge uh so this work uh
Presents sites put forward by various parties all addressed for their suitability and sustainability uh and just touching on a comment that was made earlier about that 14 a half thousand homes luckily for us we have uh some 6,000 in the pipeline uh and we expect uh over this time period
To uh get a windfall of about 2,000 homes that we weren’t necessarily expecting that’s just normal uh which means that it’s it’s we’ve got find 6 and a half thousand homes over the next 20 years which is is far more achievable uh than if we were going straight in at
14 and a half but we have to respond to both the housing crisis and the affordability challenges so our suggested possible sites and their uses will be available for residents to have their say the other Big Driver of course is the climate and ecological emergencies so we are proposing that our
Enhanced requirement for Net Zero in terms of energy use in new build s now be accompanied by a new and tougher consideration for carbon neutrality in construction materials as well uh and we will also be testing a biodiversity net gain of 20% on new builds uh and see how
Close we can get because it it’s uh in all these matters we’re treading a very fine line between our aspirations and what the final planning inspector will say is viable for developers so evidence is key uh and the results of the consultations with re residents count as
Evidence uh so in order to facilitate a robust consultation we are creating a Web book approach so that participants can view the part of the plan they’re interested in uh and indicate their stance on a matter provide additional evidence or just make General comments uh but in a way that their contributions
Are correctly allocated to a particular item there will also be hard copies in our libraries and officers have made considerable efforts to engage with often hard toore groups to secure their participation as well uh there’s one more Small Change uh to the document in front of you um at
Some point uh uh as some of the supporting evidence uh to the local plan won’t be published until shortly after the launch and in in order to give people a bigger say we’re going to be extending the consult consultation period for uh to 8 weeks meaning that
Comments can be submitted up to the 8th of April uh so with thanks to our po planning policy officers uh and the members of the lvf Steering group from all parties I ask cabinet to approve this document for consultation as directed in 2.1 to 2.5 thank you thank you c c b second
Conly congrat M his excellent speech and well put forward um I’ve been involved in planning policy for 30 years now since since 1993 I’ve been County Council structure plans all these four plans bring forward the first sustainable plan we have was 2014 the course straty brought in it stopped development where people
Didn’t want it a local plan is there to ensure development in the right places business in the right places as well in consultation and working with the communities and cross party in the last Administration we ran I inherited joint spatial plan we put together by the conservatives on this Council plus the other
Parties in North Somerset Bristol South L it collapsed in a heap because there’s political interference in the plan making process I questioned the Barrister at a wer meeting it was confirmed that the leaders had to had in their changing designations or locations of houses which is not acceptable at
All this is why the El Steering group is so essential and so important that cross Party Support is there we don’t know agree with each other we don’t have to agree with each other sometimes inside political parties there also divides as well but it allows us to get the good
Base and those members go to communities and consult their residents as well and speak to them some c will not like the outcomes of some of the decisions that be made but they are sustainable like the 2014 core strategy this plan will go forward it will be adopted by the inspector and be
Acceptable and it will stand it’s time I’m sure it will actually succeed greatly I local plans Lo local 4y South clost CL is collapsed Bristol collapsed nor subet collapsed we the only local Authority have a plan actually worked because we do it the right way I by second thank
You well said move to the debate counselor Warren thank you so yeah as Council theab said the local plan is an absolutely key document in ensuring that a planning planning Authority can require sustainable green construction and development in sustainable locations so ours our options document is informed
By our economic strategy and it’s a rare opportunity that only comes along once a decade or so to set the parameters of the place that we live in for a generation after ratifying a local Plan update only last January that put bath and Northeast Somerset on the map with
The lead Net Zero new build policy in England at the time as well as groundbreaking biodiversity requirements it’s exciting to have an opportunity now to take that ambition still further our green transformation team have been working closely with the planning their planning policy colleagues to develop a policy framework that will drive forward
Our climate and ecological emergency declaration and support development enabling uh bar and Northeast Somerset to become carbon neutral nature positive so C mccab has mentioned uh the proposed requirements around embodied carbon which means the carbon emissions associated with the construction process um and also the proposal to incre increase the requirement for
Biodiversity net gain from 10 to 20% but also I’m particularly pleased that on Renewables we’re proposing an option to safeguard our best potential sites for wind energy linking the individual planning applications back to the council’s climate Target of 300 megawatt renewable capacity whilst retaining flexibility to adapt to any further
Changes in our climate targets for example in response to New Evidence we continue to lead the local nature recovery strategy for the west of England um and Natural England have been so impressed with our leadership on Greed infrastructure on projects including baths scape water space Sumer Valley rediscovered and two Valley
Reconnected that they’ve chosen to undertake further work work with us so following on from last year’s local plan partial update which put us in poll position on Environmental Protections in planning policy we are proposing this year to start to go still further testing the limits of national planning
Policy in response to our climate and ecological emergency declarations uh and I am happy to support the recommendations okay thank you Council I apologize there somebody leaving rather noisily there um uh councel may please thank you chair this report uh is going to be uh setting out the options a fair
Process um that will be allowing both developers and communities to actually Express their views so it’s a really important stage moving forward uh no decisions are made and I think that’s uh really fair um I represent one area that is possibly affected by the local plan uh proposals uh but
Uh the council has gone out of its way to consult with the local community uh the planners and uh Acom actually came out MET and they’ve reflected a lot of the comments were made by the local community in that plan for uh consultation I think uh councelor Bor is
Right after the failure of the JSP which uh was blatantly political it was important that we actually work uh with all the political parties and MC when he took over has continued doing that and I think that’s been a really uh quite a dynamic exercise to get to this point
But we’ve got to do the thing properly and correctly uh I think uh I I would just request um and I’ve already made this clear to councelor mccab uh about making sure that we get the access um to uh the report to make it as simple as
Possible for the public so that they can access the site and get in to report things and we need to make sure for my area there’s five different options being discussed that the plans are very clear so that people can read them and make a decision uh based upon what they
Can see thank you chair thank you councelor may we’ll move to the vote you want statement counc No okay we’ll move to the votes all in favor that is unanimous uh and while we’re on the topic I would encourage every every single resident to take part in this plan I cannot underestimate its
Its importance it will be guiding the economic strategy where houses go where development goes uh for the next 10 years and Beyond so it is important you have your say right we’ll move on to item number 11 which is Summer Valley Enterprise Zone local development order uh
Councilor Ro to move but I I was just say the count will be making a with the normal statement because they’ll be talking on all three papers you thank you chair so we have before cabinet three papers relating to the Summer Valley Enterprise Zone um I’ve refer to the Summer Valley Enterprise
Zone throughout the speech I’m going to call it spz from now on just to save a bit of time and uh all three of these papers require approval to enable delivery of the scheme as chair as just said I’m planning to make one speech for all three papers and we’ll consider and
Vote uh on each separately um the the SP has been under consideration for almost 17 years it’s a very complex topic and I think it’s only right that I spend sufficient time to address some of the really important issues so um I apologize for talking for so
Long I spoke earlier about the goals of our new economic strategy that’s just been approved and The Spar is an important part of delivery of that strategy and it’s also a Manifesto commitment of this Administration the space is intended to to create around 1,300 jobs of exactly
The type we aspire to good quality secure well-paid local jobs giving re residents meaningful and fulfilling employment that’s 1,300 local jobs for the towns and villages in hamlets around Pon Westfield radstock and Midsummer Norton that’s a population of around 30,000 people I’ve lived and worked in bar for
43 years which is a number I don’t really care to contemplate and I’ve witnessed many of the changes in person that I’m about to talk to you about if we go back to the late ’90s and early 2000s nearly all the employment in the Summer Valley was local let’s just remind ourselves of
What’s been lost Great Mills DIY 100 store DIY chain has had their headquarters in the Old Mills site and I estimate employ 250 to 400 people they were bought by Focus and it was shut down in 2000 welon baby bag manufacturing 300 jobs in the heart of Midsummer Norton Town Center 300 jobs
Gone in 2013 and how can I not spend some time talking about panel’s and Sons The Printers at its height it provided 2,000 jobs it closed in 2005 this was one of the most advanced printing companies in the world and it was located in Porton of all places bringing in
Printing is a highly Technical and skilled profession and it just shows what this community is capable of capable of given the right opportunity the legacy of panel’s today is a Facebook group of around 300 x employees panel’s Bowling Club and sports ground the rest of this once
Famous site is now housing so we have more people with few opportunities to work nearby in my estimation well over 1,000 jobs have been wiped out in compar comparatively recent times so what’s the consequence consequence of that the local community of course adapted and a lot of them now
Commute they get in their cars and vans and they travel to work and we wonder why the local Road network is so busy census statistics from 2021 suggest that 30 to 50% of the economically active population in this area commute over 6 miles to Work the term out commuting is referred to several times in the papers we have before us let’s just look at one aspect of that and see what a barrier out commuting out commuting is to Residents especially Our Youth and our young people if you look at a family of four
With two young out Children of working age living at home what are your options for gainful employment working for in a career or of an employer of your choosing the first qualification you need is not training or academic Awards firstly you need a car so for this family is that three or four
Cars that they need to actually have a choice of where they work how is that affordable it’s a huge barrier and this is what outc commuting means to many in these towns it isn’t fair it disenfranchises our young people and the less affluent and it limits their opportunities what hopes and aspirations
Do our young people have in these areas for their future all they see is no local opportunities and a lifetime of commuting miles to work in short we now have dormatory towns with few quality employment opportunities in addition in the coming years if we’ve just heard
More houses will be built in the area and if we don’t take actions things are only going to get worse in employment terms what we’re trying to do is to correct that to correct that we need to correct that we need to create opportunity and aspirations for both
Current and future Generations in these communities this Authority recognized in 2007 that the jobs lost needed to be replaced this is when it originally allocated the land we considering today’s employment land it was left to the free market to bring the development forward it failed to do so and it’s
Probable that delivery was seen as too complex and too expensive this Administration has now stepped in and what we have before us today is the mechanism by which we can deliver this pioneering project a green Business Park there are three papers that I am proposing today we have a commitments
Paper that I will discuss later we have the adoption of the local development order the ldo and then the in principle statutory mechanisms paper that enables delivery of the scheme the ldo paper enables adoption of the ldo by cabinet and addresses the market failure in delivering spz it is a
Planning framework that by way of compliance applications prospective developers and businesses can seek planning permission on a drisk basis it gives them more certainty that an application will be approved provided it meets with the strict criteria enshrined in the ldo the ldo does not remove planning const restrictions it defines them in
Advance it gives businesses certainty as to what they need to do to make a successful application to enable the ldo to be bought forward to approval today there’s been a process that the planning Authority has been through to ensure the scheme is compliant with all local and National policies these policies and statutary
Consules include an environmental impact assessment ecology arboriculture air quality conservation archaeology highways drainage and flood risk and many more the list of hurdles this scheme has had to pass is extensive and I can report that I’m able to bring these papers to cabinet for approval today because the local plan plan
Planning Authority report has confirmed policy compliance the report does acknowledge as do we as an Administration that there is harm in implementing the Enterprise Zone in this area but taking in the rounds we believe as does the local planning Authority report that the benefits to the community outweigh the
Harm associated with using this site but as an Administration we want to go further than the controls contained within the ldo paper that is why we’ve developed a commitments paper that sets out our administration’s ambitious objectives and vision in delivering an exceptional Net Zero sustainable green Business Park we have put in place
Several mitigations and goals that we wish to achieve in making this an Exemplar site and my colleague councilor Warren will touch on aspects of this commitment paper shortly in a perfect world we will be delivering these jobs on an existing Brownfield site there isn’t one suitable nearby the
Welton BBY site is only 12 acres whereas the SES site is 33 and with a mix of jobs and housing wel and BBY will not deliver jobs on the scales we require it’s also right in the Town Center of Midsummer noron in short it simply doesn’t work so we’re left with a
Difficult decision to deliver the site on Farmland this does not sit comfortably with this Administration and it has been recognized that we cannot develop the site without very careful consideration with mitigations in place to ensure that we comply with or exceed policy requirements and deler a site to the highest environmental
Standards there’s insufficient time for me to discuss all aspects of this project in this speech today I would however like to address some of the key issues and also challenge some of the misinformation that is circulating I’ll firstly talk about biodiversity there will be a biodiversity net gain associated with
