Agenda item

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth submitted a report that provided the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with an update on the Community Forums (CFs) and the Development Management Forums (DMFs).

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said that in November 2023, she had presented the idea of having a set of CFs for strategic sites post planning approval and also a DMF during the planning application process.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said that Overview and Scrutiny Committee had resolved in November 2023 that there be an update after two years to allow for the collection of meaningful data on the impact of the forums.

Members were advised that the report summarised attendance figures, operational approaches and key observations arising from both the CFs and the DMFs.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said that consideration had also been given to the resource implications of hosting these forums and suggestions for further improvements and data collection were highlighted in the report.

Members of Overview and Scrutiny were invited to review the information provided and to assess the forums contribution to community engagement and planning transparency.

Councillor Buckmaster said that the community forums were informative, and he had noticed that over time the numbers attending had decreased. He wondered whether the council could reach out to the wider community to secure their involvement.

Councillor Buckmaster suggested that the council could talk directly to the neighbourhood plan group and the affected parishes to ascertain how the council could engage more with the community.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said there was a pre-meeting with the neighbourhood plan group and the parish councillors, and the council had asked them exactly that question. She said that part of the idea was reaching out to the members of the community who might not discuss things with the parish council or the neighbourhood planning group.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said that some of the topics that the community might wish to raise were very specific. Members were advised that the council was working on better communications and officers were considering ways to encourage more people to engage in the process.

Councillor Carter asked how the council decided when to hold a forum meeting and who made the decisions as to when a meeting was arranged. The Executive Member for Planning and Growth explained that the district council scheduled the forum meetings, and this scheduling depended on how many issues were at stake. She explained that Gilston was having a quarterly forum as this was one of the largest developments in the country.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth referred to Stortford Fields and said that the community forum had been arranged to address a number of problems that had built up over a number of years. She said that the council was working to resolve what were some quite complicated issues. Members were advised that Stortford Fields had a meeting every 6 months and Gilston every 3 months.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth referred to forthcoming meetings for both HERT3 and HERT4, and a couple of meetings would be arranged in relatively short order. She said that the pace of meetings would then slow down as once forums were established the demand for information slowed down.

Councillor Nicholls said that the community forums worked very well in the context of the master planning process for strategic sites. She asked whether it would be a good idea for developers who submitted speculative applications to take part in the process.

Councillor Nicholls said that the forums allowed developers to see the local community they planned to build in as somewhere that contained people who might have concerns and also had really useful local knowledge. She said that a recent development management forum had secured better outcomes for the community. She emphasised that some key areas of concern had got a lot more attention than would have otherwise been the case.

Councillor Swainston summarised her positive experiences of being involved in the community forum process in respect of Stortford Fields. She referred to the positive involvement of residents and commented in particular to the involvement of district and county officers present in helping the public knowing who to contact.

Councillor Clements asked how much the success of the forums had been dependent on developers engaging with the process in good faith. The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said that developers were somewhat nervous of the process before attending the forum meetings, and in particular regarding attending the DMFs. She referred to messages she had received after the meetings regarding the usefulness of the opportunity.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said that as regards the community forums, she felt that there was an element of developers being somewhat scared of the unknown. She said that the forums were now established, and developers were seeing the benefits in terms of working in partnership with communities rather than getting lots of complaints. 

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth explained that the initial fractious nature of some of the early forum meetings calmed down after three or four meetings. She said that developers benefited from not having a community up in arms but one that would come and talk to them to resolve problems.

Councillor Jacobs said that there had been no DMF meetings this year and he wondered if the criteria needed to be considered in terms of the thresholds for holding meetings. He commented on the levels of awareness of the forum meetings.

The Executive Member for Planning and Growth said that there had not been that many large development applications that would have been eligible in the last year.

The Service Manager (Development Management and Enforcement) said that there had been less need for DMFs when compared to 2024, having regard to the types of applications submitted. He said that officers could look at the threshold and the awareness and knowledge levels of local ward members. He said that officers could take those issues away and consider what could be done going forward.

Councillor Buckmaster proposed, and Councillor Swainston seconded, a motion that Overview and Scrutiny Committee had considered the information provided in the report relating to the establishment of the Community Forum and Development Management Forum and had provided observations to the Executive Member for Planning and Growth.

After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that Overview and Scrutiny Committee have considered the information provided in the report relating to the establishment of the Community Forum and Development Management Forum and have provided observations to the Executive Member for Planning and Growth.