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Hello I’m Ian King, I’ve got Michelle Lalor with me from the communications team and we’re just going to run through some frequently asked questions in relation to the Local Plan Review. Okay thanks Ian, first of all a bit of an all encompassing but clearly obvious question for us but not to people out there maybe, is why is the local plan so important to North East Lincolnshire? Yeah, well the local plan is the document that is used to decide planning applications so it forms the policies that are set out that the planners will use as the basis for their decisions. It also allocates land for different uses for housing, employment, open space, etc, and also safeguards land for specific purposes that will prevent development happening on those sites. Okay so thank you. Next question really a follow up, this is not a full local plan overhaul though is it this is a review so why are we doing that now and what does that mean? Yeah so, the existing local plan was adopted in March 2018. Following government guidelines we’re required to review the local plan within five years so to a 5-year cycle and that’s to ensure that the plan is kept up to date so we have changes to national planning policies that we have to reflect, there’s also changes to local circumstances that we might need to take account of. Okay and we’re going to go into more detail in some of those a little bit later. How can people be involved in review Ian, I think there’s quite a lot of information here so we will put this on the screen or in the feed for people so they can click through it but just from your point of view, briefly how can people get get involved in this review? Yeah, basically the process in terms of a local plan is different in the way that we consult from planning applications, so in terms of the process that we follow that’s set out by legislation. Effectively there’s three main ways that people can comment so we have a web-based portal system where people can comment online, we’ll also accept comments by email, or people can write to us and drop that in at the council offices. We’ve covered that how people can get involved but why should they get involved? Will their views make a difference, how will they contribute to this review? Yeah, any comments that are received by us, we’ll take account of, we’ll look at those and reflect on those terms of the changes that we’re making. Obviously we’ve got a borough wide perspective in terms of looking at what is required for the borough as a whole. Your comments that will be submitted at any stage of the local plan review will also go forward to the final examination process. That’s when an independent inspector will review the local plan and he’ll have access to any of those comments that are received. Good and it’s probably appropriate to say at this stage, people have got until March the 8th, haven’t they to comment so we need to make that clear. That’s correct, that’s the deadline in terms of this current stage of consultation. So what does the, you mentioned that obviously we’ve got the local planning in now and I think most of that, if I’m right, will remain unchanged because it does go forward as is, but there are some specific things it addresses, and there are specific changes to it aren’t there. Could you just go through those for us? Yes that’s correct, so obviously over that period of time things have changed within the borough, so in terms of what are the main things that we’re looking at, we’re looking at revising the housing requirement. So that’s looking at the number of houses that are required over the plan period, we’re extending the plan period so we’re now looking forward 2042. We’re also adapting some of the policies because of changes to national planning policy, so that’s reflecting some of the main changes that have come in, affecting things like affordable housing, design quality, and also impact in terms of changes that have happened locally. So we’ve got changes that we might be looking at in terms of town centres, in terms of the natural environment and also aspects of climate change are the main focuses at the moment. Good, taking some of those in detail, I think you know from your experience over many years, what issues that you’ve mentioned in the above are more important to residents, and I think probably housing is one of them, and new developments, between now and 2042, I think you said. So how will the housing level be set for, and that’s the amount of houses that are built every year in the borough, is that right? That’s correct, so we worked out an annual requirement. Effectively what we’ve done is taken some models that look at the future potential in terms of housing growth. Those have produced different options so we’re consulting in this document on those different options. The council is mindful to take an approach that will focus on growth, and that’s because effectively if we look at an option that is a negative scenario in terms of employment position, that will result in effectively less money flowing through the economy, but also if you take into account the demographic changes, so the population or the proportion of the population that is becoming more elderly, it’s becoming more significant and that will require additional resources. So effectively with less money flowing through the local economy and more pulls in terms of resources because of that demographic change, effectively that’s a downward spiral, so we need the employment growth to bring new people into the area, to create money flowing in the economy and that will keep your town center shops open, provide more local employment growth for services, etc, and is a more sustainable future. So that’s why we’re proposing a strategy that is growth orientated. Okay I think you’re going to explain that in a little bit more detail in the next question because I think that’s another frequently asked question but I think in short what you’re saying is we need to make sure that we’re building enough houses and the type of houses that people, if they get jobs in our area, would want to live in, so they would come into the borough rather than potentially living outside and working in the borough. Is that in a sentence, is that. That’s right, we have to provide the housing that will cater for future needs, so that covers all aspects, that covers affordable housing, starter homes for younger people, also includes homes for the elderly, as I said we’ve got a increase in proportion of elderly population so we have to address all those needs going forward. Okay and so how do you do that then because obviously we don’t know how many jobs are going to be created in the future for sure so we don’t know as a layman really how many houses we need that equal those jobs so how do we work that out? How have you worked that out? Well we’ve gone to consultants who are specialized in working these models, they use an industry standard model that basically looks at sectors of the employment position, so what businesses we’ve got located within our locality, it looks at the prospects for growth within those, and then translates that to our local environment to see what the potential is in terms of growth. There’s also demographic changes that are happening so those are factored into the model as well. This is a forward projection so as I said there’s different scenarios and different options are presented so that’s why we’re consulting on those options through this draft plan. Ian, we’ve talked about kind of the way you want to set housing and the way it’s all planned out, but how are sites actually included in the local plan selected? What makes them go into the local plan if you like? Okay so in terms of this consultation where we’ve identified all the options, so these are sites that have been presented to us by land owners, developers, they also include sites that were previously included in the local plan. In terms of going forward what we’re going to do is effectively go through two stages of assessment, so we’ll go through a technical assessment that looks at whether there’s any reasons why these sites could not be developed and that’s on the basis of whether they’re available, suitable, and deliverable, so those are the three tests that we go through through that stage, and that will sieve down the sites and then we go through a final site selection process that will arrive at what we think are the preferred options in terms of the site allocations. Now those will be in two documents, one is a strategic housing land availability assessment and the other is a local plan site selection document so the next stage of the local plan review, when we publish that document those documents will be available at that time. You’ve talked about, just in there, you mentioned the fact that we’ve obviously already got the local plan and in that local plan, the existing local plan, there are some housing sites or strategic housing sites that are in there. Will those all stay there? Okay so those three strategic housing sites, those are the very large housing sites that are identified in the existing local plan. Scartho Top is coming to the end of its development stage so that’s a site under construction so that will remain within the local plan and be identified as a site under construction. The two other sites which are Grimsby West, located to the western side of Grimsby, and Humberston Road, close to the Pennells Garden Center site, those are two sites which currently don’t have any planning consent, so the status of those is just as an allocated site in the existing local plan. So they will go through that site assessment process, through that two-stage assessment process so their status is not committed at this stage in terms of the review process, and will be assessed as we go through them. So they’re assessed again even though they’re already in the existing local plan? That’s correct. Right, understand. Obviously through this process the local plan will take a number of years to progress, so we may get planning applications on some of those sites going forward, and obviously the local plan as it progresses, would need to take account of any of those decisions that are made. Probably worth reminding people then, so this review is going to be implemented, is likely to be implemented when? As it goes through the process? Okay so we’re following a legal process as I mentioned, that requires certain stages so the next stage after this document, is the preparation of what is termed, a submission draft document, so another draft local plan effectively. That will have a lot more detail in it, will set out a lot more in terms of what the council wishes to see in the adopted plan, and we’re aiming for that to be published towards the end of this year. After that stage, we’ll consult on that plan again. We then have to submit that plan to the secretary of state. Secretary of State will appoint an independent inspector, he will hold an examination, so that will look at the content of the local plan, look at how it’s been produced, look at all the representations, etc. He or she will then provide a report of that examination, lightly set out some additional modifications to be made, they will again be consulted on, at the end of that process the council would then be allowed, subject to the local plan being found sound, to adopt the plan. We anticipate that that would be sometime in 2026. So until then, the plan that we have now remains in situe, in place, and it’s the document that people are guided by and referred to? Yes that’s correct, that would be the basis for any planning decision to that point. Great, thank you. Talked about the big strategic sites, another question I think a lot of people ask, is about the infrastructure that goes with them, and I think it’d be useful for people to understand actually, what the term infrastructure means as well, and the strain on current services and how you work work that through. Okay, so as part of the preparation of the local plan, we’ll commission an infrastructure study. So that’s where effectively consultants will be employed to look at the infrastructure requirements that are generated by the growth anticipated, so we’re looking at all sorts of different aspects, we’re looking at health care, we’re looking at education, we’re looking at utilities, we’re looking at cemeteries, we’re looking at open space, we’re looking at highways, all different aspects of infrastructure. So we’ll look at how those could be funded, what additional facilities would be needed, and we do that through engagement with all those service providers so that they are looking at the growth and the sites that are talked about in the local plan, and they will formulate their own estate strategies and investment plans to accommodate that going forward. Thank you. We’ve heard a lot about the strategic sites, but what about brownfield sites? There’s a lot of conversation, especially in North East Lincolnshire or any kind of urban area, about the use of old sites in town centers. Do we do enough of that, and how does this address that? How does the review attempt to address that? Yeah, the council’s very keen to encourage development on brownfield sites. We have a number of those that are under development at the present time. We also have initiatives looking at empty properties, so there are there are a number of initiatives that are driving that agenda. We also have a brownfield register which keeps a record of brownfield sites so anybody can look at that and pick up those sites in terms of development potential, but there are challenges in terms of brownfield sites, in terms of development. Often they’re contaminated or need remediation in some way so there’s additional costs in bringing those sites forward. They may also be in low value areas so there’s issues there in terms of the marketability, viability of development on sites but there are grants available that we flag and try to take into account in terms of bringing those sites forward. Do we not have enough of those then to meet the housing requirement? Is that another issue? That is correct, there’s not enough brownfield sites, even if all of those were developed, to meet the future housing needs so we will need greenfield sites in addition to that. Do we have to do it? Is it a Government requirement then that we fix that housing need and we have a set housing requirement? Yes, the requirement to produce the local plan is a requirement on councils. The requirement to determine the level of housing need is a requirement of that process. There is a push towards brownfield site development coming from government hence the grants, and the additional funding that is trying to bring those sites forward. But obviously we are operating in a market position here so it is dependent on the market to bring those forward. Thank you, I think actually that’s all the questions we have for now so just to remind people I guess, March the 8th, and we have got a chance for people to win a £100 pound voucher. That’s right, we’re encouraging local residents to be part of this process, we get lots of agents, and developers, and land owners involved in the process, but it’s important that we hear the voice of local people within this process so we are offering that shopping voucher, one available to one lucky resident. It is available just to residents as well so hopefully everybody will comment through this process. Thank you very much, Ian.