This development at full occupation of the site we will deliver at least a 10% biodiversity net gain some of which will be delivered off site we will retain 85% of the existing HED RS on site and over 10 a half th000 trees will be planted on site at the
Point that the scheme has completed infrastructure but no businesses in situ there will be a 46% biodiversity net gain created on site as businesses populate the scheme this gain will reduce and at some stage will have to start to deliver the additional biodiversity offsite this will be as local as possible and
Certainly within the Summer Valley to maintain our overall position of 10% biodiversity net gain the LD is valid for 25 years therefore if and when our biodiversity net gain policies are enhanced through changes in the local plan we will be able to accommodate those changes in the five-yearly ldo review process that will
Take place if the site has not been fully populated then the new BNG targets will apply to those businesses planning to develop the site after policy change we believe that we’ve addressed the environmental issues to the best of our abilities and to a high standard whilst keeping the site commercially
Viable for occupiers and delivering the number of jobs we need we like now to turn to employment and the 1300 jobs that we want to create what essentially we’re trying to do here is recreate the local stable highquality employment that used to be provided by the defunct Employers in
This area it is true to say that the unemployment rate here is comparable to the rest of the authority and it is relatively low a view has been expressed that we do not need new jobs but I think that is missing the point a significant proportion of the local working
Population are having to commute long distances and we are going to change that when we deliver job opportunities locally people will transition away from their commuting jobs to those provided much nearer to home many will be able ble to walk cycle or take the bus to work reducing traffic volumes and
Substantially improving the quality of life on all those who currently spend precious hours of their week commuting in their vehicles these are strong motivators that will make people move their jobs closer to home we also believe that young people in this area who are transitioning from education into employment which happens every year
They will be excited by the industries that we wish to attract to this green business park because no one is more aware the climate emergency than those under 20 now I turn to business and look at the why the businesses will want to come to this site one of the key factors that
Businesses consider in deciding whether to locate to a particular area is the proximity to a substantial Workforce I believe that with over 30,000 people living within just a few miles of this site one of the primary attractions will be the local Workforce businesses will not come here to attract employees from Bristol if
They want to attract employees from Bristol they will build their businesses in Bristol not on the sped site they will come here because they want the great people of Midsummer North grst and Porton to work for them another reason they will come here is that the
Ldo is in place I mentioned that the ldo will deris their application to move their businesses here this gives them certainty there is nothing that business businesses like more than certainty and we will be providing it there’s much talk of the evidence of lack of business appetite to move to the
Areas vacant commercial sites and this is proof that there is simply no appetite to move here the reality is that Progressive employers have their own aspirations on sustainability and carbon emission reductions and reducing cost and providing top Quality Employment space to attract the caliber of employees that they
Need businesses are not investing in Legacy property properties from the 1970s and ‘ 80s with poor immunities low Energy Efficiency and high running costs they have their own sustainable aspirations and obligations and recognize that carbon emission reduction will almost certainly be regulated by Statute the new energy efficient
Buildings provided on site will be of primary interest to these businesses and they will come precisely because of the state-of-the-art premises employees will also want to come because of the facilities will be modern and up to-date there is sign significant evidence that demand for A1 class accommodation is
Strong and there is a huge shortage of that space in this Authority and just very briefly the sort of businesses that we want to attract to this site I refer to commitments paper item 1.3 that makes it clear that the business that we want to attract are
Those vital to our green economy working in Renewables heat pumps Battery Technology power management systems and carbon reduction and we also can’t ignore to the fact that one of the biggest battery factories in the country is going to be built down in Wellington which is not very far away and it
Wouldn’t at all surprise me if there were feeder businesses on this site providing that that battery Factory there’s a whole raft of Green Technology businesses that are going to be proliferating in the next two decades we have to do that there will be money available for them and they need
Premises in which to operate I’d like to turn to Midsummer Norton High Street this Authority is working as hard as it can to support the high streets of stock in Midsummer Norton and there are a number of initiatives under way to regenerate and improve the the immunities and public spaces and I know
