Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

RESOLVED:  That there were no reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interest made by Members.

Report of the Acting Strategic Director of Housing and Regeneration.

The Chair welcomed the Deputy Leader of the Council (and Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration) and officers to the meeting.

The Committee received the New Harrow Local Plan – Proposed version for pre-submission (“Regulation 19 stage consultation”) Consultation Report, which set out policy guidelines for new development and infrastructure in the borough over the next 20 years (2021-2041).  This had been considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 15 February 2024, when it approved the draft Plan for a first round of formal consultation (“Regulation 18 stage consultation”).

It was proposed to undertake a further round of consultation on the revised draft Plan (“Regulation 19 consultation”) during November and December 2024, prior to the draft Plan being submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for independent examination in mid-2025.  Formal approval to undertake the second round of consultation would be sought from Cabinet at its meeting on 15 October 2024 and full Council on 23 October 2024.

The Harrow Local Plan was one of the key documents in the Council’s policy framework.  The current plan was considered to be “out-of-date” in the context of national and regional planning policy.  Therefore, it needed to be updated.

In the discussion that ensued, the Committee raised the following comments and asked questions:

·                 The meaning of the term “reasonable engagement” in the consultation was not explained, and it was queried whether the process had been benchmarked with other local authorities.  The Committee were informed that the consultation was not benchmarked with other local authorities as that was not always a useful comparison.  Engagement had followed good practice with a mix of online channels, physical notices, banners and in person events over various times and including weekends to maximise engagement across the borough and with different communities.  It was acknowledged that the term “reasonable engagement” was based on the judgement of experienced officers and had not been explained or quantified in the report.  Officers confirmed that further explanation about how that judgement had been made could be provided with any available quantitative data.

·                 In response to a concern as to whether data was collected from certain communities for whom English was not the first language, and would be excluded from the consultation process, the Committee were informed that information was not available for the meeting itself, but could be extrapolated from the responses and provided to Members at a later stage.

·                 Citing Chapter 11 of the report, the Committee inquired whether there were any proposed developments with twice the height of existing buildings.  The Committee were informed that the Plan would focus on design and context, and was essentially a policy document, and not a planning one.  Indicative capacity numbers in Chapter 11 were based on a high-level design evidence base exercise that took into account the character and context of the site and reflected the policies within the draft Plan; this was consistent with the London Plan design-led approach but there would be many ways which these  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.