Decision details

This matter was the responsibility of Executive for Planning, Transportation and Economic Development, Councillor Mike Rigby, who introduced the item.

This report set out the contents and therefore the direction of travel of the proposed document for ‘A Vision for our Garden Town’ and sought agreement over its scope.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       It was considered that this was another tool in the armoury in ensuring that planning development was as we aspired, with green infrastructure prioritised.

·       The recent developments highlighted in the report such as the Climate and Ecological emergency declarations, phosphates and bio-diversity net gain showcased the changes happening which the Council needed to guide developers and ensure the Garden Town was as green as it possibly could be.

·       Further explanation was sought on how this documentation would feed into the new Local Plan development and the effect on those in the process of making applications or about to.

·       This was not setting policy but signposting, bringing together all the different documents on the Garden Town in one place to make it easier for everyone to understand the current picture. It would eventually feed into the Somerset Wide Local Plan.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

i)                 Agreed the scope of the document.

ii)               Agreed the green infrastructure checklist document for consultation with agents/applicants within the Garden Town

iii)              Granted delegated authority to the Assistant Director Strategic Place and Planning in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Transportation and Economic Development for the finalisation of the document and associated green infrastructure checklist.