That because I’m personally responsible for it and I meet with the officers all the time the reality is that as an authority we can only do so much to ensure the Regeneration of our high streets and we somehow have to stimulate demand for the goods and services provided there and
Give entrepreneurs the confidence to invest in new High Street Enterprises I can see no better way way of doing this than creating 1,300 new jobs just to Stones Throw from Midsummer nor High Street these local jobs are in my view not going to destroy Midsummer Norton High Street they are part and key
To helping regenerate it I turn now to transport it is a commitment of this Administration to promote active travel and public transport and reduce car travel with so many employees living locally and with the provision of suitable infrastructure structure we expect a real modal shift in transport
Methods people will be able to walk to work the a362 that runs from farington gurny to the ficket me roundabout will be significantly improved and will promote active travel with a safe walking and cycle Lane pinch points will be eliminated traffic speeds unified and traffic flow improved Thicket me roundabout will be substantially
Upgraded I can also confirm that we’ve just received combined Authority business case approval from for the Summer Valley Links project that will deliver the active travel route from farington gurny to the Enterprise Zone this is Major progress there will also be a pro provision for bus stops at the
Enterprise Zone but giving that delivery of the scheme is over three years away we cannot at this point say precisely how the buses will be delivered but preliminary discussions with first bus have been very positive and it’s a commitment of this Administration to ensure the provision of bus services to
The site this will further reduce bus travel sorry car Trel my apologies car Trel a very brief word on costs the enabling works of the scheme that include Road improvements active travel routes and infrastructure development of the entire site will accom a cost of around £30 million and this is being
Funded by grant funding from various sources so to conclude officers have worked tirelessly to enable the local authority to reach this point and I thank them for their efforts they have faced many hurdles given the crippling Financial constraints that most local authorities are facing it is a credit to this
Authority that we’re delivering on such complex infrastructure projects there is more work to do now to to move the project to delivery phase and this is where I refer to the third and final paper which is the impr principle statutory mechanisms paper we need to approve this to authorize the officers
To begin the process of land acquisition where we have got to now is a very significant achievement and we’re on the brink of being able to transform many of our residents lives for the better it’s probably going to take 3 to four years to deliver the first jobs on site
And 7 to 10 years to get the site fully occupied we need to get on with it climate change is happening now we need to create the environment to enable reductions in carbon emissions and improve sustainability there are school children now who will be of employment
Age when the jobs are being created they need something to Aspire to something to look forward to somewhere to work jobs like their grandparents had our community needs these 1,300 jobs and I commend these papers to the cabinet approval so I turn to the commitments paper and I’m very happy to propose
Recommendations 2.1 and 2.2 thank you chair thank you counc uh so for Council to Second ation number 11 to start with thank you coun yeah and I do want to start by thanking um all of this evening speakers on this topic uh um um like all my colleagues I’m sure we’re all very
Sympathetic the strong feelings that these proposals are generating locally um so we’ve heard earlier this evening that we’ve set out an economic strategy that aims to support real choice in transport support for greener businesses as well as training opportunities in green Industries for local people this first paper this
Evening on our commitments in relation to the Summer Valley Enterprise Zone contains the means by which we can immediately start to deliver on that and as councila has explained our vision is is of 13 00 local green jobs for local people in an Exemplar green Business Park this development really will give
Summer valy residents the opportunity to reduce their carbon emissions from commuting we know that the vast majority of of Summer Valley residents currently commute out by car often to bth and Bristol and we know that there are likely to be further housing developments coming forward in the valley but this development will provide
For local jobs and the ldo structure we have heard by by which we are now progressing this green business part along with the intention that the council should act as land owner and developer mean that we retain control over the types of business who can occupy the site the standard of Energy
Efficiency to which buildings are constructed and the biodiversity accommodated on site the ldo ensures the development will be fully compliant with planning policy but let me make clear that this is the bottom line as the developer the council has the power to insist upon greater ambition and in the
Coming years that is what I hope that all of us as councilors here tonight pledge to do um as our green Business Park takes shape and I hope that local residents will join us too in holding future baroy Somerset administrations to account for the quality of the
