BBC – Note their has been no change in control here – Mole Valley has been Lib Dem since 2019
A Surrey district with house prices “amongst the highest in England” has been ordered not to delay its plan for new homes. [note the examination has been paused since May 2023 because of NPPF uncertainty. Note as per the transitional provisions under New NPPF the plan is being examined under the old NPPF (note the even if withdrawn clause), though to my mind this makes no difference]
Mole Valley District Council was ready to pull the plug on its local plan, setting out where housing can be built.
A last-minute intervention by the housing minister ruled out the council abandoning its plan.
The council was to debate withdrawing its plan, but will instead continue working on it.
Lee Rowley, minister for housing, planning and building safety, wrote to the council on the day of a scheduled meeting about the local plan.
The minister raised concerns about the possibility the council would withdraw its plan, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Mr Rowley said it was essential that local plans were in place and kept up to date, and said withdrawing the plan from examination “would be a clear failure by the council”.
The minister said: “Housing affordability is a significant problem in Mole Valley and the ratio of average house prices to average wages is amongst the highest in England.
“I can therefore conclude that there is higher housing pressure.”
An extraordinary meeting of the district council took place to discuss the plan on Thursday.
Margaret Cooksey, cabinet member for planning, said three options had been available to the council.
She said they had the choice of withdrawing the plan, continuing with the plan as submitted, or requesting the planning inspector change the plan to remove all green belt sites.
Of the letter from the minister, she said: “This new direction takes option A away from us and requires Mole Valley District Council to report monthly to the minister’s officials on the progress of the examination.
“It will remain in force until the examination concludes with the inspector’s report.”
The meeting of the full council did debate how to proceed with the plan.
Margaret Cooksey, Mole Valley District Council cabinet member for planning, said: “The decision of the council was to progress with the examination of the draft local plan as originally submitted for examination by the government-appointed inspector. We will now write to the inspector and inform her of the decision to progress and wait for her instructions. We anticipate that she will advise us to undertake a consultation, on her behalf, into changes to the plan that she thinks are required to make it compliant with relevant government policy.
At an Extraordinary Council meeting held on Monday 16 January 2023, Members unanimously voted to seek the Inspector’s view on removing all green belt sites from the draft Local Plan, Future Mole Valley.
Councillor Margaret Cooksey, Cabinet Member for Planning, said: “Having requested this meeting alongside five other Members of the Cabinet, it was gratifying to see the overwhelming level of cross-party support for us to seek the Inspector’s view on removing all green belt sites from our draft Local Plan.
“Now that we have the backing of all Members, as a matter of urgency we have already approached the Inspector. Once we have heard back from the Inspector with confirmation as to whether there is support or not for removing green belt sites, we will be in a position to plan what the next steps will be.
“To recap, we have reached this position after having taken the step to pause the progress of our Local Plan process. We took this decision in light of the government’s plans to consult on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, which directly shapes the framework of Local Plans.”
The view of the inspector will be predictable. It has already reviewed its GB has stated there are exceptional circumstances. Main mods according to the inspectors guidance are supposed to deal with the inspectors soundness concerns not to change the submitted strategy. Para 1.5 of the procedural guide ‘
There is no provision in the legislation which allows the LPA to replace all or
part of the submitted plan with a revised plan during the examination.
The Inspector has already put forward main mods to maintain these sites. That would require withdrawal and resubmission, an options now closed to Mole Valley. Those Exceptional Circumstances have not changed with the new NPPF. Withdrawing the sites would see Mole Valley JRd to high heaven
As the officers report to full council stated ‘
‘The total release of Green Belt land (with the Main Modifications) is 130ha and the current extent of Green Belt in Mole Valley is 19,511ha. This equates to a loss of 0.67 per cent of the current extent of the Green Belt or 187 sports pitches.’
An abject lesson on why high controversy over a tiny area of land should not be allowed to derail plan making. Cllrs in Mole Valley seem determined to ignore all advice given by its own officers and the inspector. The SoS was right to intervene.
Note the legal implications section of the report
Para 1 of Schedule 7 of the 2023 Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, inserts a new
provision at s15E of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 which states
at s15E(2): “After a local plan has been submitted for independent examination, the
local planning authority may only withdraw the plan: (a) if the person appointed to
carry out the examination recommends that they do so and the Secretary of State
has not directed that it is not to be withdrawn, or (b) the Secretary of State directs
that the plan is to be withdrawn.”
The consequence of this is that the Council cannot simply withdraw the plan. The
Council must ask for the Inspector carrying out the examination to recommend
withdrawal of the plan.
Note also
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions 