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Agenda item

Glover Review of Protected Landscapes - Consultation response to Government Report

Purpose

To note the report and proposed consultation response to the government's formal consultation.

 

Recommendations

a)    To approve Annex A for submission to Government as the Council's response to the consultation on the Government response to the Glover Review; and

b)    To give delegated authority to the Chief Executive to make minor alterations to the responses in Annex A in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning prior to submission.

Minutes:

Councillor Haine introduced the report and proposed an alteration to the last paragraph on page 104 of the pack, to firm up the Council’s stance.  The suggested new wording for this paragraph was as follows:

 

“A key issue for the Cotswolds has been the suggestion in the Glover Review and previously that the Cotswolds could become a National Park.  The Cotswolds is very much opposed to being part of a National Park and wishes to remain an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  The Government’s support of the Cotswolds remaining an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty would be very much more appreciated”

 

Therefore, Councillor Haine proposed that the recommendations be supported as per the report, subject to the amended paragraph detailed above.  This was seconded by Councillor Harvey.

 

Councillor Graham questioned why in item 19 on page 102 the suggestion that Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) teams should be made statutory consultees for development management, was being answered “NO”.

 

The question was referred to the Principal Planning Policy Officer, Janice Bamsey, who stated that the opinion of the Business Manager - Development Management, Phil Shaw, had been that AONB should not be statutory consultees.  Being statutory consultees would require consultation on all proposals within the AONB.  Not being a statutory consultee would allow the AONB Board/team to only make representation on the developments that it chose to.

 

The Chief Executive stated that this was about the role that AONB teams played.  Being a statutory consultee would put more pressure and work on the AONB planning team.  Answering “NO” to item 19 allowed the AONB planning team to decide which planning applications they consulted on and allowed them to better manage their time and resources.

 

Councillor Graham believed it should be looked at from the Council’s perspective not the AONB team’s perspective and that this should be given more thought.  The AONB were stating they had spare capacity which did not align with the reasoning presented by the Chief Executive.

 

Councillor Haine agreed that this needed further investigation and that could be done under recommendation b) with further discussion between himself and the Chief Executive.

 

Councillor Coul suggested that AONB teams already gave representations when needed.  Changing this answer to a “YES” could make it a bureaucratic process for the sake of it.  If it worked currently then why change it. However, if the AONB team felt they were not currently sufficiently consulted then it needed to be reviewed.

 

Councillor Postan stated that based on his experience of Snowdonia National Park, if the AONB team was a statutory consultee they would be required to make representation on everything including factories, roads, and sewage pits for example.

 

Councillor Cooper asked what criteria was used to get consultation responses from the Council.

 

The Chief Executive advised that judgement was made based on what was most important to the Council.  Also things were responded to in different ways.  Officers could respond directly to low key straightforward items, relevant Cabinet members could respond on other matters, and higher profile items may need to be brought to Cabinet or Full Council. 

 

Councillor Enright suggested that if Councillors noticed a consultation they believed the Council should respond to, they should inform the Chief Executive.  He went on to state that a comment in the Response to Oxfordshire County Council’s Draft Local Transport & Connectivity Plan (LTCP) should also be included in this response.  This highlighted the importance of mentioning heritage alongside the natural environment.  He felt that the Cotswolds were known as an AONB not just because of the natural environment but also because of the built environment and the nature of settlements within it, which give it an almost unrivalled character.

 

Having considered the report and having heard from Members and officers present, it was

 

Resolved that, subject to the amended paragraph detailed above:

 

a)    annex A be approved for submission to Government as the Council's response to the consultation on the Government response to the Glover Review; and

b)  authority is delegated to the Chief Executive to make minor alterations to the responses in Annex A, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning prior to submission.

Supporting documents:

 

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