Agenda and minutes

Councillors and officers were invited to declare any interests which they had in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

The following interest was declared:-

Personal Interest

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration.

The report outlines the applications submitted by Woodford Community Council seeking to establish the Woodford Neighbourhood Forum and Woodford Neighbourhood Area under the provisions of The Localism Act 2011.

The Area Committee is recommended to:-

(1) With regard to the designation of the Woodford Neighbourhood Area, comment on which of the following options should be recommended to the Executive for commendation to the full Council Meeting:

(i)         Designate the Area shown on the plan in Appendix D which excludes the SEMMMS road scheme corridor but includes the Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site; or

(ii)        Designate the Area shown on the plan in Appendix E which excludes both the SEMMMS road scheme corridor and the Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site.

(2) With regard to the designation of the Woodford Neighbourhood Forum, comment on the approval, or otherwise, of the designation of Woodford Neighbourhood Forum as the neighbourhood forum for the Woodford Neighbourhood Area.

Officer contact: Richard Wood on 474 4386 or email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) outlining the applications submitted by Woodford Community Council seeking to establish the Woodford Neighbourhood Forum and Woodford Neighbourhood Area under the provisions of The Localism Act 2011.

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration reported that although the Council had broad discretion as to the area to be designated as a Neighbourhood Area, the Department for Communities and Local Government had advised the Council that the starting point for determining the Neighbourhood Area application should be a presumption in favour of the geographic area as applied for.  However, notwithstanding this presumption, the Area Committee was informed that it needed to be mindful of recent case law, with specific regard to R (Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum) v Wycombe District Council and others [2013] that identified a number of considerations to which it was legitimate to have regard in considering an application for the designation of a Neighbourhood Area, including possible areas of exclusion from the Neighbourhood Area sought to be designated.

It was noted that with regard to the application to establish the Woodford Neighbourhood Area similar considerations to those in the ‘Daws Hill case’ arose in respect of whether two specific parts of the proposed Woodford Neighbourhood Area should be included in the area that the Council designated, namely:-

·         the corridor of land required for the construction of the proposed SEMMMS road scheme (both the A6 to Manchester Airport and Poynton Bypass elements); and

·         the Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site (former BAe Systems site).

In respect of the land required to construct the SEMMMS road scheme, the applicants had indicated that they did not have any issue with the Council determining to exclude the corridor of land required for construction of the SEMMMS road schemes from the Neighbourhood Area if it wished to do so.

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration reported that the applications were also scheduled to be considered by the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 19 September 2013.  The comments and recommendations of the Area Committee and the Scrutiny Committee would be forwarded to the Executive as part of its deliberations on the applications at its meeting on 1 October 2013.  The Executive would be requested to make its recommendations to the 17 October 2013 Council Meeting which would make the final determination of the applications.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         It was commented that the Daws Hill judgment remained the subject of a further appeal.

·         There was no current planning application for the Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site.

·         There was no direct linkage between the planning application process and the process for the designation of a Woodford Neighbourhood Area and Woodford Neighbourhood Forum.

·         A discussion took place in relation to the likely timeframe for the production of a Neighbourhood Plan following an approval of a Neighbourhood Area and Forum.

·         The proposed boundary of the Woodford Neighbourhood Area extended beyond the boundaries of the Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site to include the wider Woodford area.

·         It was likely that a planning application for the Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site would be submitted and determined against the existing policy in advance of the approval of a Woodford Neighbourhood Plan.

The Area Committee also considered the following contributions made by Paul Rodman, representing Woodford Community Council:-

·         Whether the decision of the Council on the establishment or otherwise of the Woodford Neighbourhood Area would be affected should the Daws Hill judgment be successfully appealed.  In response it was stated that while the Court of Appeal was scheduled to consider the matter early in the New Year, the Council needed to determine the matter on the basis of the facts as they currently stood.

·         It had previously been stated that it was likely that a planning application for the Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site would be submitted in advance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.