Environment that is created on site and the quality of local green jobs that it provides it’s worth noting that funding was approved by the west of England combined Authority last week to progress the active travel route between Faron gurny and Mills Lane along the north side of the
A362 at that point the route will connect with infrastructure proposed through this scheme to provide a fully off-road route between Fountain gurny and Midsummer Norton and on to connect with the Norton radstock Greenway giving local people a safe route to walk wheel or cycle to work or school between the conations of the
Valley we are committed to ensuring this infrastructure is in place before the site is occupied and have a plan to extend the cycle route onto Bristol we’re also committed to providing bus services along the Route before occupation as we’ve heard um we’re also committed to ensuring the site is nature positive not
Only through on-site measures but additionally through off-site contributions to further enhance wild nature in some of Valley the Baseline set in planning policy and enforced by the ldo is currently for 10% gain but as you know we have this evening put forward an options paper proposing that
In future planning policy may require uh a minimum level of 20% and remember that with the council as land owner that’s just the Baseline we can insist upon more um and we are currently planning 10 acres which is about seven football pitches of green infrastructure on the site as well as
10,000 trees and creating sustainable drainage ponds on site that will generate new Wetland habitats um we are committed to minimizing the impact on air quality of the development with modeling projecting nitrogen dioxide at well below legal limits at all locations in the vicinity air quality is regularly monitored at
Hundreds of locations around bar and Northeast sumerset and both traffic and air quality will continue to be monitored on all approaches to the business park to ensure not only that legal limits are complied with but also that measures are taken as necessary to ensure we see nitrogen dioxide on our
Downwards trajectory here as in other parts of the district we are committed to creating an Exemplar Net Zero green business park for new business and employment that will contribute to the development of a diverse creative and sustainable local business base it will provide a location to grow our green
Economy seeking to attract established businesses as well as startups in sectors um that we’ve already heard about um the energy efficient premises will provide businesses with a renewably powered Net Zero home of which they can feel proud and from which they can maximize their contribution to tackling our environmental emergency
And the councel is committed to support supporting in them in this on that note then councilors I’m pleased to commend um the commitments paper to to to the cabul thank you very much for second councel war I move to the debate Council the ball yes thank you chair very much
Appreciated I thought about Council MCC better a good speech but caner done him by a long way excellent presentation you actually cover every single angle of what people might want to say tonight and answer some of the questions and I see two faes wen’t happy with the
Answers you were giving um you can my portfolio between 219 and 221 K Myers ex K Myers chaired a Steering group local local local people coming in paron gy periscopes Always Turned Up Show an example C Harman at most of the time very few of was actually engaged as much as they
Possibly could have in those two years I had that which is quite in shame really because it could be much better if they all engaged properly this is a bold ambitious plan ever since I’ve been a counselor I’ve heard the words regeneration of the S Valley last 33
Years it hasn’t been done till now this need doing it needs to be a balanced area which matches in with the local plan with more housing appearing more jobs will be required there be more housing in Valley we certain it’s going to happen because we have to keep PA with a growing
Population I was quite shocked I looked up some populations yesterday to find the UK population now l in France a country far bigger than us we need jobs to local people we need to Ure people aren’t traveling new housing being built people will want to work we don’t particularly want cars
Traveling to Bristol we don’t particularly want cars traveling into bath across here I’m sure local community and local par don’t want it either so this may be controversial but it’s bold it’s ambitious it takes 90% of all the boxes we can improve it more and we will
Do so with the oo process which allow to adapt every 5 Years i’ Happy support thank counc MCC thank you chair um I recall uh as an entrepreneur when we when I co-founded what is now multi-million pound company one of the biggest challenges was Finding somewhere
To base ourselves we started out in an office of somebody in a room in somebody else’s office uh and then once the company had launched we moved to Kum and then the had nice offices in Kum and then the land owner the landlord decided he could earn more money from converting
It to uh flats and so we were forced to move again so what this offers is that sort of uh security of a purpose-built um business unit which is which is a com a something that I think a lot of startups particularly will be looking for and
Certainly would have done us a lot of favors we’re now in uh permanent offices uh and it’s a multi-million pound company so we we were all right in the end but how do we support that sort of entrepreneurialship uh amongst particularly our young people I was in radstock uh looking at
