Agenda item

Committee is asked to agree that the Publication Version of the Spelthorne Design Code be published for a 6-week public consultation under Regulation 12 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2012.

The Committee considered the publication version of the Spelthorne Design Code and whether it should be published for a six-week consultation. The consultation would give residents and stakeholders a further opportunity to share their views on the Design Code before it was considered for adoption by the Committee.

The Chair of the Spelthorne Design Code Task Group explained the purpose of a Design Code and how it would support the Local Plan. A cross-party group of councillors had regularly met, supported by Andy von Bradsky, to develop the Design Code with input from local residents.

Andy von Bradsky advised the Committee that there was an expectation for all local authorities to produce a design code. As advisor to the Task Group, he felt the Design Code reflected a successful collaboration between members, officers, and residents.

The Joint Interim Team Lead for Strategic Planning provided the committee with an overview of community engagement, including work on the Citizen’s Panel which was made up of borough residents who were blind selected to represent the current population of the borough. Members were also advised that a digital version of the Design Code was being produced to assist  planning applicants understand which parts of the code would be relevant to their application.

The Committee thanked those involved in the process. The Committee acknowledged that if the Design Code was adopted, training on implementing the code would be provided for members and officers.

The Committee noted that the Design Code would be a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) that supported the Local Plan. Officers confirmed that the Design Code SPD had been tested to ensure it complied with the requirements of the new Local Plan and were confident that what was set out in the Design Code could be implemented.

The Committee noted references in the Design Code to groundwater and expressed concern regarding groundwater flooding. Some members of the Committee referenced a recently published article on groundwater in Staines by Dr J Paul and suggested this should be acknowledged in the Design Code. The Committee were advised that responsible bodies for groundwater would be Surrey County Council or the Environment Agency, and current advice suggested groundwater would be dealt with through individual planning applications until national planning policy was updated to address this. The Committee felt that reference should be made to the article so developers accessing the Design Code would be aware of it, but the reference should be caveated to explain the Council did not commission the research. The Committee expressed support for this approach.

Meeting adjourned 19:54

Meeting reconvened 20:01

The Committee resolved to agree that the publication version of the Spelthorne Design Code be published for a six-week public consultation under Regulation 12 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2012, with an amendment to reference the recently published article by Dr J Paul in a footnote with a caveat that the Council did not commission the report.