Heat from mines recently and somebody said uh somebody was talking about how the miners used to nip home for lunch they used to cycle home for lunch and that that really brought home what a different world we’re living in right now uh I have never been able to nip
Home for lunch uh until lockdown that was the first I realized lived in a really nice house so uh you realize then the consequences to a community when over half of its economically active residents work somewhere else and they take that income and spend it on cars
And fossil fuels and they spend it on food and drink in other employment centers as as uh Council rer has touched on so is it really the case that us Boomers and gen xers with our 4x4s and our posst jobs we can do from home uh and with our self promoting on online
Profiles are telling young people you can’t have jobs here and is it really the case that we value a field of basr over the future prosperity of our young people youngsters who are still at school doing their gcses and a levels youngsters who will be looking after us
When we’re old and infirm or older and more infirm okay so whilst I completely sympathize with Mr and Mrs fower because I would be saying the same thing if it were my feelings and I know what it’s like to to know every single inch of your land and someone’s cominging to
Take it away I I I know what that is because my Fields have been uh ear marked in the local plan uh twice luckily not when I own them but previously and that that danger is still you know always sits there and you you can’t get away with it and you don’t
Know what’s going to not yet but but I feel your and I would be saying exactly what you’re saying canc them okay but address me not M of the public please okay sorry chair um so we we don’t know where the next generation of youngsters uh the next generation of entrepreneurs will come
From but we should be ensuring that there’s an amazing space to work in in Midsummer Norton so if you’ve grown up here and you have a chance to set up a business here and live here instead of being lost to our local economy like so many others before them they can stay
Here for me the S Valley Enterprise Zone represents hope hope in the future hope for an economically prosperous future for our young people and I am more than happy uh to be part of that message of Hope by expressing my confidence in Midsummer Norton and its future so I’m
Happy to support thank you councelor m nobody else indicating to speak so I shall move with the vote on item 11 all in favor that is unanimous thank you very much move to item 12 so we now come to the second paper which is the ldo paper
Sorry so uh we come to the uh second paper which is the ldo paper which I talked about extensively so I don’t intend to add to further to that so um uh I move recommendations 2.1 2.2 and 2.3 of the ldo paper thank councelor May to second please thank you chair I wish
To second the motion and also to say that the the presentation that you made this evening has been inspirational and has tried to deal with all the issues that we’ve heard uh from the community um we’re not going to be able to satisfy everybody but I think it is important
That we actually do listen and try to respond as effectively as we can and I’ve seen a lot of changes since you came in uh as a Cabinet member already and I think if we need to make further changes then we’ll make them as I mentioned in the economic strategy this
Is an example of how we can use the opportunity to work with B College to create apprenticeships during and after construction and offer job experience options for young people in the area this report provides a sensible process to move the scheme forward bearing in mind that progress has already been
Protracted you mentioned about 2007 I know it’s been been the the talks in various years uh in even going back to ones like District Council um of course we have listened to the worries of speakers and the written submissions and this has been reflected I think by you
Councilor oper in your presentation but because of the site complications we need to have the power to deliver a vital employment site set amongst the already commercial area that has been built up around the former Great Mills office and their sales Warehouse there’s been considerable consultation and
Changes made to deliver the master plan that moves towards the many concerns expressed we have a responsibility to provide local jobs in the area and clearly this will not happen unless we adopt the high intervention approach I fully support this recommendation thank you chair thank you counc I
Shall see no Indica the speak I should move to the vote all in favor that is unanimous thank you very much move on to item 13 uh councilor again I’m new to this uh we now come to the third paper uh and the final paper which is the uh statutory uh in
Principal statutory mechanisms paper and I move all six recommendations numbers one to six thank you thank you councelor MC to second please uh yeah CH I’m happy to Second a of vment order provide specific permitted development rights within a defined area uh this is in addition to the permitted development rights that
The government sets as part of the Town Country planning uh orders so uh this bit just gives us the statutary mechanisms to be able to deliver the uh the zone so I’m happy to Second thank Youk there’s nobody indicating to speak all in favor that is unanimous thank you very
Much right I would like to bring an end to the meeting thank you everybody for ATT ending those who are watch on YouTube online I will officially close the meeting thank you very much